Budget and The Debt Fight in Washington

Update: Last night (late August 5th) Standard and Poors cut the USA credit rating from AAA to AA+. That represents a major departure as the USA has held the AAA for decades. Without it, the cost of money, credit and ultimately all business and government activities will rise. We do have to solve the problem, we cannot tax or spending cut our way out of it fast enough to do so.  


The solution is to grow abundance. Yes that is possible, but it takes some guts and that is in short supply in Washington. Pray for our leaders and those of the other "developed" countries. They need the help of the Spirit more than ever.
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Jesus gets invoked in the crazy mix of Ayn Rand (a doctrinaire atheist) and the call for a "Christian Nation" that pervades the "Christian Right," which is neither Christian nor right. So I thought I might answer them here.

Last Sunday the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel was the story of Jesus feeding the multitude. This is a picture of what a Christian nation might look like and it does not fit the actions of the Republicans this week.

Jesus, confronted by his disciples with a very large number of hungry people and a very small supply of food did not say, "Cut the food budget to eliminate the deficit." He said, "You feed them."  The Spirit moved those in the crowd with more than ample food and they shared abundance. That is what a Christian nation would look like. Not socialism, Jesus did not take the food from the rich at sword point or take their property. He did not say, "Let them perish."  That last a direct quote from my memory of an interview of Ayn Rand when she was asked what would happen to poor people in her world.

I am not advocating unrestricted debt. I do think the conservatives have lost sight of the fact that we are in the second great depression. This so called compromise debt resolution will I predict stand with the Smoot-Hally Tariff as one of the worst economic laws ever passed.

Jesus showed us the way. The answer to poverty is not to restrict access to the pie, it is to make a bigger pie. The Tea Party and their lunatic allies have completely missed the message and that is why the budget is a disaster and their candidates will eventually pay the price.