In this episode, Tanner Nadei, an economist, speaker and author, joins us to talk about the dangers of debt and how we can overcome it. Tanner is a frequent guest on numerous television shows and podcasts and also has his own website and podcast. He is a powerful and knowledgeable speaker who unapologetically and passionately defends Christian values.
00:00:00.000Right. Let's suppose you've spent a little bit too much and now you find yourself underwater and you want to get out of it.
00:00:05.620Well, firstly, don't, you know, expect this big win to get out of debt.
00:00:11.260You know, if you're broke when you're poor, you can you can expect to be broke when or if you're rich.
00:00:16.640I really believe that. I know I know a man who used to work at a bank and he had story.
00:00:22.000He still has stories of how doctors, lawyers, you know, rich businessmen and so on have accounts.
00:00:31.200And of course, it's all anonymous. I don't know who it is. But nevertheless, they have accounts riddled with debt.
00:00:36.100You know, here they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
00:00:39.760They're making more money than most men can fathom. And yet they're in debt.
00:00:44.260And then you have regular tradesmen, carpenters or you have, you know, businessmen or you have oil and gas workers or teachers,
00:00:51.380whatever it might be. And they walk into the bank and they're fine, even though they're not making the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:00:58.820And that's because the principle is very simple, right? If you can't stay out of debt when you're poor, you won't be able to stay out of debt when you're rich, right?
00:01:06.440If you love to spend all of your money now, when you're, say, in the middle class, you will love to spend all of your money when you're in the high class, when you're in the rich class.
00:01:15.820And we hear a lot of stories of rich individuals blowing everything they have somehow on all of these goods and services.
00:01:22.760We are so pleased that Tanner Nadei is joining us on tonight's Empower Hour.
00:01:32.600Tanner is an economist, speaker and author, a frequent guest on numerous television shows and podcasts.
00:01:39.180And he also has his own website and podcast.
00:01:42.580He's a powerful and knowledgeable speaker who unapologetically and passionately defends Christian values.
00:01:49.480And tonight, he'll be providing suggestions and potential solutions to your concerns regarding the economy, how to make ends meet and how to live within your means.
00:02:01.040Will you all please help me welcome Tanner Nadei.
00:02:04.040Tanner, welcome. Thank you for joining us once again on the Empower Hour.
00:02:07.980Oh, hi. Thank you for having me once again.
00:02:10.720It was so much fun last time. It's my pleasure to be with you.
00:02:14.060That's awesome. Thank you so much, Heather. And welcome, Tanner.
00:02:17.120I was thinking about how am I going to start the new year off?
00:02:20.420I first want to wish everybody a happy new year.
00:03:47.560We have, especially in Western society, it seems where we become, you know, we've become comfortable with the abundance that we're blessed to enjoy in this country and countries like it.
00:03:58.040We now have a spending problem, certainly.
00:04:00.980And we're going to talk about it tonight, as you mentioned, and how to conquer that spending problem so that we're not crippled with debt, which, as you know, so many Canadians tragically know, is so overwhelming that it forces them into a very dark and desperate place.
00:04:20.960I created a PowerPoint, so I'll share my screen.
00:04:24.100I've titled this little, you know, this little presentation, The Dangers of Debt, because, of course, the official title is How to Be Debt Free.
00:04:31.860So this is The Dangers of Debt and How to Be Free of Debt and The Dangers of Debt.
00:04:37.000Now, before I begin, I just want to note, as I know Tanya and so on notes, that this isn't intended to be, you know, an individual presentation for, you know, individuals who have specific issues, right?
00:04:51.940That is for a financial advisor, a personal financial advisor or advisors to try and work through, because everyone's situation is different.
00:04:59.800You know, there's different incomes and different levels of debt and different reasons for debt and so on.
00:05:05.120So instead of that, rather, this is, you know, this is just a general overview, some very general principles that I think we as Canadians and just as rational individuals ought to apply to be free of debt.
00:05:19.560And I might, you know, I might tell the audience to begin that I think it's best to read through the Proverbs and Scripture in general, but the Proverbs, you know, they have so much information on spending, why spending, why saving, and how to deal with money that I think it's invaluable to read through them and to take the general principles that they preach and apply them to everyday life with money.
00:05:45.040So all that out of the way, we can begin. So firstly, we're talking about debt. Now, there are really three types of debt. We're only going to be dealing with one type tonight, but there are three types, and it's important to differentiate between them. And we'll see why in a moment.
00:06:01.260So we have personal debt, right? And that's, you know, that's where we get the classic, you know, neither a borrower nor a lender be. That's, you know, debt that happens on the individual level.
00:06:10.160Then you have commercial or business debt, right? And this is when a business or an enterprise raises capital now to fund their enterprise, and then they can pay back that loan or that debt in the future. And then you have public debt.
