Economics 101 in 2009: Two Books and a Video
We are a nation of consumers. We want what we want when we want it. Perhaps our plastic “money” should contain the slogan “Buy Now, Pay later.”
Gone are the principles of previous generations of “saving until you can afford it” and “when the money in the envelope is gone, it’s gone. Period. Make do.” We are over our heads in debt.
Or as US News and World Report puts it:
For more than four decades, our shopaholic nation has shown an insatiable desire to spend until our credit cards melt. … Indeed, it often seems that we have defined ourselves by our ability to buy supersized everything, from McMansions to tricked-out SUVs to 60-inch flat-screen televisions—all enabled by decades of cheap credit.
Consider just a few statistics from, interestingly enough, CreditCards.com:
- 55 percent of credit card users keep a balance on their credit card
- The average American with a credit file is responsible for $16,635 in debt, excluding mortgages
- The average credit card indebted young adult household now spends nearly 24 percent of its income on debt payments
- Total U.S. consumer debt (which includes credit card debt and noncredit-card debt but not mortgage debt) reached $2.55 trillion at the end of 2007, up from $2.42 trillion at the end of 2006
- Young Americans now have the second highest rate of bankruptcy, just after those aged 35 to 44.
- U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006
Book One: How to Understand Economics in One Hour
This year we tackled a ½ credit course of Civics. A large part of our course was a study of Economics, which I confess, I knew very little about. Our primary text for economics, which I highly recommend, was a small out of print book by Marshall Payn, How to Understand Economics in One Hour (Amazon has a few used copies). It is a wonderfully informative little book, that really simplifies Economic principles so that even I could understand them 
.
Using the make-believe land of Noz, the author leads you though the consequences of different economic decisions both on an individual as well as national level. For example:
- What is the natural outcome when government gets too big
- What is the effect on individuals and the country when non-producing people outnumber the people who are producing
- The impact of buying on credit because you don’t have the cash to pay for it
- How printing money that has no real value magnifies and exacerbates economic problems
- How poor economic policy threatens individual freedoms
We read How to Understand Economics in One Hour together – took much longer than one hour for sure – but the content lent itself extremely well to very pertinent and relevant discussions about real life – our lives! Over and over again as we read, we easily visualized the US as Noz – it was almost impossible not to. As we watched the news, we frequently found ourselves looking at each other and saying “that’s exactly what we were talking about!” Even two teenagers could see the natural progression and the folly of continuing the way we are going.
I had to keep reminding myself that the book was written over 20 years ago, because it so clearly described the money mess the US is in. We could connect the dots and see where our country is at economically and sadly, where we are headed if we don’t stop doing what we’re doing. Hugely valuable life lessons, one right after another!
(What I didn’t know, but God did, was that He was setting the stage for our study of Personal Finances.)
As we neared the end of the book, I read ahead, because I wanted/needed to read the “happy ending”. There wasn’t one. If the problems aren’t corrected, the economy collapses. It’s as simple as that. I think my two highschoolers were also hoping for a happy ending and it was hard for them and even frightening to see that there can’t be a happy ending unless we, people and country, stop spending what we don’t have. Needless to say, there was a long discussion following the end of the book and one that continues still.
The Video
Last night Glenn Beck presented a video presentation on economics – how it should work, contrasted with how it is currently working, or not. I think it was well done (with healthy dose of Glenn Beck humor), and capsulizes what is happening economically in our nation. Take a look:
Book Two: America’s Last Call
Lastly, there is another book, that I strongly encourage you to read, America’s Last Call, by David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade. The book was given to me, by a dear elderly saint who on his fixed income has bought cases of this book to give away, in an effort to help Americans, especially Christians, get their heads out of the sand and open their eyes to what is happening.
America’s Last Call was written in 1998 and then went out of print. Given the recent economic circumstances, it was re-released in 2008 and is more timely than ever. Like How to Understand Economics in One Hour, I had to keep reminding myself that this book had been written 10 plus years ago. Using Biblical history as his basis, Mr. Wilkerson, with amazing accuracy, describes where we as a nation are today and how we got here. Be prepared, the picture isn’t pretty and unless changes are made soon, it’s not going to get any prettier.
However, unlike Marshall Payn’s book, America’s Last Call, does have a happy ending of sorts, for some. He devotes the last few chapters reminding believers in Christ, that our hope is in Him. Because we are His, no matter what storms surround us, we can know peace, contentment and joy; HE is in control.
This book is a must-read, in my opinion! The only place I know you can get it from, beside the dear friend who gave it to me , is from Wilkerson Publications. The cost is only $5.00.
Read it and let me know what you think.
