I wish that I could say that I have avoided mistakes in my personal and business life, but I haven’t. Unfortunately, I learned them the hard way—through experience.

When I was a young man starting out in business, my partner and I had set our goals for the future. We were young men with dreams and little money, but we were hard workers and had a lot of talent. With some creative thinking, we built our small construction business into a large operation.

When we first started out in the foundation contracting business, all we did were the footings for the foundations, and we did the work ourselves with no hired labor. It was hard. After a while, we built a unique little business into a major operation and were doing almost 100 percent of the footing work in our growing community.

The business eventually grew to encompass customers all over the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. My partner and I looked for ways to expand. Since we used a lot of concrete, it seemed logical for us to build a concrete plant and sell the concrete we were using to ourselves. Although it took a major investment for a couple of young guys who didn’t know anything about the concrete business, we plugged along rather well. That was until truck maintenance and a zillion other complications started depleting our cash flow.

We then decided to start building entire foundations and create money to support our projects by doing the masonry work. My partner, who had never laid a concrete block or brick in his life, put a crew together and started into the masonry business. He caught on quickly and after a couple of years, we were major contractors doing entire building foundations and servicing ourselves with concrete that we produced in our own plant. Everything was going great.

Soon a concrete block plant came up for sale in our city. Since were laying most of the concrete blocks in our area and were having a hard time getting service from the other manufacturers, we decided to buy the block plant. Although the plant was a major investment, the price we paid was nothing compared to the millions a plant like that would normally cost.

I remember the day we closed the loan. Alex and I stood alone in the middle of the ten-acre manufacturing plant, looking at the more than 2,000 feet of railroad siding coming onto our premises and viewing the fleet of trucks and equipment used to move and store the product.

Alex turned to me and asked, “What did we just do?

Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that what appeared to be such a great investment could go so sour. When you take giant steps, you have giant risks.

We knew absolutely nothing about the concrete block manufacturing business. To make matters worse, we took in a partner who had money, but who didn’t know anything about managing a manufacturing plant, either. As a result, we had to rely on other people to run the operation for us. We lost control of our circumstances and a huge white elephant ended up taking us down.

Alex and I both lost everything we had spent many years accumulating through hard work and self-denial. In the end, we found ourselves not behind the desk or on a golf course, but back in the ditch starting all over to pay our debts. It wasn’t fun watching the bank take everything away that we had worked so hard to accumulate. Just as Alex and I had stood there gazing at the plant we had just bought, we stood there as the auctioneer sold everything to the highest bidder.

This was not an easy little lesson to learn; it was a major, life-changing jolt, which strained a beautiful friendship. Today, I spend a lot of time counseling business people to help them avoid the potholes into which I fell so many years ago.

I remember the day I left Kentucky to move to California: Alex and I stood in the parking lot of the café where we drank coffee every morning. I was sad and apprehensive, but I knew God had a plan for my life that was going to take place in California.

Alex put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, SS; go on and do what God has called you to do. You have God, your family, and your health. You’ll do fine.”

It was a moment of friendship that I wouldn’t trade for all the gold in Fort Knox. Those experiences were tough medicine to swallow; it set us back a few years, but it is also why I went back to school to earn a Ph.D. in Business Management, and why today I can write books and blogs. The principles I have learned did not come from lectures in Business 101; I learned them in the world of trying to manage my life—through its successes and failures.

Today, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything I could have had back then.

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I live-stream a Bible study every other Wednesday night that originates from a home in an orange grove near Sanger, California, close to Sequoia National Park.

I’ve been doing this for nearly five years. At the present, we are studying the Book of Revelation, so I am particularly interested in what economists have been saying about a “cashless” society since many Christians believe all that is happening with the changes in currency are going to usher in the era of the Antichrist.

There are opinions of some religious doomsayers trying to make things stick concerning the prophecies in the Book of Revelation and correlate those events to what is happening in the world of economics today. Let me add that most preachers fooling around with this genre are quite over their heads.

For instance, one such popular preacher said: “Money no longer exists because of the trillions of signals between interlinked computer terminals in search of choice trades in hot markets.” That’s a large mouthful from a person with a seminary education. What he is really saying, but doesn’t understand, is that swift capital flows can derail markets when they reverse course.

A more bright doomsayer economist said: “How can there be equilibrium if money becomes transformed from something solid and substantial with demonstrable equity value such as silver or gold into something new, strange, and ethereal?”