00:06:24.560And this, of course, we know all too well, right? Here you have government that is, in my opinion, stealing from future generations by forcing future generations who aren't even born yet to pay for goodies, you know, services and so on, which aren't ever very efficient, that are happening right now.
00:06:44.340So we are shackling these future generations with an unfathomable amount of debt that they're going to have to pay back, even though they're not the ones voting for it. I think it's wrong. I think it's stealing. And of course, it's this flag that's happening across Western society.
00:07:00.120Now, tonight, we're just going to be focusing on personal debt. We'll make it simple. We're just going to focus on personal debt at the level of the individual, right? I'm, you know, or I might be in debt, or you might be in debt, and credit card debt, and all of those particular issues.
00:07:16.840Now, when we look at personal debt, right, we can see that there is what's called good debt. And I say that term begrudgingly, and then you have bad debt. Here's what I mean by that. Good debt is debt that is used for future enterprise for productivity, and it's backed by a real asset. So there are certain things, you know, that we need right now to make money right now, actually a lot of money right now.
00:07:45.340And then we can pay back that loan in the future, right? By taking out a bit of debt right now, or taking out a bit of money right now, you know, pulling out a loan, we can increase our productivity to such a degree that we will be so successful in the future, we'll be able to pay back that debt relatively easily. And more than that, the debt which we take out right now is backed by something real. So the example I'm thinking of is the trucker buying a semi, right?
00:08:13.100So he drives truck all across the province, let's say he hauls grain, and he needs a truck. Now you or I or regular truck drivers can't just up and go to their bank accounts and buy a semi, it costs a lot of money to buy a truck, you know, you have hundreds of 1000s of dollars worth of material and goods and so on contained in that truck. But you need it, if you're going to make money. And so you take out a loan now, right, you go into debt.
00:08:38.540But that debt allows you to increase productivity, right, you can start driving truck and hauling grain across the province. And then you can pay down that debt with the new income that you're earning. And, of course, the semi the truck itself is a real asset. So if you have to liquefy it quickly, if you have to sell it fast and pay down that debt quickly, because you know, something's happened, you can do so.
00:09:03.240So we in economics consider that good debt, if there is such a thing, and then you have bad debt. And this is the debt we're going to focus on today, personal debt, and bad debt. Now a bad debt is considered in the economics world, something which one is not used for productivity, instead of allowing more productivity, rather, it's a burden on productivity, and it's not backed by anything real.
00:09:28.940So you and I know a lot of parents, right, who have, as you mentioned at the start, Tanya, paid a lot of money into Christmas presents and toys here over this last month. Now, those toys aren't exactly easily liquefiable, right? If you buy a toy for $300, it's not like you're going to sell it for $300. On the contrary, it loses value very quickly. Or, you know, if you buy a new makeup set, that's very expensive, you know, for your daughter, you can't just up and sell that.
00:09:57.280And it's also not used for productivity. It doesn't allow you to earn more money. I'm not saying Christmas presents are bad. I am saying that it's very easy to go into debt by overboard spending in this particular area. You know, the first example I used with good debt was a semi, because I said it increases productivity. In this case, with bad debt, if we stay on that vehicle metaphor, you might say bad debt would be buying a Camaro or a Corvette or a Mustang, right?
00:10:24.880That vehicle, although it might be nice, doesn't allow you to increase your productivity very much. True, you can sell the car quickly, fine, so be it. But it doesn't make you more efficient. It doesn't allow you to earn more income. So you can see the difference. Very simple.
00:10:39.460Okay, so now that all that's out of the way, now that we have all that jargon out of the way, we can head to the topic, we can focus on the topic of how to be debt free. There is, of course, a very famous quote by Thomas Jefferson, who said, never spend your money before you have it. That's the principle.
00:10:56.460Now, of course, Thomas Jefferson died in debt, but it wasn't entirely his fault. He was shackled with the debt that was beyond his control, family and so on. But that principle holds true. The best way to be debt free is to not go into debt. That's the easiest way to be debt free, right? On the simplest of levels, the best way to be debt free is to avoid debt altogether, and not put yourself into a position where you're in debt.
00:11:24.360It's the same with tyranny, for that matter. You know, Chesterton has this wonderful quote, where he says, you know, a tyranny is never present until it's omnipresent, you know, which is so true, you know, tyranny is never here until it's right on top of you. And he says, the best way generally, to resist a tyranny is to resist it before it exists. So he's exactly right about that. And so to here with debt, the best way to resist debt is to not allow yourself, right, if at all possible, to not go into debt.
00:11:54.360It makes it so much easier than trying to, you know, struggle your way out of it. And that's what I have here. You know, you don't spend what you don't have. That's the principle. If you don't have it, don't spend it. That's the easiest way to stay out of debt. And that seems to be common sense, right? You and I, that makes sense. If I don't have a million dollars, I probably shouldn't go out and spend a million dollars.
