Debt: Is America Following The Path Of Collapsed Empires?
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More and more are concerned about rising US government debt:
NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) – BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab expects the artificial intelligence boom to continue to boost U.S. stocks next year and support economic growth more broadly, although rising U.S. government debt levels could threaten its upbeat 2025 forecasts. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/blackrock-bets-ai-driven-stocks-rally-us-debt-clouds-2025-outlook-2024-12-04/
ZeroHedge posted the following;
The Looming Debt Crisis: Is America Following The Path Of Collapsed Empires?
December 3, 2024
Whether it’s Rome, Spain, France, Britain, or the Soviet Union, excessive debt has played a critical role in their decline.
The typical pattern in these examples of collapsing empires is:
Stage #1: Empires achieve success and become overconfident.
Stage #2: Overconfidence leads to extravagant spending on luxuries and wars.
Stage #3: Empires finance this lavish spending by going into debt.
Stage #4: The debt grows to an unsustainable level and creates a crushing burden.
Stage #5: Empires finance the debt through taxation and currency debasement.
Stage #6: The populace bears the brunt of debt repayment as empires raise taxes and debase the currency—to the maximum extent—until it causes internal instability.
Stage #7: Empires cannot finance their militaries because of their debt burden. This is usually the tipping point.
Stage #8: Underfunded militaries plus internal instability make empires vulnerable to foreign invasion, domestic revolution, civil war, and other existential dangers.
Stage #9: The empire collapses.
Now, it’s the US Empire’s turn.
The US federal government has the biggest debt in the history of the world. And it’s continuing to grow at a rapid, unstoppable pace.
Annualized interest on the federal debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time this year and is shooting higher at an exponential rate.
The federal debt’s annualized interest cost is already higher than the defense budget.
It’s on track to exceed Social Security and become the BIGGEST item in the federal budget.
Historian Niall Ferguson summed it up nicely:
“Any great power that spends more on debt service (interest payments on the national debt) than on defense will not stay great for very long.
True of Habsburg Spain, true of ancien régime France, true of the Ottoman Empire, true of the British Empire, this law is about to be put to the test by the US beginning this very year.”
Consider this:
1. The American populace is nearing its breaking point as taxation and inflation rise.
2. Interest on the federal debt exceeds defense spending and is set to become the BIGGEST expenditure, and it will keep growing from there.
As a result, the US Empire is somewhere between Stage #6 and #7 in the empire collapse pattern I described above. It is nearing the point where its crushing debt burden will make it difficult to finance existing military spending.
As we saw in the historical examples, a tipping point is reached once an empire’s debt burden becomes so great that it struggles to pay for its military. It’s like someone waving a big red flag.
The US government will soon have to choose to:
1. Cut defense spending amid the most chaotic geopolitical period since WW2.
2. Default on its promises regarding Social Security, Medicare, Veterans’ Benefits, and welfare generally.
Though it may try, the US government cannot continue to pay for entitlements and defense https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/looming-debt-crisis-america-following-path-collapsed-empires
Yes, the US government is following in the path of great, but failed empires.
It will also make trade-offs on defense, which will weaken it.
The US, despite having such a strong military, is prophesied to be conquered in places like Daniel 11:39 and Isaiah 10:5-11.
Regarding debt, this Summer, World Net Daily reported:
We’re doomed! Unless we stop the National Debt Clock
August 16, 2024
If the federal government could balance the budget and just move in the direction of paying the FIRST DOLLAR on the principal of the national debt, it would mean that a tectonic shift in attitude had occurred, and the madness and momentum of out-of-control government deficit spending will have reversed. …
“Cowards in Congress blame others for our national debt. Just fix it, already.” …
See our $35 TRILLION debt exploding on this National Debt Clock as it plunges us toward a preventable economic and societal cataclysm like a “cartoon snowball” gathering size and speed.
