Fiscal Stewardship
Another fact that doesn't sit well with me in terms of Bush's presidency is a considerable lack of fiscal stewardship. God calls us to be good financial stewards. "In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." 1 Corinthians 4:2. This includes not oweing more than we can pay off. (Supported by Romans 13:6-8.) For all his talk of "fiscal responsibility" (Bush speech on 9/13/02), the budget deficit has grown by $300 billion in this past year alone and his future plans to add more tax cuts do not bode well for our deficits. According to the New York Times, the U.S. Treasurer has announced that federal borrowing will reach "$147 billion in the first three months of 2005 - a new quarterly record." And according to the NY Times, President Bush plans to make his tax cuts permanent, which will increase the budget deficit by $1 trillion by 2014. When budget deficits grow to too large an amount, it's just like when you add on tons of debt to your credit. Banks will demand a higher interest rate to loan you more money if your credit rating is low (or if you have other loans outstanding). For the U.S., foreign investors will demand higher interest rates to keep loaning more money to the US. Higher interest rates mean higher taxes later for you and me and also higher interest rates when we want to borrow money from banks (for mortgages/small business loans, etc.). Ultimately, Bush's fiscal irresponsibility is not godly and I'm afraid many believers have completely ignored this issue.
Still more to come (I had previously thought to make this a 3-post reflection but it's turning into a 10+ post reflection...)...
Another fact that doesn't sit well with me in terms of Bush's presidency is a considerable lack of fiscal stewardship. God calls us to be good financial stewards. "In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." 1 Corinthians 4:2. This includes not oweing more than we can pay off. (Supported by Romans 13:6-8.) For all his talk of "fiscal responsibility" (Bush speech on 9/13/02), the budget deficit has grown by $300 billion in this past year alone and his future plans to add more tax cuts do not bode well for our deficits. According to the New York Times, the U.S. Treasurer has announced that federal borrowing will reach "$147 billion in the first three months of 2005 - a new quarterly record." And according to the NY Times, President Bush plans to make his tax cuts permanent, which will increase the budget deficit by $1 trillion by 2014. When budget deficits grow to too large an amount, it's just like when you add on tons of debt to your credit. Banks will demand a higher interest rate to loan you more money if your credit rating is low (or if you have other loans outstanding). For the U.S., foreign investors will demand higher interest rates to keep loaning more money to the US. Higher interest rates mean higher taxes later for you and me and also higher interest rates when we want to borrow money from banks (for mortgages/small business loans, etc.). Ultimately, Bush's fiscal irresponsibility is not godly and I'm afraid many believers have completely ignored this issue.
Still more to come (I had previously thought to make this a 3-post reflection but it's turning into a 10+ post reflection...)...
posted by AlfDaBruin at 1:27 AM
3 Comments:
I dont know if I think us Christian Republicans voted for Bush because he was the perfect or ideal christian or that he was the perfect tither. I agree he is still sinful, we all have sin. The reason I voted for him because I believed stem cell research and gay marriage are wrong and do hurt society in a more egregious way than Bush's less than 10 percent tithing.
America has had huge deficits in the past, we were able to get out of them due to technology advances that changed the market place.(example: Reagan's deficit and the internet boom). Maybe Bush's lower taxes will encourage investment into research and allow us to hit another boom, which will then allow Christians to tithe more to charities and help more people like city team. I am just saying that Bush's fiscal stewardship can be viewed in many ways. One way is to say the tax cuts aren't doing anything, but maybe there are... many economists have debated the trickle-down vs. social welfare.
stan
I voted for Bush because I believe his faith in God is genuine. He's a man of prayer and God fearing. I can't say that about Kerry.
It's not just the economy (as you'll see from future posts)... Tim is right in that there were some capital gains tax increases due to Bush's tax plan in 2003, but these increases ($22 billion) pale in comparison to the $400 billion in deficit increases that Bush incurred in 2003. (See below for sources). Furthermore, Stan, you're wrong about the reason why the deficit went down during the internet boom. President Clinton decreased discretionary spending that allowed for more government surplus payment (See the Citizens For Tax Justice article, I might not like them totally as an organization, but at least their numbers add up), which led to a decrease in the deficit, which led to lower interest rates and greater investment during the internet boom. I'm a bit busy right now as I prep for finals so I'm going to finish up writing my political posts I think during Winter Break next month.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/26/news/economy/election_budget/
http://www.ctj.org/html/debt0603.htm
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