I read a startling statistic today. Consumer debt increased in November to a decade long high. Not counting mortgage debt, Americans owe $2.48 trillion. Consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 10%, with credit cards rising 8.5% annually and auto or education loans growing at 10.75% annually. I can only assume it was mostly due to anticipatory Christmas shopping.

So let’s see.

In memory and tribute to the birth of Jesus and all that he lived and died for, most people decided to increase their enslavement to materialism…not to mention China.

Is this possible?

Can it be that in a world of disintegrating global economies and a national unemployment rate that translates into 23.7 million unemployed who are unable to find work, our collective response is denial? That’s precisely what more debt signals. It signals denial of reality by all those people who are increasing their indebtedness. Denial of what it means to the economic health of the nation…and therefore, freedom and liberty.

I know something about debt. I know what it does to an individual. I also know what it can do to a marriage. I once lived with credit card. Only when it reached a point that was personally intolerable did I do something about it. Now, I use no credit cards and only purchase what I can pay for at time of purchase. The difference is undeniable. Without debt, there is an absence of anxiety and a feeling of security…not to mention responsibility and autonomy. So it’s easy for me to project the exponential threat to our national well-being and autonomy that the effects of exorbitant consumer debt will have. On top of that, heap our national indebtedness to China with the tenuous state of the dollar and, well, you get the picture.

Or do you?

If you’re reading this post and have debt, stop buying and stop borrowing. Do everything you can to free yourself from enslavement to that insatiable monster. Consumer debt and credit cards are like betting chips at the crap table in Vegas. It a fun ride while you’re on it, but sooner or later someone taps you on the shoulder and reminds you that 1) the chips aren’t real money; 2) they represent real money and 3) since you kept asking for more and adding interest to “borrowing”…here’s an offer of repayment you can’t refuse. Pharaoh started this game thousands of years ago and the end game was ugly then and will be again.

Let’s not be distracted by all the hype over the 2012 Presidential election.  Our way out of this mess isn’t by way of one single individual. Each of us has to personally step up and disengage from the illusion that has enslaved us to forever needing more.

Disengage from it…not deny our continued participation in it.

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