I knew I liked that guy

I used to listen to a lot of Christian Radio. Not the hip station with the cool DJ's that plays "Christian versions" of pop-singers. I listened to the station that briefly interupted sermons for 10 minutes of hymns and advice for stay-at-home-schooling moms. It was the only station that had good reception, but it grew on me, and I enjoyed it.

One of the programs, which I believe is still running, would come on in the afternoon just before rush hour: Crown Financial Ministries with your host, Larry Burkett. Well, Larry Burkett passed away a couple of years ago, but his legacy lives on.

The thing I loved about that show was how Mr. Burkett brought people down to earth, and focused them on sensible, attainable goals, and sustainable spending patterns. While there were quite a few callers that had some fairly complex questions about long-term investing, most of the calls centered on two subjects: tithe and budgeting.

Let me summarize 4,376,297 of Larry Burkett's responses: tithe on gross personal income, not on gross business profits or revenues, and don't spend money you don't have. That's it. Want to buy a car? Pay cash. Did you make money last year? Tithe it to the Lord. You run a small business and you feel compelled to tithe (10%) on your revenues even though your profit margin is only 5% which would immediately give you a 5% loss? Don't; make yourself a salaried employee of your company if you are able to and tithe on your gross personal income. You don't have any money tucked away for a rainy day? Cancel your cable subscription and start putting that money in a savings account. When have I saved enough money? When you have breathed enough oxygen.

Programs like Mr. Burkett's remind me of the Saturday Night Live skit, "Don't buy stuff you can't afford." What's not to love about advice like that?

Well, I recently discovered that there is something else I love about Larry Burkett. He wrote a book called The Coming Economic Earthquake, which was considered by many to be quackery at the time. It probably didn't help that he went a little overboard on Y2K; but I say, "Let he who did not store a couple extra gallons of water in thy basement in December of 1999 cast the first stone."

Well, all you Keynesian nay-sayers. It turns out that what's good for the average family, is also good for the Federal Government. Here's a few more ideas for SNL skits that I would like to pitch. We can even bring back old cast-members like Steve Martin. We can bring back Dan Aykroyd for, "Don't commit the country to foreign wars you can't afford." You can get Eddie Murphy to star in, "Don't give millions of people hand-outs you can't afford." They shouldn't have a problem getting Chevy Chase to play a part in, "Don't create giant government bureaucracies that don't produce anything you can't afford." And, of course, how could we leave out Bill Murray who would do a fabulous job in, "Don't print money and expand credit so that it envelopes our economy in a sea of debt and results in economic devastation we can't afford."

Let's think critically here for a minute. If a family is unable to acheive financial freedom and security by spending itself into debt, why would we think that the government can? If the average family needs to save for the future, why wouldn't the government? If SAVING is the family's key to financial stability, then why would we think that SPENDING is our country's key to economic success?