Obamanomics vs. God's recovery plan

Obamanomics vs. God’s recovery plan

As the debate about Obama’s economic stimulus plan rages on, I wonder if the Ivy League economic wizards at team Obama have thought about consulting the greatest economic guru of all time: God.

God you say? Did you know He has provided us with a blueprint for economic prosperity and the total elimination of poverty? ? Now before you roll your eyes and write this off as the mutterings of a fundamentalist whack job, let me ask you a question, do you know what God’s economic plan is? Most people don’t so I’ll cover the basics here and point you in a direction where you can learn more details. When you analyze the plan I’ll think you will agree that it is as simple as it is radical.

The first time we see specific reference to God’s economic plan is in the book of Leviticus, chapter 25 vs. 8-54. That is where God prescribes an economic sustenance program He calls the year of Jubilee. At its core the year of Jubilee was meant to be celebrated every 50 years. It included canceling all debts and returning to original owners all land that had been sold. Then in Deuteronomy 15 vs. 1-18 we see an expansion of this economic prescription whereby debts were to be released every seventh year apparently for debts incurred just in that year. Then in Deuteronomy 14 vs. 28-29 we see that every third year a second tithe was to be taken to take care of people who were poor-the fatherless, the widow, the stranger. And that money was to be used for their well being and welfare.

That is God’s recommended tax rate. Check it out. It you add up all the tithes of Deuteronomy 14 and 16 along with Numbers 18 they come to an average of twenty-three percent annually. So, by canceling debts every seventh year, cancelling them completely every fifty years and giving money to the poor at the rate of 23 percent every third year, poverty would have been all but eliminated from Israel. But would that work in today’s sophisticated world of mortgage based securities, derivatives and hedge funds?

The beauty of God’s economic plan is that it builds in the kind of regulatory oversight that is needed to keep us in check. Here’s how. First off, the further away one was from the year of Jubilee, the more valuable the property was. For instance if the concept of Jubilee were in place today and you went to buy a home three years before the year of Jubilee, you would only pay a fraction of the price because that property would be restored to its original owner in three years. Conversely if the year of Jubilee was 45 years way you would pay full price. So, if the year of Jubilee were to be in 2010, someone who received one of those sub-prime mortgages three years ago would not have to worry about going into foreclosure now because the price of the home would have made it affordable to begin with and the home would have reverted back to the person who sold it in the first place. So in essence, the sub-prime mortgage buyer would have been renting for three years. That’s the point. The existence of the Jubilee process would have prevented the condition that created the subprime meltdown.

When it comes to debt forgiveness, think of how that concept would impact lenders as well as debtors. The amount of money a bank would be willing to loan and the interest rate that would be economically viable to charge would be regulated by how close the next Jubilee or debt forgiveness year was.

We hear so much about the need for oversight, whether it be of Wall Street or corporate behavior on Main Street. The same holds true for all of us. Every household needs to keep an eye on spending and how it manages its finances. But in the past 50 years we have gone from a producer nation to a consumer nation. Led by our government, as a nation we have spent ourselves into debt and will have a difficult and painful time repaying it.

Now some economists could probably come up with compelling reasons why the concept of Jubilee and a seven year debt forgiveness policy would not work. I bet some of those same economists are the ones who have prescribed policies that got us into this mess in the first place. But since Jubilee, debt forgiveness and a twenty three percent flat tax are God’s ideas, seems to me we would be wise to give them serious consideration.

Can you imagine if team Obama introduced an economic plan that included institutionalized self regulation via debt forgiveness, oversight of the real estate markets via Jubilee and a flat tax of 23 percent where every third year all revenues would be given to help the poor?

Now that would be change to believe in.

Click here for an article about debt forgiveness written by an economist.
Click here for a recent article on the concept of Jubilee by Rabbi Arthur Waskow.