Darrow Miller and Friends

Global Economic Crisis – Part 1 of 6

If you are like me, you are wondering what is going on with the economy. This is certainly the worst financial crisis we have witnessed in our lifetimes, and yet it may reach or exceed the severity of what has been known as the Great Depression of the 1930’s. On a personal level, I have watched my life savings diminish by about 35% in the last year, and there seems to be no bottom in sight.

Credit is hard to come by. Food and gas prices have soared. People are losing their houses and their jobs. While this is certainly impacting the poor and the middle class in the industrialized world, it is perhaps a greater crisis for the poor in the least developed world. The rise of food and fuel prices in these countries is devastating.

Who is to blame? In the last few months, people have looked for answers and for scapegoats. Many blame it on the failed economic policies of the Bush administration. Others have suggested the greed of Wall Street and the CEOs of major corporations who drive their companies into the ground and then retire or are fired-but with multi-million dollar pensions. Some suggest a few major “futures traders” based in Dubai who manipulate the global stock and commodities exchanges. Others find blame with high-risk mortgages offered by banks and brokerage houses that allowed people who could not normally qualify for a loan (no job, no assets and/or no income) to get into a home. Many blame Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, or Congress for forcing banks and brokerage houses to offer high-risk mortgages.

Perhaps closer to home is an American culture that is based on consumption: “Buy now! Pay later!” “Spend, spend, spend!” There are 1,200,000,000 credit and retail cards in America. The average American debt (man, woman and child in America) is $175,154. When the USA was attacked on 9/11, George Bush did not call upon the nation to sacrifice for a war effort, he called the nation to “spend,” and the government leads the way in spending. The national debt is at $10.5 trillion dollars, or about $34,500 for every man woman and child. We no longer are a nation of citizens who save for the future and delay our gratification. We want it all NOW!

What is the solution to the existing crisis? We are told to go out and buy more now. The government is offering one bail out program after another with money it does not have. As private citizens and as government officials, we are mortgaging not only our children’s futures, but our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s futures, too. We are creating new watchdog agencies to watch the old watchdog agencies who failed in their charters. Individually and corporately, we no longer know how to live within our means and govern our own appetites. Who is going to watch these new agencies when they fail?

In all of these months of reading analysis of what went wrong, only one person alluded to the root of this problem. Former Senator Rick Santorium asserted: “The answer is that our beliefs, our choices and our character are not just private matters. They ultimately affect others.” See article here.

We do not have a money problem; we have a moral and metaphysical problem. The root of this crisis is a cultural root. We function from a consumer culture, not a stewardship culture. We are facing financial collapse because the moral and metaphysical infrastructure of our nation and Western materialistic societies is bankrupt.

After the collapse of Enron, my good friend Vishal Mangalwadi commented that its collapse was more problematic than the attack of 9/11. The Jihadists attack was an external attack. Enron was a sign of the moral and spiritual collapse of a nation. If we learn anything from history, it is that nations rot from the inside before they can be defeated from the outside. To solve the current economic crisis, we need to reform culture and we need to call the nation to a moral and metaphysical framework that supports a free, just and equitable society.

–Darrow Miller
Please click on the link at the top of this article to comment with any questions that you may have.

print this page Print this page

About 
Darrow is co-founder of the Disciple Nations Alliance and a featured author and teacher. For over 30 years, Darrow has been a popular conference speaker on topics that include Christianity and culture, apologetics, worldview, poverty, and the dignity of women. From 1981 to 2007 Darrow served with Food for the Hungry International (now FH association), and from 1994 as Vice President. Before joining FH, Darrow spent three years on staff at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland where he was discipled by Francis Schaeffer. He also served as a student pastor at Northern Arizona University and two years as a pastor of Sherman Street Fellowship in urban Denver, CO. In addition to earning his Master’s degree in Adult Education from Arizona State University, Darrow pursued graduate studies in philosophy, theology, Christian apologetics, biblical studies, and missions in the United States, Israel, and Switzerland. Darrow has authored numerous studies, articles, Bible studies and books, including Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Culture (YWAM Publishing, 1998), Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women for Building Healthy Cultures (InterVarsity Press, 2008), LifeWork: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day (YWAM, 2009), Rethinking Social Justice: Restoring Biblical Compassion (YWAM, 2015), and more. These resources along with links to free e-books, podcasts, online training programs and more can be found at Disciple Nations Alliance (https://disciplenations.org).

7 Comments

  1. Tim Williams

    October 29, 2008 - 5:54 pm

    Darrow!!
    I think you are right! Ideas have consequences and the solutions are not just going to come from the government! We have to got to change our spending habits, etc. Wasn’t it only 50 years ago that people believed buying on credit to be a sin?

    Also, I looked up “metaphysical” for anyone else who might be my generation and is like . . . I don’t use *that* word everyday.
    metaphysical definition: Philosophy.
    a. concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth.
    b. concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance.

  2. Bob Liu

    November 4, 2008 - 7:56 pm

    Dear Darrow,

    Hello from SW China. Here are two stories about the economic crisis. Greed as the root cause and what makes people happy. Then there’s a personal observation/belief from the Great Depression of community in action.

    Greed:
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94930841

    Happiness:
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95650430&sc=emaf

    Community in action during the Great Depression:
    http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=37

    Bob

  3. darrow miller

    November 4, 2008 - 9:03 pm

    Hi Bob

    Thanks for engaging. Hope things are well in SW China.
    I appreciated the emphasis in these articles of the substance of community. Too often we make money the base of our happiness. In fact too often in the modern world we sacrifice the things that matter most, family, relationships and community for money. Within the DNA we define development in wholistic terms, using Luke 2:52 as the model for wholeness and health. It sees a comprehensive understanding of health in maturing in the physical, spiritual, social (community) realms, and in wisdom.

    darrow

  4. Schalk Steyn

    November 5, 2008 - 1:06 am

    HI Darrow.. I am a South African, one of your students from Worcester, SA, 1998.. I agree with you. It is more than just the debt, it truly is the value system that needs renewal. Debt is only the manifestation of underlying rotten roots. In 2001 the Lord gave me a clear word that I should advice, warn, my fellow brothers and sisters to get out of the bondage of debt because a global economic crisis was coming. Interesting here it is. I felt at the time it would take 5 yrs to come, and it came, just as the Lord said. Our nations are in desperate need of leaders with foresight who also has the resolve to bring about lasting change, but it will be a painful turn-around process.

  5. darrow miller

    November 28, 2008 - 8:52 am

    Hi Schalk

    It is good to hear from you. I remember well our discussions when I visited with you in South Africa. From your perspective, are there any economists, working on a a global level who understands the need to begin from first principle in responding to this current crises? Your insights would be appreciated.

    darrow

  6. rockwell review

    May 16, 2010 - 7:53 pm

    I definitely enjoyed reading through this write-up.Many thanks.

Shares