Current

In a beautiful expose of powerful spiritual truths, the apostle Paul taught there are many voices in this world and not one of them is without a significance. (1 Cor. 14:10) He went on to say that if we don't know the meaning of the language spoken, we are as foreigner to the one who speaks.

It's the same way with economics. The media is saturating our senses with horror stories from Wall Street. Everyone has an opinion. Soft communists (socialists) and radical Islamists are having a hey day, predicting the fall of America's economy and with it the great entrepreneurial system of free market capitalism. Some people want to exploit this to their own political gains and the ordinary people are left with too much information with which to deal.

Western media loves bad stories, since it boosts their ratings and keeps people glued to their TVs, buying more newspapers and clicking around the Internet for opinion. People are scared. People don't like problems, uncertainties and losses. And SOMEONE is capitalizing on these existential fears as best as they could.

I have been saying it now for a while that it's not as bad as some people want you to believe it. A lot of people want the current financial turmoil to fit their theory. The proponents of the gold standard are saying "we told you so". One Western "expert" and the Iranians are predicting oil will go up to $500 a barrel. Ahmadinejad declared the end of America and Angela Merkel quickly called for more government regulation in the banking sector.

But was Monday really so bad? Are all these voices the voices of reason or the voices of populism aiming at your peace and confidence in the future?

Well, history has something to tell us and I wish more people considered the facts instead of the fear factor of bad news from the financial markets.

First of all, don't take my word for it. I will only refer you to the voices I believe are the true voices of reason. Secondarily, do your own research, but don't do it under the spirit of fear. Fear is an incredible force. Don't give into it. Jesus Christ has given us authority over fear. We can't let fear define us and our plans for the future. We can't succumb to the professional negativists. We have one life to live on the earth, let's live it by faith, not in fear.

Consider the following:

1) The current commotions on the financial markets are a mixed bag of issues.

There isn't one single person to blame and one single issue at stake. It's not as simple as some people want to present it. But one simple truth the mainstream media will not tell you is that neither capitalism nor the free market is the problem, but rather the government's attempts to "fix" them. One of the best short articles to explain this is Terry Jones' "'Crony' Capitalism Is Root Cause Of Fannie And Freddie Troubles". Heck, if you're going to get informed, read the whole series.

2) The stock market goes through these "crashes" periodically

Most people don't understand the stock market. Only around 5% of Americans trade on the stock market in person. The rest of the people are dependent on analysts and "experts" to interpret for them the behavior of the stock market. Even Mr. Obama, who wants to be the President of the United States, doesn't understand the stock market himself.

And, yet, the stock market does have a life of its own and you can't allow yourself to get sucked into the criticism of "speculators", because all trading is a form of speculation. In fact, speculators expose the cracks in the system and that's the only way the system can be improved.

Learn more about the historic perspective of the way the stock market regulates itself through periodic "crashes" here.

3) We'll be fine.

That's right, we'll be fine. Don't panic, don't sell, don't fret! Losses are part of life and so are gains. But we'll be fine. People like Dave Ramesy can definately be trusted when it comes to honest assessment of the current situation. Not everyone is out there to get you. There are people who understand the fundamentals of the economy and of the financial markets and they are speaking out. The problem is that bad news sells better than good news and the mainstream media loves bad news. So you have to know to whom to listen before problems come, otherwise the temptation to listen to the fear mongers is hard to resist.

4) Lastly, this ain't 1929.

Some people love to talk about recession and depression. But let's get the facts straight: this is not the Great Depression, not even close to it! Check out this slideshow and statistics from BW.

I hope this helps, my friends! And don't forget, in all of this, our God is greater than all the market fluctuations and the foolishness of people who have been at least part of the cause for the current meltdown.