In the previous post, the commentary of Dr. Bill Ragle, associate professor of finance at Cedarville University, focused on the causes of the current economic crisis. Unlike most like a bad dreams, America is still shaken by the prolonged impact of the recession, which began during the failed policies of FDR’s New Deal and certainly by Lydon B, Johnson’s Great Society. But, the impetus pushing the economy over the edge is the result of deregulation–Community Reinvestment Act of 1995 and after–that occurred under previous Democrat regimes and not under GW Bush. That is not to deny Bush’s contributions to the problem.
This post presents solutions to America’s economic crisis offered by Dr. Ragel and others.
Solutions
According to Prof. Ragel, America’s economic problems can be fixed. He proposes the following three steps that would affect financial restoration.
(1) Tax policy must be restructured to encourage entrepreneurial activity. This means tax cuts.
(2) Government must allow market forces to work. Bankruptcy is often the result of either inefficient management or the lack of market demand. For these reasons, government should stop propping up poorly run companies and municipalities.
(3) Both individuals and governments must begin exercising fiscal restraint and pay off their debts. Fiscal restraint is a moral issue related to the concept of self-governance, which was the problem first addressed by Prof. Ragle. For Constitutional governance to work, moral self-governance is among the first principles as understood the founders like John Adams.
If the above are not done, Prof. Ragle warns America will likely suffer a prolonged recession, if not an outright depression. “We will continue to build our debt-based house of cards until it inevitably collapses.”
Cedarville president, Dr. Bill Brown, says the economy reflects societal values, which arise from worldviews. Revaluing our economy is synonymous with the above steps. Moral self-governance (restraint) begins with the providence and sovereignty of nature’s God over individual as well as public life.
Dr. Robert Parr, professor of sociology, sees economic crisis as good news for families. He wrote, “[E]vidence from both Scripture and society demonstrates that a tough economy reinforces the value of family. “Threat to survival provides opportunity to rebuild caring and helping relationships as opposed to narcissism or alienation.
Sources: The Torch, (Spring/Summer 2009), pp. 4-8, 3, and 19.