So, there are a list of phrases that, upon hearing, make me want to pull my hair out. These phrases (or some iteration thereof) include, but are not limited to:

• "think outside of the box" (I heard this one until my ears bled at my first job)
  
• "America is a Christian nation"/"Our founding fathers were Christians" (will discuss this in a separate post)
  
• "mortgaging our children's future"
  

We have heard much of the latter in this election season (all 2 years of it). And, while I don't really disagree that we are, it's such an overused phrase that doesn't have the gravitas that it ought.

I'm currently reading (very slowly) China: Fragile Superpower by Susan L. Shirk. On page 27, she gives a pretty bleak, yet accurate, picture of the effects of our consumerism:

"Every country -- not just China -- runs a trade surplus with the United States. The American consumer and the American government have been spending beyond their means. Countries like China and Japan are the enablers of American profligacy. Only because these countries lend the United States money can the federal government rack up huge budget deficits without raising interest rates that would hurt consumer spending. Low-priced Chinese imports also keep inflation low so that the Federal Reserve Bank doesn't have to raise interest rates. Many analysts consider the relationship not just interdependent but "codependent" because it is unhealthy for both countries."

(emphasis mine)

And then, this one:

China, like other countries, buys American treasury bonds not to humble or to help the United States but because it has to buy foreign exchange to keep the renminbi stable, and US treasury bonds provide the safest returns for foreign exchange holdings. China would harm itself as well as the United States if it precipitously sold off a big chunk of its US bonds -- the value of its remaining holdings would plummet.

I have so many thoughts about this financial crisis and I don't have the time or energy to write them all out now, but this really struck me in the midst of all that is going on. Our budget deficit is about $460 billion!!! Some projections have it at $700 billion next year as the enormity of the bailout and slumping economy affects next year's deficit. Most of this debt is held by other countries. The bible says "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave"(Proverbs 22:7).

I think that our country's failure to adhere to a budget, both as a nation and as individuals, is at least one step in leading to our downfall as the financial powerhouse in the world, and perhaps the world's superpower, unless we can right the ship. Now, I'm actually not that concerned that we're going to lose that status, per se. I am concerned about which nation is going to receive the mantle of the next world's superpower, if we are to lose it, because that will most certainly affect my children's future...