It was a mere $10 trillion in 2008, and $20 trillion as recently as 2017, 68% and 104% of GDP, respectively (GDP = Gross Domestic Product, the value of America’s entire yearly economy;
It’s taken just seven years to go from $20 trillion to today’s scary $35 trillion, a 57% increase and an amount that’s 122.8% of GDP (currently $28.5 trillion). Our 2028 debt nightmare is estimated to be $46.7 trillion. That’ll be a millstone on the U.S. economy at 147% of an estimated $31.6 trillion GDP!
This national debt crisis is a massive crime against our people because it causes an illegal “inflation tax” and “taxation without representation” on generations yet-to-be-conceived.
Anyone who downplays this danger is a deceiver. …
President Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney {said}:
“As a leading Republican senator once told President Trump: ‘No one in this town has ever lost his job for spending too much. People have lost for spending too little.’ Candidates for office talk about what people want them to talk about … and right now, voters don’t care about spending.”
Another high-ranking Republican remarked, “Nobody votes for Scrooge.”
In other words, dear reader, we are to blame. https://www.wnd.com/2024/08/were-doomed-unless-we-stop-the-national-debt-clock/
Yes, politicians spend, promise to spend more, and get voted in.
For those who think that Donald Trump will fix the debt accumulation, consider the following that he said:
I’m the king of debt. I love debt. (Egan M. Donald Trump: ‘I’m the king of debt.’ CNN, May 7, 2016)
And what happened during the Trump-Pence Administration? The debt went up dramatically.
Even when he was President of the United States, Barack Obama said the levels of debt his Administration oversaw was “unsustainable,” yet the debt kept going up during the Obama-Biden Administration.
Notice the following levels of official US debt:
- January 20, 2009, $10,626,877,048,913.08, date Obama-Biden Administration inaugurated.
- January 19, 2017, $19,944,429,217,106.77, date Obama-Biden leave office, replaced the next day by Trump-Pence.
- January 19, 2021, $27,752,835,868,445.35, the date Trump-Pence leave office, replaced the next day by Biden-Harris.
- January 19, 2024, $34,072,342,032,939.15, after 3 years of the Biden-Harris Administration.
- December 2, 2024 $36,171,181,955,284.36, which this morning was the latest figure posted at https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny
Official US debt nearly doubled under the Obama-Biden Administration. It also greatly increased by about the same amount in only four years under the Trump-Pence Administration. Debt went up over $8 trillion in less than four years of the Biden-Harris Administration and is expected to increase greatly.
The Bible warns about debt and disobedience:
43 The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. 45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed…47 “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. 52 They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you (Deuteronomy 28:43-45,47-52).
7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)
13 And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts…16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.” (Jeremiah 9:13,14a,16)
12 One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. (Ezekiel 5:12)
The US is doomed unless there is national repentance. Increasing debt is basically a sign that the US does not intend to do that.
Now, you may wish to read and re-read something that the prophet Habakkuk was inspired to write over 2600 years ago:
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry…5 Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man… 6 “Will not all these take up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases What is not his–how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? 7 Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you. Because of men’s blood And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it. (Habakkuk 2:3,5,6-8).
9 “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, That he may set his nest on high, That he may be delivered from the power of disaster! 10 You give shameful counsel to your house, Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your soul. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer it. (Habakkuk 2:9-11)
The above prophecy points to doom. And it will be fulfilled at the time of the end (cf. “The message was true, but the appointed time was long…in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come,” Daniel 10:1,14). Daniel 8:19, 11:27,29,35 use the same Hebrew term for “appointed time” as Habakkuk 2:3, while Daniel 10, using a different term, ties the latter days to the time in Daniel 8:19. Habakkuk 2 was not fulfilled in its entirety anciently.
While some have claimed that Habakkuk 2 is really only a prophecy for the Babylonian Beast (or ancient Chaldea), that is in error for several reasons. The fact that the prophecy will tarry (seems like it takes a long time to fulfill) shows that this cannot be a prophecy for “the end time Babylonian Beast” as some have asserted because the end time Beast will not be accumulating debt for many years before it is taken over, whereas the USA has been doing so for decades–the Babylonian Beast will not have power for but a fraction of that time.