It is true that the electronic economy has changed the way the markets operate, but I don’t believe it has destabilized the world’s markets and created financial chaos as these guys suggest. You simply cannot present an emerging global economic system beyond the control of regulators.

When I read or hear from preachers trying to spiritualize the Book of Revelation and equate the inventions of men to the ushering in of the Antichrist, I can’t help but smile. Let me give you a fact from history, and what one majorly popular television preacher said concerning the invention and deployment of ATMs:

“The people who spawned Automatic Teller Machines have created a speculative explosion that threatens to destabilize the world economies.”

These religious prophets have been preaching for years that the electronic age will usher in the Tribulation Period and the Antichrist. As a result, they see the Social Security numbering system, electronic banking machines, and bar code scanners as part of a worldwide scheme centering on the number 666 and the Mark of the Beast.

Let’s face it, the era of the Antichrist will be ushered in whether the proper electronic equipment is in place or not. The end times are God’s timing, and we must be careful about tying in technological progress with doomsday myths.

If transmitting capital via computers can make money easier to manage and companies more profitable by lowering their costs, then shouldn’t we exploit the technology rather than try to stall because we are afraid it will usher in doomsday? Besides, electronic money can’t bring about doomsday any faster than advancing the technology of the automobile, train, plane, food processing, or medicine has hastened the return of Jesus Christ.

This is a fact: The way the world exchanges goods has changed many times since the dawn of creation. Electronic transfers are just another step in the evolutionary process of how trading is accomplished. Those of us who have nothing to fear call this phenomenon progress.

I will never forget the day I took my grandfather to the bank to show him how to get money out of the ATM. It was a brand new invention.

“Look, Grandpa,” I said as I inserted my card. “See how simple this is?”

“Good morning, SS,” it said in robotic fashion.

Grandpa jumped back and shouted, “I’m not touching that thing! It’s too spooky for me!”

Shaking his head, he walked away and waited in the car while I finished my transaction.

I can understand why older people often fear change, but who wants to return to the days when there were no electronic calculators, computers, or the convenience of ATMs?

I don’t. Advancing technology has enhanced our living standards, allowed us to communicate more easily, improved medical treatment, and in many ways has helped spread the Gospel to every corner of the globe. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Antichrist.

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I spent many years employed as a stockbroker.

Because I am a Christian, I was often judged by my well-publicized advice to invest in the Stock Market. In fact, I wrote a popular book, Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is, which focused and taught how to invest in the stock market as well as all the existing public investment markets.

Selling stocks goes back centuries. When companies needed to expand, the banks could not handle the loans required to support expansion because there was not enough money deposited in the banks. Companies then went to the public and sold interests in their businesses called “shares of stock.”

When a person bought a share of stock in a company, he or she was promised part of the profits, if any. These were called dividends. The dividends would be paid on a regular basis as the company shared its profits. Selling shares of stock to the public brought the money into the banks and spread the risk of the business over a wide number of people. In fact, if it weren’t for the stock market, few of us would have jobs because the companies we work for would be out of business or scaling back because of a lack of funds to operate.

People often ask me, “Is playing the stock market gambling?” It can be. When I first became a broker, I quickly learned about the option market—the stock market’s answer to the horse race. When a person buys an option, he does not purchase or sell the stock. Instead he buys a contract and then bets whether the stock will go up or down.

If he bets that the price will fall and then it goes up, he loses money by every dollar the stock raises in price. If he bets the stock goes up and it falls in price, he loses for every dollar the stock goes down even to zero. On the other hand, he can also gain much money if his stock rises, and the profits are unlimited as to how much the stock may rise.

The stock market can also be considered gambling when a person buys a stock and doesn’t know what he is doing or doesn’t listen to a sound researcher’s professional advice. A theory among bona fide financial advisors is: The individual investor making his own choices is wrong 90 percent of the time. It has been my experience that it’s more like 95 percent; especially, for first-time stock pickers who act on a tip they learned from co-workers standing around the water cooler.

The stock market should not be used purely for speculation—although speculating is not wrong. The stock market, however, has outperformed every other investment in total returns since 1936, including real estate. That’s why I do not consider investing in the stock market to be a form of gambling no more than investing in property is a form of gambling. You have to be experienced at investing in either, or you will lose money.

Now here is some very sound advice taken from many years of experience:

1. Since I have also been to law school, I give legal advice. One of the things that you learn is that people hate lawyers. They also hate stockbrokers, but does that mean every lawyer or broker is sleazy? Of course not, and you would be lost without one in the courtroom, and you should have one in your “court” when you are investing your hard earned cash.