00:12:16.340So why is it then, the funny question, why do we have this problem, where we are so eager to spend as much money as possible on all of these goods, many of which we don't need, right? Why exactly do we need the mansion, as nice as the mansion might be, instead of the average sized family home?
00:12:35.280And in large part, as I've put at the bottom of this slide, the reason is because of interest rates and the central bank. This is true in Canada. This is true in America. This is true all across the quote unquote civilized world.
00:12:47.080The theory or the reality looks like this. When interest rates are low, it's a signal to you and me that we should spend as much as we can, because it doesn't pay you to hold money right now. Get rid of your money. It doesn't cost you. And I'm using quotes. It doesn't cost you a lot to spend it right now. So spend as much of it as you can. When the interest rates are high, then you save because it costs you much more to spend.
00:13:12.460So in Canada, the central bank said, we're going to keep interest rates as low as possible. We want as much spending as possible. So they submerged those interest rates for a long time, right? They held it as close to zero as possible. And Canadians, because they were given that signal to spend, started spending and they started spending a lot, right? They were told by the central bank and by politicians that, oh, interest rates will stay low forever.
00:13:41.540You can purchase that massive house, no worries about it, and you'll be able to keep on making payments. It's not a problem whatsoever, right? You'll do this forever and ever. And that'll be that. But of course, interest rates didn't stay low, right? Interest rates eventually rose.
00:13:58.440And all of a sudden, that young couple who shackled themselves with this huge house, with mortgage payments that they were barely getting by on with that low interest rate, found themselves swimming in these payments they could no longer maintain. Why? Because the interest rates rose, and their mortgages rose, and all of a sudden they were in a desperate position.
00:14:21.500So in large part, bureaucracy, Canadian bureaucracy, American bureaucracy, big government, big bureaucratic actors, have encouraged us to spend as much as possible by keeping interest rates as low as possible. And so Canadians have done so. And Americans, we've spent and spent and spent. And the government says, well, this means the economy is great. It's fantastic, right? Everyone's spending.
00:14:48.140So they must have a lot of money. But of course, that isn't true. Instead, it's that we're spending a lot of money, which we don't have. So the principle is simple. Don't spend what you don't have, right? Don't spend what you haven't earned yet. If you can keep that principle center focus in financial life, then you'll find it's very easy to get out of debt, precisely because you'll be in the most minimal of debt or no debt at all. That's ideal.
00:15:15.980But now let's suppose you're in debt, right? Let's suppose you've spent a little bit too much, and now you find yourself underwater, and you want to get out of it. Well, firstly, don't, you know, expect this big win to get out of debt. You know, I have a quote here. I guess not a quote. I wrote it. But it says, if you're broke when you're poor, you can expect to be broke when or if you're rich. I really believe that.
00:15:39.360I know a man who used to work at a bank, and he had a story. He still has stories of how doctors, lawyers, you know, rich businessmen and so on, mostly, but not so much businessmen. I should be more careful.
00:15:54.580Professionals who, although not working in business, make a lot of money, like lawyers and doctors, etc., would come into the bank all the time. And they would have accounts. And of course, it's all anonymous. I don't know who it is. But nevertheless, they have accounts riddled with debt. You know, here they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. They're making more money than most men can fathom. And yet, they're in debt.
00:16:21.500And then you have regular tradesmen, carpenters, or you have, you know, businessmen, or you have oil and gas workers or teachers, whatever it might be. And they walk into the bank, and they're fine, even though they're not making the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that's because the principle is very simple, right? If you can't stay out of debt when you're poor, you won't be able to stay out of debt when you're rich, right? If you love to spend all of your money now, when you're, say, in the middle class, you will love to spend all of your money when you're in the high class.
00:16:51.480When you're in the rich class, we hear a lot of stories of rich individuals blowing everything they have somehow on all of these goods and services. And so it's not as though if you're in debt, you can just sit there and say, well, once I win money at the casino, then I'll be out of debt and I'll be good financially. Nope, doesn't work like that. If you're not financially literate now, you won't be when you or if you make it big.
00:17:14.900Secondly, if you're in debt, don't. Don't try for this big, you know, long shot investment. I've got a tip from my stockbroker friend, and it's going to take off and then I'll be rich. No. Instead, read this book or books like it called The Richest Man in Babylon. I think it's a wonderful, wonderful financial book. And really, the principle of The Richest Man in Babylon is this. Well, let's be financially literate. And it's the principle is live very simply, right?
00:17:44.900Instead, exercise common sense with your money. Don't invest with someone unless you are guaranteed that he or she knows what they're doing, knows the market, knows what's going to work, and so on.