The Bible shows that the Babylonian Beast power will be taken over by Russia and nations all around the world and it will not be because of monetary reasons:
50:41 “Behold, a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance;
They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.43 “The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in childbirth…”(Jeremiah 50:41-43).1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw…
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isaiah 13:1, 17-19)11 Make the arrows bright!
Gather the shields!
The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes.
For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it,
Because it is the vengeance of the Lord,
The vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)
Thus, end time daughter of Babylon will not be taken over because of debt from creditors as the attack will not be related to wanting money!
But, debt will be a factor in taking over the USA per Habakkuk 2 and Deuteronomy 28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My book, Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction, also has the following:
Furthermore, the Bible warns against the type of moral decline that is occurring in the U.S.A.:
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them, 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. (Isaiah 30:12-13)
But how can this happen to the U.S.A.? It will likely happen with a combination of events. Notice:
5 “Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire. (Isaiah 29:5-6)
The debt situation of the U.S.A. is putting it at risk of being unable to recover should it be hit by weather problems, terrorist acts, war, riots, solar flares, severe earthquakes, civil unrest, devastation of their genetically-modified food supplies, food shortages, and/or various pestilences–an intensity of “sorrows” such as Jesus discussed in Matthew 24:4-8 leading up to the time of the Great Tribulation. Political issues, climate change, trade policies, communication’s deals, and other events are pushing the U.S.A. to a position that will encourage its takeover someday. Disasters, especially if there is an ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack, a severe solar flare storm, devastating hurricane (s) something like a massive volcanic eruption and/or massive earthquake could be part of a so-called “perfect storm” of events that could set up the U.S.A. for destruction. …
Daniel 11 … 43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.
The “he” is the King of the North. This is the same King of the North that valued gold and silver in Daniel 11:38. Although other scriptures also show that gold and silver will have value around this time (like Revelation 18; 9:20), the Bible is clear that gold and silver will be worthless for a short time before Jesus returns, e.g. Ezekiel 7:19.
The fact that the King of the North himself will accumulate gold (and some silver) is consistent with several Byzantine (“Greek” Orthodox) prophecies of their expected Great Monarch:
Emperor Leo the Philosopher (died 912): You will amass gold … And you will be the leader of the surrounding nations …
Addressed to Emperor Manuel II, Palaeogous (died 1425): The Emperor … will discover gold and silver…
Saint Andrew Fool-for-Christ (c. 4th century): God will reveal to this king all the gold wherever it happen to lay concealed from view …[i]
One side note is that, in Egypt, major gold deposits were found in 2006.[ii] This is relevant as it does suggest that Egypt now has enough gold that a foreign power could be interested in taking/using it as Bible prophecy teaches.
Since many are now questioning the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, more are looking into other currencies as well as gold. Gold will set records in U.S. dollar terms. In 2017, I also published that in my book related to Donald Trump, and it did hit records in July and August in 2020. [iii]
It has been proposed that various nations around the world are already in the process of accumulating gold to one day overthrow the U.S. dollar—and that the “U.S. is unprepared for this strategic alternative to dollar dominance.”[iv]
When the U.S. dollar totally collapses people all around the world will consider that even if the Euro (or something similar) is strong, having a more gold-backed currency would be safer.
The collapse of the U.S.A. dollar will shake a lot of the world’s confidence in non-gold backed currencies.
The Europeans do not have to have a perfect currency, only one that is perceived to be in better shape than the U.S.A. dollar.
Having the European power acquiring more gold to back the Euro or possibly another future European currency (that might potentially replace the Euro or even a basket of currencies) may greatly increase European credibility, prosperity, and influence around the globe, even if the backing is only implied.
The debt accumulation policies of the Obama-Biden and the Trump-Pence Administrations, which were a massive acceleration of the previous policies of the Bush Administration, look like they will be continued by a Biden-Harris Administration.
The increases in America’s debt are heading the world into the time when something other than the U.S. dollar will be valued as its reserve currency.