2. Avoid discount brokerage firms because you have nearly zero account management, and that increases the risk of losing your money.

3. Pay commissions and keep a professional on the job. When you are buying equity securities without paying commissions to someone who advises you, it is like buying an airplane. The investor buys the plane and does not pay for and does not get the services of a pilot. The question therefore becomes: “Are you absolutely sure you know how to fly this plane?”

Professional advice carries a price tag no matter what its source. That’s why I don’t treat myself medically or defend myself in court. The same principle applies to investors who consider selecting their own stocks, mutual funds, or bonds.

If you are not experienced enough to know all the ins and outs of the simple investment tips that I’m providing here, then you probably should not be buying your investments directly.

You could be gambling with your own future.

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When I was a child, I looked for a pot of gold every time I saw a rainbow. Digging for buried treasure in hopes of finding something valuable fascinated me.

Some adults are like that—always looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. On the beach or in a field or park, you can find them with a huge headset over their ears and a metal detector in their hands. Others play the lottery or bet on horses. Some are even more ingenious and hope to make their fortune through get-rich-quick schemes promising a bright future and monetary rewards.

I read stuff on the Internet all the time about how you can make $2,000 or more a month and never leave your house. However, you will need a credit card and at least $300  credit available to buy the software that will tell you how to do this. The only people getting rich off those schemes are the ones selling the wares.

Years ago, Wealth Without Risk by Charles Givens and the sequel, More Wealth Without Risk, were on the bestseller lists for months. Why? Because people want to get rich the easy way. During that time, I read every book and pondered how these books with great titles but no substance could make people wealthy.

Gullible audiences are making these economic snake oil peddlers rich by buying their anemic advice on the hope that they will someday become like their mentors. The truth is, it rarely happens to anyone and most important never happens to a person who has read one book. The fact is: Bad advice can lead to some terrible consequences.

There are scriptural references to financial freedom. One of those is found in the Bible in the Book of Galatians 6:7-9. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. What we sow, we also reap. This applies to the spiritual influences of man but also the principle applies to material things such as money.

For our wealth to accumulate and grow, it needs to be planted in the right soil and fertilized just like you would a crop. The first step is to understand this. A few years ago, our church was struggling a bit, and I asked the congregation to be praying about our needs.

After my appeal that Sunday morning, one of the young married men in the church came to me and said:

“Pastor, I’m going to Reno, Nevada, to play the lottery. If I win, I will give the church my winnings. Do you think God will bless that?”

I remember well my answer. “God’s blessings do not hinge on whether you would give Him all your earnings or not,” I said. “The test of His blessings hinges upon what you are doing with the dollars in your pocket right now.”

It is not God’s plan for us to gain money by chance. Millions and millions of lottery tickets are sold throughout the United States each year. Only on rare occasions out of hundreds of millions of chances have I ever seen someone praise God for the winning a lottery—much less give a large portion of the money to their church.

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus teaches us to invest our money wisely. We need to plant our money where it will grow by sowing it in prudent and safe investments.

A lady in our town came to me one day and said, “You have to get a hold of my husband’s money. If you don’t get it and put it where he can’t find it, we’ll have nothing left for retirement.”

“What is the problem?” I asked.

“My husband plays the futures and options markets and has wasted $150,000 of our retirement money because he listens to these brokers who call him on the phone and tell how they can make him rich!”

After talking to her husband about the unnecessary chances he was taking, I was able to put what money they had left away in low-risk investments, and they ended up retiring in fine shape.

God doesn’t want us to throw money He has given us down rabbit holes or bet on racehorses. By the way, investing in options and futures is the stock market’s answer to the horse race. God wants us to follow the principle of sowing and reaping.

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In 2 Kings 4:1-7, we read about the widow of a prophet (today we would consider her a preacher’s widow) whose husband had died, leaving her poor and in debt. Although he had revered the Lord and had not lived riotously and luxuriously, he died owing more money than he was worth. Now his creditors were harassing his wife.

Many people today, who live under the constant pressure of collection agencies, can identify with this woman’s distress. Her situation was much worse, however, because the man to whom she owed money was coming to take her sons as bondsmen for seven years to work off the debt. In desperation, she went to Elisha for help.

He asked, “Do you have anything in your house you could sell to make money?”

“Just a little Crisco oil,” she replied.

“Okay,” he said, “go to your neighbors and ask for as many jars as they will loan you.”

“Yeah,” she replied, “what then?”

“Then fill the jars with oil.”