00:17:57.520If you're in debt, pay it down steadily, and, you know, make serious attempts to make amends with those you are in debt to, and so on, and so on, and so on.
00:18:08.040These simple, biblical, financial principles apply to everyone, and when exercised, do a man or a woman much more good than what we try to do on our own.
00:18:21.780So, you know, again, the principle is very simple. It's just live simply. That's the general overarching principle. And finally, if you're in debt, don't, and this is very tempting, right? Put your hope and faith in government. Don't crawl to government and say, I need your help. I pledge my allegiance to you, right?
00:18:41.020I firmly believe, I really believe this, government's entire plan, the federal government's entire plan is to force Canadians so deeply into debt that Canadians have absolutely no choice whatsoever, but to crawl on the steps of the House of Commons and say, please, can I have a handout? Please, can I have some bread to feed my children? Please, can I have this or that so I can go on living in this subjected state of existence?
00:19:08.020And government will go, oh, yeah, absolutely. Here we are, your savior. You just have to pledge your allegiance to us. You just have to keep voting for us. You just have to keep allowing government to get larger and larger and larger and larger. I firmly believe that's the strategy. It's actually called the Cloward-Piven strategy. There was, I don't know, I can't remember if they were sociologists or psychologists or what they were. It's online.
00:19:34.240But Mrs., what's her name, Frances Fox-Piven, and I think it's Richard Cloward, I think is his name. They come up with this strategy in the 60s or 70s, and they basically say, what governments ought to do, what socialist governments ought to do, is throw the entire nation into chaos.
00:19:51.140And then once the nation has been thrown into chaos, the governments should march in there, hailing themselves as saviors. I'll give you this, I'll give you that, I'll bring back order.
00:20:01.260And so by doing so, you introduce all of these new programs and all of these new organizations and rules and regulations into society without society so much as putting up a hand against it. Society is so concerned with their own little neighborhoods, as they ought to be, that they don't recognize governments swooping in and increasing the size of their power and position.
00:20:26.940Now, C.S. Lewis wrote about this actually before the Bowered Piven paper came out. We tend to, you know, recognize Lewis for Chronicles and Arnia and Screwtape Letters and so on, but he has a lot of wonderful essays.
00:20:39.460One of those essays is called Willing Slaves of the Welfare State, and I believe everyone should read it. And in that essay, Lewis talks about how much more efficient it is for government to subject the people using economics rather than, you know, military tools.
00:20:57.400It's much more convincing, it's much more effective for a government to take away a man's ability to feed his family than it is for them to march on the streets with soldiers and tanks.
00:21:10.900So Lewis is recognizing that government, using economics, will subject its people that way. So too here in Canada. I guarantee they want all Canadians so deep in debt that no one is able to swim out except to, and this is false, right, grab the hand of government.
00:21:26.400So resist at all costs the desire to go to the feds for help.
00:21:31.980So now that that's done, here's what to not do when you're in debt. Here's what to do when you're in debt. If you're in debt, do one, cut spending.
00:21:39.260I'm a firm believer of this, and I, you know, we speak about it to governments too. If the bathtub is overflowing, right, if you've turned on the tabs and the tub is overflowing, the first thing to do is turn off the faucet. You have to, right?
00:21:51.800You can say, oh, we could just build a higher bathtub. We could just build onto the tub and let the faucets keep running. But of course, by the time you build up that tub, the floor is already going to be ruined and your bathtub is going to fall through the ceiling.
00:22:05.240So the first thing to do instead is stop the spending, right? If you are overspending, then you need to stop overspending. If you are living beyond your means, then you need to stop living beyond your means.
00:22:16.640And that takes financial, that takes a lot of financial restraint, of course. That takes a lot of discipline. That takes a lot of self-control. No one's denying that. But it's a necessary step that one has to take.
00:22:28.740You know, if we're spending on something frivolous every single day and we're in debt, perhaps it's time to start there. Stop spending on the frivolous things and restrain the spending.
00:22:40.140Like I know the classic example is coffee shops. You go to a coffee shop and in today's inflated age, medium coffee with whipped cream on top is $10. And on one day, it's one thing. But when you get one of those every single day over a period of a month, right?
00:22:55.640You've all, all of a sudden you've amassed $300 worth of spending just on coffee. But it's more than $300, isn't it? Because what could you have done with that $300 had you not have spent it on coffee?
00:23:08.120Well, you could have put it into savings, right? Or you could have put it into an investment. And over the next few decades, that investment would have grown and it would have grown, you know, according to the principles of investing.
00:23:20.840And when you retire, you would have who knows how much thousands of dollars at your disposal that you now won't have because instead you spent it on, you know, some particular coffee from a coffee shop.
