Steve Lyston | Don't complicate economics

Doing business and managing an economy is not as complicated as it is being presented. God created a simple system. It is the motives of man that present it in such a way that makes it a challenge to comprehend. There are even people within a society who will wreck the nation’s economy and be presented to the people as geniuses.

God created a simple formula by which we should abide in order to achieve economic growth; but mankind has failed to obey and manage. He has given every nation all the resources necessary to effectively manage the nation’s economy, but man has failed to distribute, manage, dominate and expand. (Genesis 1: 27-28).

The first thing we need to recognise is that God’s blessing has to be on whatever we are doing in order for us to have true growth. Most nations use greed, deception and political manipulation and there is no fairness in distribution.

Often times, countries brag about borrowing at lower rates, but borrowing takes away from the very unborn, because they are the ones who will have to foot the bill later on in their lives.

Growing An Economy

For an economy to grow, the focus should be on land, farming and livestock. Divestment should be the very last option. When we divest our properties, we are denying our people the opportunity of partaking in the resources of their own nation. We should not be quick to divest, we should lease – particularly to foreigners. Divestment will lead to divestment of privately-owned companies who will ultimately owe the government because of the problems and losses they will face, which will lead to a more unemployment. That is never good for any nation.

Currency

Every currency should be backed by gold and other metals. Biblically, those metals carry heaven-related symbolism. Furthermore, there needs to be a good barter system in place. Nations should focus on the needs of the people of the nation, not the wants. Needs include food, water, shelter, education, health, and sanitation. Instead, most countries are focused on building highways and other areas when the people have neither food nor education. Needs deal with present sustenance; but wants deal with preferences. So, quite simply, we should not be splurging on wants, we should be spending wisely on needs. Depending on your daily operations you may need a phone, but you don’t need and iPhone – that is a want. There is need for better roads, but we don’t need 5 more new highways. We need to build up the people of the nation first before we continue to increase infrastructure. We can’t depend on tourists/tourism to sustain our economy. We have to invest in the human resources at home. That is a simple, Biblical principle.

Advancing The Nation

If the nation is to advance, then borrowing has to decrease. Borrowing brings people into bondage, threatens our religious freedoms and our culture because the borrower is always a servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22: 7). The economy is about making choices rather than mathematical calculations.

Have the decision-makers for the nation considered the cost associated with the free market floating system that many are promoting? Have they considered the impact on the nation?

According to global reports, many countries, particularly China and Russia, are ditching their dollar and are now investing in gold standard. The global gold standard has risen. The report from Bloomberg says “First-quarter gold purchases by central banks, led by Russia and China, were the highest in six years as countries diversify their assets away from the US dollar. Global gold reserves rose 145.5 tons in the first quarter, a 68 per cent increase from a year earlier, the World Gold Council said....” This shows us that we can’t even depend on oil, we have to get back to basics. Neither can we depend on marijuana (ganja) to save our economy. Furthermore, a credit system only puts further oppression on the people.

We need to begin to put our land to good use – farming. We need to plant fruit trees. (Ezekiel 47: 12 Genesis 1: 29; Revelation 22: 2). We need to build factories and re-open the closed ones and get our people gainfully employed again. We need to build more tanks and reservoirs, and we need to restructure the Central Bank to utilise the tools necessary for growth.