Although the widow had nothing of value to sell, Elisha reasoned that she had credit with her neighbors. Apparently she had somehow managed to keep her credibility by paying her own debts in the past.

Elisha asked the widow to borrow oil jars from her neighbors and shut the door behind her so her creditors would not interrupt. Then the miracle began.

As soon as the jars were full, the oil stopped flowing.

When she told Elisha, he said, “Sell the oil and pay your debts. Then you and your children can live on the profit that is left over.”

There are five lessons I have learned from this passage of Scripture and applied over the years:

1. Sometimes we get into trouble and can’t help it. Circumstances prevail beyond our control. (And we certainly don’t need to go on a guilt trip over circumstances!)

2. It is wrong to go into debt just to support our lifestyle.

3. Borrowing is not wrong if it serves a moral purpose.

4. If our neighbor wants to borrow something from us in time of need, we should be more than willing to let him or her use it for a time.

5. Sometimes, we need a financial miracle.

In America, credit turnover is important to our economic well-being. If people hold on to their payments too long, it forces the creditor to borrow and pay more interest. If the debtor doesn’t pay, that eventually hurts the lender’s financial status and will drive up prices as the lenders need to recoup profits lost by delinquent loans. This is true at banks, merchants who give credit, and individuals.

No American should be in debt unless the debt is advantageous to better living and doesn’t threaten the long-term economic condition of his or her home or business.

When I counsel people about their finances, I know when someone is falling through the cracks. If I see that happening, I always advise, “Get out of debt. And if you can’t handle credit, don’t use it.”

If you want to avoid the problems with which this preacher had strapped his widow, ask yourself this question:

If I do go broke, will the people to whom I owe money be adversely affected by my failure to pay?

To risk someone else’s money when you’re not sure you can repay is totally irresponsible and unfair to your creditors.

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Some Christian financial experts and writers have spent a great deal of time trying to convince their peers and others that the Bible teaches that credit is wrong. I’ve heard the subject debated ad nauseam, but the matter is volatile in some circles.

You absolutely should not have any debt according to the Scriptures. Why? The financial advisers to Christians say the reason lies in the word “usurious.” You are biblically prohibited to pay interest on money you borrow. So borrowing is wrong? Yes, if you pay interest. Is earning interest wrong?

The problem lies in the definition of “usury.” No doubt the Bible condemns the practice of usury. What is it? It is the unfair extraction of interest charged on loans. We get our laws against usurious practices from the Bible, but the Bible does not teach that earning or paying interest is wrong.

Interest on money is simply the cost of doing business. A dentist from Tennessee called me recently and said, “I’ve read all the books on debt-free living, and I’m convinced the economy is headed for collapse, and no one can stop it.”

“Well,” I said, trying to find out why he had called, “how’s your practice doing?”

“To tell the truth, I’m losing patients and don’t know what to do,” he stated in a worried tone.

“Would you mind if I ask you some questions?”

“Shoot,” he replied.

“Do you tithe?”

“Well, when I get completely out of debt, then I’m going to start tithing.”

His answer didn’t surprise me. A lot of debt-free living people think that way. Because they believe debt is sin, they figure it’s better to stop sinning before they start tithing.

“Do you need new equipment in order to upgrade your practice?”

“Yes,” he answered, sighing heavily.

“Do the dentists you compete with have this equipment?”

“Yes.” I could sense the discouragement in his voice.

“Have you lost customers because your equipment is outdated?”

“Yes, they’re all going to the new guy across town.”

“Do you want my advice?” I asked.

“Of course, that’s why I called you.”

“First of all, start tithing and quit worrying about getting or staying out of debt,” I told him bluntly.

“Second, borrow more money and buy the equipment you need, advertise that you have it, and get your customers back.”

“Third, make your borrowing short term only. As your cash flow increases, paying back the loan should be no problem. That’s the proper use of debt.”

“What about the interest I’ll have to pay?” he quizzed.

“If inflation is 6 to 7 percent, then the cost of making those same purchases 10 years from now is going to be the same, or more than the interest you would save by not financing the project now and doing it later. So you will lose what you would have gained by not paying interest on the money during that time.”

Those principles apply to any business. In fact, you wouldn’t have a job to go to tomorrow if your corporation or place of business didn’t use debt as leverage. Your company leverages through sales of stocks, bonds, debentures, and creative bank financing. That’s how they finance their business, so they can employ people like you to work for them. Leverage is essential in a free-market economy.

Walt Disney knew how to use debt to his advantage. One afternoon Roy Disney—Walt’s brother—was very discouraged after poring over the financial records of the Disney Companies.

