9 Trillion... I’ve been thinking about stewardship By Fred Cederholm

Column for on/after Mar 19th

I’ve been thinking about stewardship. Actually I’ve been thinking about Matthew 25: 14-30, the 10 talents, elections, truth, February, the costs of war, and the sounds of silence. Last Thursday our Senate voted to once again raise the ceiling on our National Debt to almost $ 9 TRILLION. Yes, $ 9 TRILLION! The vote was 52 to 48 in favor of the increase - strictly along party lines. The House of Representatives had already approved the increase when it passed a 2006 budget blueprint bill. Is this good stewardship? Who deserves to continue in their offices?

You see, the Matthew 25 teachings deal with stewardship and the parable of the 10 talents. A master entrusted three of his servants with his money – one received 5 talents, another received 2 talents, and the third 1 talent. In his absence, the first two worked diligently and doubled the master’s money while the third merely returned the one talent intact. Upon his return, the master rewarded the first two for their diligent stewardship, but cast the third out into the darkness. Now… TH*NK of voters as “the master” and our elected officials as “the servants” (of all the people). How would/should we, the master(s), react in knowing that what we had entrusted to our servants was all gone, and that we now “owed” even more?

On Tuesday, March 21, we the people go to the polls to select the candidates to be elected/re-elected to public office next November. There are good candidates/stewards out there who understand the madness of the profligate spending and the wanton misuse of debt.Find them, support them, and vote for them. And… HOLD them to their campaign rhetoric.Do not accept excuses from incumbents for failing to deliver on their prior promises; cast them out into the darkness. Make it clear to ALL candidates that they will be held accountable and that the coming “Election Day” in November will become the “Judgment Day”.

Truth is hidden from US/us out in the open because the truth is “protected” by a palace guard of lies. We are told that the economy is going great guns and that tax cuts will generate more revenue. Uncle $ugar is on a cash basis of accounting; recognizing revenues when received and expenses when paid. Normally in the first months of the calendar year there are “surpluses” because payments are coming in anticipation of the income tax filings due on the prior year’s income. February 2006 numbers just released showed a $119 BILLION deficit! No way do the numbers being released to the public pass the “straight face” test. Does THAT show us that the economy is booming and that tax revenues are increasing?

Last week, we learned that the projected costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will increase from $6.8 BILLION a month to $ 9.8 BILLION a month – a jump of 44%. Will this really prove to be enough? Given the present saber rattling toward Iran, can we truly afford yet another invasion/war? Trust me when I say that peace and diplomacy are a hack of a lot cheaper in terms of both dollars and lives. Immediately after raising the debt ceiling by $781 BILLION – the fourth MEGA increase during the Bush Presidency (with almost two-and-a-half more years to go); Congress authorized another $ 92 BILLION more for the wars and Katrina/Rita relief. What kind of stewardship is that?

The very day the ceiling was increased, the outstanding debt jumped by $ 1 BILLION to $8,271 BILLION from the $8,270 BILLION where it had effectively “languished” since March 2nd. The game being played with the “cash basis accounting” and “honoring the sanctity” of the debt ceiling precluded Uncle $ugar from paying the bills. At the old ceiling of $8.2 TRILLION, $3,460 BILLION was already “misappropriated” from accumulated Social Security surpluses and other trust/retirement funds under Uncle’s stewardship, and spent elsewhere. To honor those obligations, we will be told that we must “re-fund” that which was already paid for by us.

We the people can no longer remain silent in our disgust over their “stewardship.” “The words of the ‘profits’ are written in the ‘Congress halls’… and the visions that were planted in my brain, still remain… echoing the sounds of silence.” I m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright 2006 Questions, Inc. All rights reserved.

To “audit” this column and to learn more about the subjects discussed, please check out:

The ten talents http://www.gardenofpraise.com/bibl52s.htm
http://www.web-ministry.com/religious/parables/tentalents/
http://www.west.net/~antipas/books/story_of_bible/talents.html

The Senate Vote

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-16-debt-ceiling_x.htm

War Spending

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ak3gHkUGPtpY&refer=top_world_news

Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It.

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpdodt.htm

The Public Debt on-line

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opd.htm

Interest Expense on the debt outstanding (by month)

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdint.htm