I just received a stimulus check from the government.
What should I do with it?
Hi.
Welcome to today's Little Lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me.
We're going to try to tackle a question that is facing many Americans during the time that
I'm filming this Little Lesson.
This is early May 2020.
And most American citizens and taxpayers have recently received or in the process of receiving
what is being called a stimulus check, about $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependent child,
all across the American population.
And so not too long ago, I woke up in the morning and I checked my bank account balance
online and there was $2,400 more in my bank account than there had been the day before
because my wife and I, all of our kids are grown and out of the nest, of course each
receive $1,200 in stimulus money.
And it's all due to the coronavirus and the shutting down of so many businesses.
And granted, lots of people are hurting because of that.
And I'm sure that to them the stimulus check has been somewhat of a lifesaver because maybe
they don't have any savings and perhaps they've lost their job or jobs and so forth, now don't
have any income and times are really, really tough for those folks.
And so I just want to start off by saying I'm just thankful that we have a government,
and many governments around the world are like this today, that does have some concern
for people among its citizenry who are hurting.
I kind of think that's probably unprecedented when you take into consideration all of human
history, where governments are caring for the poor and have a concern for the citizens
within their midst that are hurting that really until the advent of Christianity, Jesus teaching
things the ethical and moral principles like, "love your neighbor as yourself" and so forth.
And these things became widespread ideas.
The whole idea of democracy and republics, I think has sprung from some sense of moral
obligation to our neighbors and the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
absolutely has been proven countless times in history.
And so we're very blessed to have some form of a representative form of government where
we can elect our leaders and we can vote them out as well as vote them in.
And so some power then is invested in the citizens who are the subjects of the government.
So from that standpoint, we were blessed to be living in the age and the era that we live,
whereas in past times, the poor were reduced just to begging.
And of course in many countries around the world, that's still the case.
I don't know how many countries have been handing out stimulus checks to their citizens,
but I'll bet it's the minority.
And there are no doubt people watching this video who just are shaking their heads in
other parts of the world who're saying, "Oh my goodness.
The United States of America and these wealthier countries are so different than the country
in which I'm living.
The poor are really suffering.
And the coronavirus lockdowns that have shut down businesses and shut down our economy
is resulting in people literally going without food and even starving.
And yet over in your country, the government's sending checks out to everybody.
And you have so much of a safety net that other countries don't have."
So in any case, let's be thankful for whatever blessings that we have.
Now, when I received my stimulus check, I was aware of the fact that I really didn't
need it.
I'm in a stage of life where I don't have dependent children any longer and my expenses
have been reduced dramatically from my earlier years.
And I've got some savings and so forth.
I haven't been laid off from my job.
I work for the nonprofit that I founded about 18 years ago, Heaven's Family, and our income
has remained steady as a ministry, as a nonprofit throughout the whole coronavirus crisis.
It's a blessing there too that the donors to Heaven's Family have remained consistent
even in light of the financial crisis that is being faced.
So anyways, I don't want to make light of the fact that many people are out of work
and many people are at stage of life where they've got dependent children or other people
that are dependent upon them and the stimulus check from the government has been a real
welcome.
But I think that morally, fundamentally, philosophically, we ought to think about these things a little
bit more deeply.
And one fundamental fact that I think is important, a moral fact, that's important for us to remember
is that the government really doesn't have any money that it hasn't gotten from the taxpayers,
right?
That's how any government gets money.
It taxes individuals and it taxes corporations.
But again corporations, of course, pass those taxes onto the people that they do business
with.
So in the end it's just the average Joe, all the people, the individuals, who are paying
taxes, that we're paying taxes not only individual income taxes, but we're also paying those
corporate taxes and everything we buy and every good or service that we purchase their
taxes are built in to what they're charging us for those goods and services.
So we're paying the taxes.
So the United States government has a budget currently of about $4 trillion.
That's how much they're going to spend.
And they got to get that money from somewhere.
And so they get the majority of it from personal income taxes.
And then of course you add on state taxes and corporate taxes and every other fee that
they charge for the services they provide and that's how they get the majority of their
income.
But yet I think this year, the United States government is going to borrow close to a trillion
dollars.
Actually that was last year.
With the stimulus package, I think they've gotten a debt to the tune of another $2 trillion.
So they borrowed money in order to send everybody stimulus checks.
And how are they going to pay back that money?
Well, it's going to be because they tax the taxpayers and they're so much in debt now
that the national debt just is increasing exponentially over the last decade or so.
There's no way that my generation is ever going to pay back what the government owes
and probably even the next generation, my kids.
So it's going to be my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren are going to be paying
the principle and the interest on the stimulus money that we all just received.
So in one sense, and I think this is important for us to keep in mind, as we decide what
to do with our stimulus checks, that's money borrowed from our grandchildren, that's money
in one sense and borrowed from our grandchildren or our grandchildren will be the ones who
have to pay it back or our great-grandchildren.
You see?
So I think that brings up kind of an ethical nuance that maybe lots of people aren't thinking
about.
And I mean would you go into debt right now?
Take out a personal loan that you sign the signature that my grandchildren will pay this
back.
I'm not going to pay back a dime, but my grandchildren will pay back this and I'm going to go out
and take a vacation with this money or go buy a house or a car and I'll enjoy the benefit
of this money.
And my grandchildren will be paying it back.
You wouldn't do that, unless you're the scum of the earth.
But in essence, that's what our government is, in one sense, is doing on our behalf right
now.
So I haven't answered the question yet.
So we're going to have to go into part two in our next Little Lesson.
So be sure to watch that, okay?
Hey, I want to close by just saying that if you haven't checked out Heaven's Family, that's
the ministry that I'm so blessed to direct, visit our website if you would please.
Heaven, the letter S, the word family.
Heaven, S, family.
Heavensfamily.org and see how you can get involved in something that every Christian
should be involved in.
And that is caring for the least of these.
Until next time.
God bless you.