The Great Depression Part 9 – Laid At the Feet of the Fed
Good day to each of you reading this column on the Great Depression and its effect on Americans that went thru this brutal time.
Correction is the best way I can say that God is using when a country, such as the United States of America, went from receiving blessings so great that no barn could contain them to curses that wiped out all so many people and why.
The clue is simple and is found in Deuteronomy 28:1 (NIV) If you will obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his command I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
Carefully read this verse, for this so much information in just this one verse—If—now that’s a big word—If—If you make a promise to God you best keep it or there will major circumstances!!
You will obey—Did the American people obey the Lord God? Evidently not, for God administered the curses for putting other Gods before him. This is in direct violation of the 1st commandment.
Carefully follow all his command—Not half way, not halfheartedly, not partially, but with honor, respect and fear to follow all or 100% his command.
I give you today—When reading the Bible, God gave Moses the ten commandments as well as many other statutes and laws for the Israel people. Fast forwarding to the 1920’s in America, our Christian people followed those same commands that God had instructed the Israelites. Many Americans in the later part of 1920 decided to follow other gods such as money, greed, and self and the curses began.
The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth—Again, look at the history and explosion of growth in the United States from the early part of the 20th century, through the bitter first World War and the defeat of Germany to “the roaring 20’s”, the explosion of the stock market, the industrial revolution and the agricultural explosion. Yes, America, was the lender to many countries including Great Britain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, France in particular. I guess you could say that “America was the head and they were the tail.”
But, as the saying goes, “what comes around, goes around” as we pick up in verse 38 of Deuteronomy 28. Verses 38, 39, and 40 gives you an idea of God’s power and for those who experienced the “Dust Bowl” or had ancestors tell them of what they went thru and the losses they felt.
If you don’t think locust don’t come to visit America, then think again and check out the web for they have invaded, destroyed and continue their path as we enter 2021. Whether one likes it or not, you and I were warned from God in the Bible and these matters are not to be taken lightly.
Am I trying to scare you? No, but educate you in these decisive hours for God is a jealous God and yet, a forgiving and loving God. Like a father, he must discipline us for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but he gives us all so many pardons for his love is greater than any man has ever experienced.
In verses 43 and 44, the alien who lives among us has risen higher and higher and I use the Merriam-Webster as a reference– belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing : STRANGE an alien environment or elating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government : FOREIGN alien residents or differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility.
Look no further than the “Great Depression” where “The Great Depression can be laid at the foot of the Fed,” says Aleksandar Tomic, program director of Master of Science in applied economics at Boston College according to the Business Insider. The Business Insider goes on to say, By keeping interest rates low in the early to mid-1920s, the Fed contributed to the heady expansion. Then, after the crash, it did just the opposite of what economists would advise today: Instead of lowering interest rates, the Fed raised them, doubling them in 1931 from their pre-Crash levels. The idea was to discourage lending and borrowing — the “wild speculating” that encouraged the market to bubble, then burst.
The Fed also followed the “liquidationist” policy of then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, which essentially let banks collapse. The thinking: Weed out the financially irresponsible institutions, and overall, a stronger, sounder banking system would emerge. But instead of the bad apples, it was largely smaller banks that ended up going under. By 1933, 11,000 of them had failed, wiping out the savings of millions.
Ultimately, the decrease in the money supply led to deflation. That, in turn, caused sky-high increases in real interest rates, which choked off any chances of companies investing or expanding.
So, who is the head and who is the tail? Form your thoughts, but be very aware what the Bible says about interest or usury and who it pertains to and who it does not.
Here are a few quotes from Thomas Jefferson for you to ponder:
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”
“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”
“Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. They alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and of restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should go astray. They alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government.”
“Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!”
“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.”
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
Thomas Jefferson
Wisdom beyond the years and there are so many other quotes that could be used from this man, and from many others who gave their life so we could enjoy the freedom that we have today.
When reading Deuteronomy 28—45- 57, God is telling each of us that these curses will persist until we repent. The “great depression” was that and can be further capsulized by https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression Great Depression, worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, sparking fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory. Although it originated in the United States, the Great Depression caused drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation in almost every country of the world. Its social and cultural effects were no less staggering, especially in the United States, where the Great Depression represented the harshest adversity faced by Americans since the Civil War.
The analogies are so very clear in the Bible where God says if you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord will set you high above all the nations on earth.
If is the key word and hear the analogy proved out that America did not fully obey nor carefully follow all God’s commands, therefore America received the curses or discipline needed so that American would again become high above all other nations.
When reading verses 58-68 in Deuteronomy 28, God reiterates to Moses what he had said in verse 1 and goes on to provide each of us with further plagues on us and our descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. Even today, we are seeing and enduring more plagues, natural disasters, lingering illnesses and major food shortages that is affecting both you and I, our parents, family, friends and descendants.
My Christian friend, have we entered into the “New Christian Minority”, where once we were a voice to heard, fellow Christians who were numerous as the stars, men and women going to crusades and prospering in the riches of the blessings of the Lord.
Was the “great depression” the experience of our forefathers who would awaken in the morning and say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!” because of the terror that filled your hearts and the sights your eyes will see.
Where is the next meal? The next job? The next paycheck? Why did this happen to me? The agony, the sadness, lost, and no where to turn. But there was more to come, the dust bowl, lost agriculture, no food, no money and many people would move to California to find any type of relief, which is where the term “Okies” may have come as these were the displaced people in that region heading to California.
In the next column, our thoughts will follow Deuteronomy 29-30 with a call for commitment to God and Prosperity after turning to the Lord.
May you bless God in all that you say and do.
Jeff