00:23:33.620Now, again, I'm not saying we should deny ourselves every single little pleasure like that every day. No. But I think if we're spending on all of these frivolous things all the time, then it becomes a problem. And scripture, scripture agrees. So stop spending.
00:23:47.720Next, pay with cash. Okay, so there are two types of, there are two types of accounting in the accounting world. There is something called cash accounting. And there is something called accrual accounting. Now it works like this, and this is very important for credit cards and the like.
00:24:07.860If you budget your home based on a cash accounting style of accounting, you in essence say this, if I have $100 on my table, that $100 is mine until it physically leaves the location and is sent to somebody else.
00:24:27.740So even if I today spend $100 on, I don't know, a TV and internet bundle, as long as I have that $100 on my table, then it's mine. Even though I spent, you know, I put my TV internet bundle on my credit card, I don't pay that till the end of the month anyway. So I still have $100 in my bank account. That's called a cash style of accounting.
00:24:49.940Now an accrual style of accounting says this. It says I have $100 on my table. Fine. But today I put a bill for my internet and TV of $100 on my credit card. Well, as far as I'm concerned, even though I don't pay that credit card bill until the end of the month, that $100 from my table is gone. No longer here. I can see it physically fine, but it's actually been paid to whoever, to Rogers or to Telus, whatever it might be.
00:25:19.940That's an accrual style of accounting. Now with credit cards, this is the danger. With credit cards, we have deceived ourselves into using a cash style of accounting for our home budgeting, when we should be using an accrual style of accounting.
00:25:35.880So I have a pile of money here, $1,000. Wow, it's all mine. And then I go out and I spend and spend and spend and I put everything on the credit card, that easy piece of plastic. And I put, how much did I spend in a day? $2,000 on a credit card in a single day.
00:25:51.740I come back home and I say, well, I still have $1,000 here on my table, so I'm doing pretty well. When in reality, I've already spent $2,000. Even though I don't pay that card bill until the end of the month, I am $1,000 in the hole today.
00:26:07.420Because that cash, that $1,000 has to be used for paying the credit card bill. And so instead of using that cash style, which says I have $1,000 right here, even though I just spent $2,000, we should be saying, huh, I've spent $2,000 today.
00:26:24.420I only had $1,000 and so I have to, you know, make up the debt. Now, the nice thing with paying with cash, right, the nice thing about paying with cash is that it immediately hurts your wallet. We like that. Even though we don't really like it, as economists and people who want to be financially responsible, we do.
00:26:44.160It is far more difficult to pull out a $50 and pay for a toy that's $50 with cash than it is to pull out a piece of plastic and pay for it by swiping. I don't know what it is, but there's something different. You feel the immediate effect of spending money when you use cash. You do not feel that immediate effect when you use a credit card, right? There's a difference there.
00:27:05.540So I am in favor if, you know, whenever possible, paying with cash or if you have to use a debit card, right? Again, I'm not saying, you know, destroy every single credit card you have, not at all. Instead, I'm just saying that they are very devious in that they make you feel like you're not paying anything at all until the end of the month. And by then, of course, it's too late. So cash is nice because you feel it right then and there.
00:27:33.600And finally, finally, if you're in debt, right, do focus on Jesus Christ. So the general principle of this entire lesson, right? And again, it hasn't been very specific because it can't be. Everyone's situation is different and everyone's going to have to, you know, move out of debt in their own unique ways according to what their financial position allows.
00:27:55.700But the general principle of this entire presentation has been don't spend what you don't have. And if you are in debt, work your way out of it very rationally, you know, work hard. Don't spend so much. Stop deferring all of your, you know, spending payments. Instead, pay them right now so that you feel them and so on and so on and so on, right?
00:28:20.000It's that simple principle of not spending what you, uh, the simple principle of don't spend what you don't have. And if you do have to spend, say on a house or on a vehicle, then do your best to ensure that one, it's easily liquefiable.
00:28:35.480So if you have to pay off the debts immediately, you can. And two, do your best to ensure that it allows you to increase your productivity. You know, I am an, if a man has to buy a truck, a semi, to increase his trucking business, by all means, because he can liquefy it easily, one, and it allows him to earn a lot of money, more than he would otherwise be able to if he wasn't driving truck.
00:28:59.540And of course, we need homes and so on too. Now, we might not need the big mansion that everyone wants, right? We might not need that massive home, which puts us in debt for 60 years kind of thing. But of course, we need homes. And of course, they're also liquefiable. Now, how certain the payment is going to be when you do liquefy is up for debate. But nevertheless, you can generally sell a home unless you're in a huge depression, like we saw a decade and a half ago.
00:29:27.240So those are the principles, right? The principles are don't spend what you don't have. And if you have done so, work your way out slowly, stop spending and use cash and, you know, basically make money and make more than what you are spending. That's the that's the principle. Finally, if you're in debt, right, do focus on Jesus Christ.