Walt walked in and noticed the rather depressed look on Roy’s face. “What’s wrong?” Walt asked.

We are $4.5 million in debt with absolutely no way to pay it off at this time,” Roy replied. “We have 1,500 people on the payroll, which is getting harder to make each pay day. It looks like we’ve had it.”

Walt started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Roy asked.

“I can remember when we couldn’t borrow a thousand dollars,” Walt replied.

What’s the difference between leverage and financing with debt? Leverage is debt used only for a short amount of time and only for the reason of the cost of doing business.

Leverage is right, but financing with debt is wrong.

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I’ve done my fair share of writing about the unfair, distasteful, and otherwise downright shakedown of the American public living under the dictatorship of the Internal Revenue Service.

In 1988, when former California Governor Jerry Brown proposed a flat tax, not too many people were paying attention. If some of Jerry Brown’s other views weren’t so eccentric, the flat tax issue would now be a reality.

It is difficult to imagine that anyone would oppose an overhaul of the U.S. tax codes, but the politicians do. When I think that the IRS could actually be abolished or at the minimum downsized to a pittance of what they are today, I get goose bumps.

How could we possibly eliminate the Internal Revenue Service? The answer lies in total tax reform. The United States Government should adopt a consumption tax, and there would be no need for the IRS.

What is it? It is simply an national sales tax on purchases. When you buy something you pay tax on the item, and that money goes to finance government services.

This simple proposal would eliminate complicated withholding procedures that cost businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in personnel and accounting fees. No more looming April 15^th and other dreaded filing deadlines.

The new revolution would increase the savings of the American public. Not only would they save money on taxes; they would save money because they wouldn’t purchase expensive items they don’t need with money they don’t have. The new tax revolution would start a savings boom in our country.

For the skeptics, here are a few positive outcomes:

1. Tax shelters would be eliminated. Do you hate the rich because you believe they have advantages? No longer would that be a problem.

2. Income from investments would no longer be taxed.

3. All fears of a bankrupt nation would be expelled.

4. Fraud from unreported income would be eliminated.

5. The estimated $300 billion to $600 billion in annual IRS costs to assure compliance with the tax laws could be put to better use.

6. Instead of 144 million individual tax returns, only 15 million retailers would have to file.

7. Congress would be forced to stop unnecessary spending.

There are probably no Americans alive today who can remember when the United States had zero income tax. Believe it or not, this country operated very well without an income tax for most of its history and could do it again.

The big spenders in Congress have misused America’s hard-earned money. What is the best way to reverse the big-spending trend? Give them less money. This will force the politicians to use the money from tax dollars to fund programs that benefit the American public where it is intended to be spent in the first place.

Can you imagine what would happen if our government initiated a consumption tax? No longer strapped by burdensome income and business taxes, we could begin to invest in our country and its people.

Every presidential administration dickers with the income tax, raising and lowering, and using new tax proposals as a platform. We need drastic reforms that will work in any administration making it impossible for presidents or Congress to change the tax code, so they can have more of our money to spend on frivolous, pork-barrel projects.

The ball is coming into our court once again this fall. American voters have the power to take away power from our elected officials. We need a platform of reform and abolish this wasteful insidious thievery of the American public.

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One day while working in my office, I received a phone call from another broker whom I had known for several years. During our conversation, I mentioned that I was writing a book on the myths people get caught up in regarding money and how that causes them to make stupid decisions concerning their finances.

“The chapter I’m writing now has to do with the Illuminati,” I told my friend, whom I knew was not a professing economic whiz.

“The Illumi-what-y?” He asked, obviously having never heard the word.

“Oh, it’s supposedly a secret organization founded in the 18th century that has been plotting the takeover of the world.” I explained.

“And how are they supposed to do that?” he asked with a cynical laugh.

“Well, the story goes that there is a conspiracy in the United States led by the Federal Reserve Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission. Their goal is supposedly to destroy America and usher in the New World Order.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” he exclaimed. “Surely nobody really believes that kind of stuff.”

I took a deep breath, wishing I had never brought up the subject. “Well, actually, this theory has been floating around in Christian circles for years and is considered by many to be the gospel truth.”

“Oh,” he responded.

I knew what my friend was thinking—Christians are so gullible; they must believe everything that comes down the pike!

Before I could explain that many Christians, like myself, take a more reasonable and logical approach to the idea of a worldwide conspiracy theory, my broker friend quickly made a feeble excuse to hang up.

