He makes a case for the importance of ‘sound money’ and the pending global economic collapse without it. Here is his warning:
“Few topics are as misunderstood today as the subject of money. Since the U.S. abandoned a gold-linked dollar more than four decades ago, the world's governments have slid into a dangerous ignorance of the fundamental monetary principles that guided the world's most successful economies for centuries. Today's wrong-headed monetary policies are now setting the stage for a new global economic and social catastrophe that could rival the recent financial crisis and even the horrors of the 1930s.”
Steve points out how the entire financial system is like a house of cards because money has lost its measure of value and the only solution is to return to ‘sound money’.
Steve’s solution sounds great, so why aren’t we doing it? If ‘sound money’ would solve the world's problems, what are we waiting for, and why did we turn away from ‘sound money’ in the first place? The answer to these questions reveal the real problem, which is: ‘sound money’ requires a moral foundation.
The problem with economists today is that they are theologically illiterate. They don’t see the connection between the increasing rejection of Christ and the collapsing economics of the world. They have no idea that the foundation of a wealth-creating economy rests upon none other than Jesus Christ. Disconnected from Jesus Christ, no society can build wealth.
Morality and Money
In Chapter 5, “Morality and Money”, Steve almost figures this out. He points out that debasing money causes people to mistrust all exchanges of value (business) and to eventually mistrust each other – leading to a moral collapse. While this is true, debasing money does lead to moral collapse, but before that it is rejecting Christ that causes a nation to debase money in the first place.
Steve also points out that the Fed’s expansion of money is not just affecting the US, but, because the dollar is the world currency, the Fed is causing the nations of the world to distrust each other. In Steve’s words: “The destruction of trust produced by the Fed’s tsunami of global liquidity did not end with Europe – it inflamed tensions in the Middle East as well.” – page 107
This is also true but Steve does not consider where it all began: before the Fed printed $4 trillion and before the housing bubble. Where does a nation begin to create a ‘welfare state’?
In reality, it begins when a government embarks upon planning for the sake of justice – when a people cry out to their government to be their god, to set things fair in their own eyes rather than relying on God and what he has given each person and each nation. It begins when a people collectively reject God as the giver of life and of talents and set their eyes on government to set everything straight. The destruction of money begins with a rejection of God as the author, provider and sustainer of life. This is what starts the destruction of money, followed by moral breakdown, which is then followed by further debasement of money.
The solution cannot begin with ‘sound money’ because ‘sound money’ cannot be achieved without a people that trust in the Lord to be a fair rewarder of their labor. The solution must begin with turning back to God – trusting in Him – and rejecting the envy within each of our own hearts that leads us to put our faith in our government and make for ourselves our own god. The solution is a Christian majority, like we had 50 years ago the last time we had ‘sound money’.
Don’t be surprised if this is the first time you have read this idea, the idea that Jesus is the foundation of economic growth in the world. It is very rare to find it published today and it conjures up many other questions. It is a difficult conclusion to hold on to amidst the plethora of theories about money that gets published. It took me many years to understand it.
If you want to explore this further, here are a few books to consider: “The Road to Serfdom” by Milton Friedman, “The Victory of Reason; How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success” by Rodney Stark, “The Rage Against God” by Peter Hitchens and the new book “The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution” by Wayne Grudem.
The irony of this is that America’s success is because we were a Christian nation, in which much of the global financial system became dependent upon after decades of sustaining the world with wealth creation. But now America has turned from the foundation that made it possible and it is leading the nations to financial ruin.