00:29:47.680I made this the last slide because it's unique, right? As Christians, we have the special privilege and pleasure of knowing that our Father in heaven provides for us each and every single day. It is the most wonderful test of faith to every single day, drop down on your knees on your bed or at your bed and pray to the King of heaven for your provision.
00:30:11.340You know, there are so many stories of George Mellor. We call him Mueller, but it's Mellor. There are so many stories of this English man who lived in the 1800s named George Mellor, and he started these orphanages.
00:30:24.520And his story of faith and prayer and asking for provision through Almighty God is the most remarkable in my, or one of the most remarkable stories in the past, oh, how many hundreds of years. It's incredible. If you haven't read his story, you must.
00:30:40.520Because he details in very acute description just how desperately and carefully he had to rely on the Lord every single day to meet not only his needs, but the needs of the orphans that he took care of. One such example.
00:30:56.460You know, here's Mellor with all of these orphans, you know, a huge amount of orphans in the orphan house, and they have no bread. They have no breakfast. They're, you know, they're broke. There's no breakfast at all.
00:31:06.360And yet, Mellor has all of these orphans sit down at the breakfast table. He sits them down, and he has them bow their heads, and all of them pray. Mellor prays at the head and says, we thank you so much, Almighty God, for the breakfast that you have provided for us today.
00:31:21.120Even though there's no food, right? There's nothing that's been provided yet. They are sitting there with empty plates and no money to pay for it.
00:31:27.420Well, the moment that Mellor finishes his prayer, there's a knock at the door, at the orphanage door. And sure enough, it's the milkman, who has extra milk, a whole bunch that he has to either give away or dump out.
00:31:38.680And so he brings in the milk, and all of a sudden, all of the orphanages have milk. And then, not a second later, here comes the baker, who, with the same problem, has to give away a whole bunch of bread.
00:31:48.720And so, in that, right, the orphans were cared for. All of their needs were met. I put here on the slide, your manna from heaven, right? We have the story of Israel wandering for decades in the wilderness, and God provided manna and meat every single day.
00:32:04.820And they were to gather enough for that day, and only for that day, lest it spoil, right? It is a wonderful test of trust.
00:32:14.520But to close out the presentation, I wanted to end with a sort of twist. What I mean to say is this.
00:32:21.300There's a story in Mark. It's in a lot of Gospels, I think, actually, but it's certainly in Mark. It's in Mark chapter 10.
00:32:26.980And there's a rich man. We all know the story, right? There's a very rich young ruler, is the definition or the description that's given to him.
00:32:35.420And he comes to Christ. Here's Christ walking around. And this rich young ruler says, you know, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, I've done all of these things.
00:32:42.460You know, I've been good. I've kept the law. I've done everything I'm supposed to do.
00:32:45.980I have, you know, I've excelled in all of these areas of Torah. What must I do? You know, what must I do to have life, be saved?
00:32:56.880And Christ says, you know, keep the law. And of course, it's grace. But nevertheless, he's trying to get something out of this man.
00:33:03.780And the man says, I've done that. I've done everything. And Christ says, all right, then go and sell your possessions.
00:33:08.900You're a rich young ruler. You have a lot of things, so many things. Go and sell them all and come follow me.
00:33:14.860Because, of course, that's the way to salvation. Follow Christ. Believe in Christ.
00:33:19.340And what happens, right? The rich young ruler turns around and he hangs his head and he walks away sad because he's unwilling to part with the possessions.
00:33:29.780So we tend to think, here's the moral of the story. We tend to think that the rich are very good with money.
00:33:35.880But the truth is, money is often very good with the rich. You see the difference.
00:33:41.080We have this idea in our head that once we're out of debt, then we're fine.
00:33:45.980We're, you know, we're going to be, we're ruling our money and it's working for us and wonderful.
00:33:51.100But we have to be so careful because so often, the more money we have, the more it rules us or the more it rules us.
00:33:58.520I am of the firm conviction that many rich men are in debt.
00:34:03.700Now, they might not be in debt the way that you and I understand it, but they are certainly in debt to money.
00:34:09.400Because as far as they're convinced, money is their salvation.
00:34:12.680They need nothing. What do they need? They have everything through cash.
00:34:15.920They can go and buy whatever they want and they're not in debt.
00:34:18.340They can go and buy a yacht. They can buy a boat. They can buy a car.
00:34:21.820They can buy the most expensive and luxurious of homes and vehicles and pleasures and all of those things.
00:34:28.080And yet, they are more in debt to money than the poor widow who every day kneels by her bed and prays to Almighty God for her provision.
00:34:38.160She's the one who's truly free. The rich man isn't free, right?
