The Ant and the Foolish Nation

Gulp. According to USA Today each American household is on the hook for at least $546,668 in federal government debt and obligations. Based on numbers cranked out by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, that figure may be low by about $150,000. Surreal? Don't you wish you could make it all go away and start over with a little wisdom from Proverbs or Aesop's Fables? Incredibly, at least one major brokerage house thinks ancient wisdom is self-destructive.

How in the world did we get into this incredible debt mess? I really can't believe I'm writing about numbers this staggering. I'm pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming . . . no such luck, I'm wide awake. Anyway, how did we get into this mess? As a nation, we've borrowed an obscene amount of money, about $11 trillion dollars or more, and we're on the hook for another $99 trillion, according to the Dallas Fed, in unfunded national health care and pension liabilities. The answer to how we got into this mess is this: We've thrown wisdom out the window. We've become a foolish nation.

Remember Proverbs?

Go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.

What have we done? Well, we've acted like the grasshopper in Aesop's Fables:

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; "we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: "It is best to prepare for the days of necessity."

What does Proverbs say about the Grasshopper-frivolity that has generated America's debt?

When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest---your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man.

These are serious words, and $546,668 (or a lot more) is a serious pile of greenbacks. There's a very real possibility that our poverty will come upon us like a vagabond and our need like an armed man. Believe it or not, an economist at a major brokerage house thinks Aesop's fable doesn't make sense for our times. He says:

The governments and central banks of many cricket (grasshopper) nations are borrowing, printing and spending huge sums to prevent the global economy from sliding into depression. And some ant nations have also put aside their frugal ways, understanding that having saved for bad times, now is the time to release their stored wealth. But there are still some governments, especially in continental Europe, who remain "antsy" about taking this step. Their mindset remains close to Aesop's: the crickets caused the crisis so they can sing for their supper. This attitude ignores the fact that the model only works if crickets have the money to buy the ants' output.

The economic moral of Aesop's fable should be re-written. Not only do we prefer understanding, compassion and cooperation to self-righteous posturing; the latter is simply self-destructive. The ant cannot afford to let the cricket dance (and die) in winter. We got into this mess together and that is the only way we will get out of it.

Shorthand translation: Let's continue with massive worldwide government economic intervention---borrowing, printing, spending, and loaning---to help the United States and the rest of the world get out of the mess that was created largely by the United States. And shame on those wise ant nations that don't want to play by the cricket's rules.

What do you think of this advice? I like the ant. My wife and I and our four children can't afford $546,668 or more to feed the cricket. Solomon's words are true: "Fools despise wisdom and instruction."