A Biden-Harris Administration would need to make massive changes to possibly prevent this.
The U.S.A. and its dollar are at serious risk.
[i] Tzima Otto. The Great Monarch and WWIII in Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Scriptural Prophecies. Verenikia Press, Rock Hill (SC), 2000, pp. 76, 102, 114
[ii] A Gold Mine Worth LE 23 Billion (and counting). Egypt Today, August, 2006
[iii] Gold hits new record, posts best month since 2016 CNBC, July 30, 2020; Woodall T. Gold surges to new highs as US dollar weakens despite growing macro risks. S&P Global, August 10, 2020
[iv] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016
As far as being on a limb that will break, when enough disasters hit the USA, foreign creditors are going to conclude, that since the USA could not truly pay its debt when it was doing well, there is no way it will pay them when hit with multiple disasters–Habakkuk 2:6-8–will be fulfilled!
Related to USA debt, we put together the following video:
And the Debt Goes On …
On June 3, 2023, US President Joe Biden signed a bill to increase the official debt-ceiling of the United States. According to the US Treasury the “ceiling” has been changed, increased, or delayed 78 other times. The official debt has nearly tripled since the Obama-Biden Administration. The official debt increased about $2 trillion per year under Donald Trump’s Administration and has done close to that in the Joe Biden Administration. While the USA has been able to increase debt with limited consequences (like inflation) so far, does the Bible show this can end in destruction? What did God warn about debt through the prophet Habakkuk? Is getting into high amounts of debt a blessing or curse according to the Bible? Do Democrats or Republicans currently have a plan that will now be implemented to pay off the debt? Has the USA been functioning as an international “leech” consistent with statements in the Book of Proverbs? Does the Bible say it is wicked to borrow money you do really intend to repay? Steve Dupuie and Dr. Thiel cover these matters.
Here is a link to our video: And the Debt Goes On …
Perhaps it should be pointed out that the old Radio Church of God did teach that Habakkuk 1 had future fulfillment and tied it in with Isaiah 10 (Hoeh H. The Race Question. Plain Truth, July 1957 p. 22)–which WCG tied in with the coming destruction of the USA.
Furthermore, the old Worldwide Church of God did clearly teach that Habakkuk 2 had future application:
Habakkuk … God also said that this vision was to be written for our benefit today. … (Habakkuk 2:3). God showed Habakkuk that He will punish all the unrighteous at the end-time. … (Habukkuk 2:8, 10, 16-17) (Armstrong HW, editor in chief. THE MINOR PROPHETS SPEAK TO US! Youth Bible Lessons, Level 7, Lesson 9, 1986, p. 4)
So, yes, the old WCG understood that Habakkuk 2 was prophetic for the end time–not that it was fully fulfilled thousands of years ago (which many in certain COGs, like LCG, now wrongly believe).
Do NOT think that whoever is president will fix the debt matter.
The rising USA debt cannot continue indefinitely–there is a major price to pay.
While national repentance is not expected, personal repentance is something all who are willing can do.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details. A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle), you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
About Baptism Should you be baptized? Could baptism be necessary for salvation? Who should baptize and how should it be done? Here is a link to a related sermon: Let’s Talk About Baptism and Baptism, Infants, Fire, & the Second Death.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2024, 2025, or 2026? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Tribulation in 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Spiritual Samaritans: Old and New Who were the Samaritans? Do the represent true Christianity or something else? Here is a link to a related sermon: USA in Prophecy: Samaria.
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Near Petra This article discusses a biblical ‘place of safety,’ Zephaniah 2 to ‘gather together,’ and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on fleeing to a place–thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory. Two sermon-length videos of related interest are available Physical Protection During the Great Tribulation and Might Petra be the Place of Safety? Here are two related items in the Spanish language: Hay un lugar de seguridad para los Filadelfinos. ¿Puede ser Petra? and Existe un Lugar de Seguridad.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America, and the islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon; When Will the End of the Age Come?; Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
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