00:34:41.660He is held hostage by money. He is totally indebted to money.
00:34:47.600But the poor woman, the poor widow who has no money, right?
00:34:51.440The one who is day by day praying for or to Almighty God to meet her provision is free.
00:34:57.920She's truly free because she is not shackled by the false security that gold and wealth and money provide.
00:35:06.860So, that's my short presentation about debt and how to be free of debt.
00:35:12.620Ultimately, the answer is Jesus Christ.
00:35:14.580If you want to be free of debt, and this isn't a prosperity gospel presentation, of course not.
00:35:19.680This is just to say, if you want to be free of debt in all its forms, free of the stress that money brings, free of the stress of not being able to make ends meet,
00:35:29.200and all of these other issues that assail so many across the world, the answer ultimately is Christ.
00:35:39.120I was sitting here making all kinds of notes, but that was an excellent, clear, and precise presentation.
00:35:45.180And I think it's easy for anyone to follow as long as they will make that decision to be disciplined and committed to do so.
00:35:54.800And I think that's the key to it, right, is that our listeners are thinking, yeah, but I like that caramel macchiato at Starbucks, you know, five times a week.
00:36:05.560And I like to go golfing, to the movies, to dinners.
00:36:09.820I was just trying to think of some examples.
00:36:13.220You know, people want their Netflix, their internet, their cable.
00:36:16.240They have become so accustomed and so used to having these pleasures that they really don't know how to live a simple life and live without them.
00:36:24.760And I was seeing the chat blow up with individuals, and I happen to know, I think every single one of these people happen to be Christians who are saying,
00:36:35.400and, you know, not in the startup of their lives, these are not young people, but they say, I am debt-free.
00:36:43.260And they had to make those commitments in order to get to this place.
00:36:49.660And so I'll just finish by saying, when I sent out the weekly action on this, I made the comment, I said,
00:36:56.280it really is time to get back to basics and some good old-fashioned ways of thinking.
00:37:01.900You can only spend it once, so if you don't have it, don't spend it.
00:37:05.800It worked for Ma and Pa, and it can work for you today.
00:37:09.160And I just think that that's the reality.
00:37:12.180I mean, I have two kids who are adults now, and I watched the generation as this thought process has changed,
00:38:11.540You know, we're not the first ones to ask this question.
00:38:14.840Remember the talk show host Donahue, Phil Donahue?
00:38:17.380There was a very famous economist, Milton Friedman, who was on this show with Phil Donahue years and years ago.
00:38:26.000And this was during the inflation roar of the late 70s before Reagan was elected.
00:38:31.660And a member of the audience asks Friedman, again, he's this famous economist.
00:38:35.700Even those who aren't economists know who Friedman is.
00:38:38.880They asked him, how exactly are we supposed to live in this inflated age?
00:38:42.180What can I, as an individual, do to, you know, maneuver around this inflationary crisis, which is crushing, as you mentioned, my ability to buy groceries and pay rent and so on?
00:38:55.000And Friedman has actually a very almost hopeless answer.
00:39:00.620Not hopeless, but it was a difficult answer.
00:39:57.280But, you know, even when you spend on just the essentials, groceries, power, a home, and so on, we are still fighting tooth and nail to try and make ends meet.
00:40:07.060And so this is where, if I wasn't a Christian, I really don't know what answer I would give except, well, try and spend less or pick up yet another job.
00:40:15.880You know, even though you're already working two or three jobs, and you're already living at home, and you already, you know what I mean?
00:40:21.380That's as far as I can go without Christ.
00:40:23.680But with Christ, I can say, you know, on your knees, at the bed, pray to Almighty, and say, really, we need a miracle.
00:40:38.580He will do so now, and he will do so into the future.
00:40:42.080It's not for us to know exactly how he's going to provide.
00:40:45.320But we have full confidence and trust that he will indeed provide.
00:40:49.300So from a secular perspective, my answer with the inflation problem is spend as little as you can and work as much as you can to make as much money as possible.
00:40:58.860Oh, and make sure you work your hardest to ensure that a government is elected, if possible, to Canada, to the Canadian Parliament, which won't spend money, which seems to be an increasingly dubious proposition.
00:41:12.580It won't print money, to be more accurate, which is, again, increasingly dubious.
00:41:15.620But from a Christian perspective, my answer is full of hope.
00:41:19.940And it's to say, although this situation is dire, we are in the privileged position of being able to witness the miracle of Almighty God every single day.
00:41:29.040We get to wake up in the morning and say, Almighty, here I am working my hardest to provide.
00:41:34.500I don't know how I'm going to provide, but I know that you will for me in the most miraculous of ways.
00:41:39.580And from that, as we watch day after day, hour after hour, the Lord supply our needs, our faith in him only continues to grow.
00:41:48.440That's a very good question that a person in Christ, I don't think, has an exciting answer.
00:42:01.400The Bible is filled with scripture that talks about us working and then Sunday resting.
00:42:07.120And it's, you know, not taking Saturday off necessarily as well.
00:42:10.720It's, you know, working six days and resting on Sunday.
00:42:14.480But something else I would even like to say is that embrace it for the young people, I mean, who are just getting married, starting a life.
00:42:24.620My son and his wife happened to be an example I could use, one bedroom, little rental.
00:42:30.700And I think I go back to think about my mom and dad when they started out.
00:42:35.340My dad had a grade six education when he came to Canada.
00:44:01.160But I had saved up, you know, a good nest egg of money before I purchased my home.
00:44:07.280And I knew that no matter what, I could make that payment.
00:44:11.860And I know that at $2 million homes nowadays here in the Surrey area, that's not going to be, you know, accessible for young people.
00:44:20.740But the other point that you made, and I want to emphasize, is get involved with the local elections.
00:44:27.620As young people, we're fighting for your future and you need to step up and fight for it yourself.
00:44:32.700So get involved to make sure that we get the people into office who are definitely going to turn this around and stop paying billions of our tax dollars to NGOs that are in turn fighting everything traditionally that we hold near and dear as far as values are concerned.
00:44:50.340Yes, absolutely. There's no doubt about it, right?
00:44:54.680If we're apathetic, we don't have much of a hill to stand on, right?
00:44:59.720If we say, well, this is the way things are, and then do nothing to change it, we don't have much of a right to say, well, this is the way things are.
00:45:06.720No, instead, you're right. We have to be active.
00:45:08.720We have to be involved in the political process, whatever that looks like, right?
00:45:12.860We have to be active and involved in ensuring that to the best of our, you know, to the best of our capabilities, the government practices some form of financial common sense, which right now it's doing anything but.
00:45:27.380Like, how do we stop inflation? How do we quell that beast?
00:45:30.760The answer is you have to stop printing money. That's it.
00:45:33.500You have to call in the loans as the central bank.
00:45:36.720Now, that will hurt the country, no doubt about it, right?
00:45:40.580You would, just like you saw in the early 80s, there would be a period of recession.
00:45:45.640We're in one now, but anyway, there'd be a period where there'd be a real tightening.
00:45:49.440It has to happen. It's like a hangover, right?
00:45:51.820When you're hungover, you're, well, first you drink and you feel great and, oh, that's wonderful, and then you realize you drank too much, and then you're hungover and you're very sick, and then, you know, you recover and you're back normal.
00:46:05.120So, too, with the economy. You've printed too much money, felt great doing it. I'll spend out on absolutely everything. Spend on the house, spend on the car, spend, spend, spend.
00:46:14.000We realize we've printed too much. Uh-oh. You tighten up the belt. You stop drinking. You stop printing money. The hangover comes. You feel very sick.
00:46:23.340The economy feels sick, but then it gets back to normal, or at least a closer semblance of normal. Like, we should know when government members say, oh, the inflation's down. It's only at 2%. It's within the target range. That's fantastic.
00:46:35.900It's such a pet peeve. They completely neglect the fact that inflation was here, and then it went up like this, and now it's here, and they go, well, the curve isn't climbing as steep, so we're back to our target rate.
00:46:48.300The answer is no, actually, because inflation used to be here, and it's still up here. Even though it's not climbing as sharply, it's still climbing.
00:46:56.240And so we just have to take these proactive measures to speak the truth as it is, and hold our elected officials accountable for the actions that they partake in to bring about some form of financial rationality.
00:47:11.560Right, and I really am going to appeal to people as well as to get involved and know where elected officials stand on critical issues like immigration,
00:47:20.900because I'm going to be talking about it next on the weekly news update I'll be doing.
00:47:26.380I'm going to bring up the Global Compact on Migration, this planned invasion of our nation,
00:47:30.940and the handing out of billions and billions and billions of dollars to individuals to collapse our financial system.
00:47:38.540So if we're going to vote in a new government who says we're going to stop all this spending,
00:47:43.360we're going to be deporting those 4.6 million non-citizens and get ourselves back in order,
00:47:50.900we could see this correction happen much quicker.
00:47:56.340If we recklessly do not pay attention to who we're voting for, it's going to prolong it.
00:48:02.220So it's really, really important to emphasize that.
00:48:05.380Now, we have several questions that have come in through the Q&A, so let me just ask a couple here.
00:48:13.140So it says, what do you think about investing in crypto?
00:48:16.800Oh, that's a very good question. I have to be careful.
00:48:19.000I don't want to give out financial advice, and I know it sounds like a cop-out,
00:48:21.900but just because, you know, here, you know, you can see yourself saying it's a great idea,