Heavy-hearted, I put down the telephone and said out loud, “No wonder the secular world considers Christians to be a bunch of whackos!”

When I was a child, I believed in the boogeyman. Every night, I looked under my bed and checked the closet to make sure no one was hiding there. The boogeyman was very real to me until, one day, I grew up, and no longer had this inhibition.

Whoever invented the boogeyman myth has nothing on the folks who perpetrate conspiracy theories flying around the world. Many people believe secret societies such as the Illuminati control life on this planet—especially in Europe and America.

By the way, the name Illuminati is just one of several interchangeable terms for such secret societies; you can plug in several alternate titles, including the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and others.

Let me say that I believe this myth is a figment of imagination used to create paranoia in the minds of gullible people in order to sell books and articles. It is pure fiction.

I have written a volume on this subject so let me say to the skeptics caught up in this idea of paranoia that documentation of the historical development of the Illuminati, and its sinister plans to orchestrate world events does not exist. All we have as “evidence” are the conclusions drawn by those who have taken world history and inserted powerful players in scenarios that may or may not have actually happened.

The torch is carried from generation to generation and will not die. Today, I was reading a conspiracy theorist, who adamantly defends the idea that the Illuminati used a terrorist organization to get President Obama elected to the White House.

Secret Society Theorists are like Evolutionists. Evolutionists find a bone here, a fossil there, another bone and then construct an intricate theory that all life evolved from this superimposed structure made of plaster that is the ancestor of us all.

Secret Society Theorists do exactly the same thing. They take a fact from history here, a charismatic character of dubious nature there, and an event that is disjointed from the chronological order of things. They then construct a theory that the society in question finances all the world wars and other un-natural calamities in order to control the governments of the world.

You know the most puzzling thing about all this? They actually believe the International banks such as Goldman Sachs finance all this activity.

Don’t get caught up in this nonsense, and it is okay not to read the junk. The one thing no one can control is the heart and mind of a man.

Only God can do that, and that is why the despots, terrorists, thugs and czars will never control the world.

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One of my friends told me this morning—while talking about shopping—that he saves coupons.

In my lifetime, I’ve may have actually used a dozen coupons. My friend’s comment centered on the fact that I was sharing my first lifetime year of saving for Christmas.

I never saved for Christmas, ever. I just charged everything on my normal Christmas Eve shopping spree and then hoped I had enough left on the cards to do it again the next Christmas. I thought I was saving money because I had to settle for other stuff I wanted because the stores were out of the expensive popular items.

“SS, listen,” my friend began, “Using coupons is like a savings account. You don’t have to use all your hard-earned cash when you can present a coupon for a discount.”

I hadn’t thought much about that, so I told him my unusual story:

“You know those old Christmas savings accounts the banks used to advertise years ago?” I asked.

“Yeah, you open up the Christmas Club Account,” he enthusiastically responded. “I never had enough money to do it.”

“Well, I did something this year I’ve never done in my life,” I explained. “I paid off my credit cards. Can you believe that?”

“You’re kidding. Why?”

“I was saving for Christmas.” I proudly told him.

“Really?” he asked.

“And I did something else today I’ve never done before in my life. I did all my shopping five days in advance. And you want to know what else?” I said.

“What? I can’t imagine. I’m still fixated on the credit card issue,” he said.

“I rotated four credit cards that had no balances, and I paid for all the Christmas presents with those cards.”

“So, how is that saving money?” my friend asked.

“Well, I now know that I can pay off those cards in two months, and I will do the same thing next year and the year after. These are my Christmas cards.” I said this as if I were some sort of economic genius for devising this great use of credit cards.

“But isn’t that too dangerous for other people, who may sink into more credit card debt?” He asked this with a serious expression on his face. He was contemplating.

“It could be,” I responded. “You have to be disciplined to do something like this. Like fire when it runs wild, out-of-control-credit can burn the flowerbed of life into ashes. It up to you to keep your spending within the boundaries of your income.”

“I just never thought about using a credit card to save money,” he said.

“You are missing the point.” I responded. “I was testing myself. I wanted to know if I have the discipline to pay off my credit cards. I promised myself that if I could be completely credit card debt free by Christmas, I would only allow myself to buy Christmas presents on those cards, and it worked. Since I don’t have near the balance I started out with at the beginning of this year, I will pay those cards off using the same formula in two months, and then I will have that credit to use for two months next year.”

“So instead of just putting money into a savings account, you paid off the cards?” he asked.

“Yes. I saved five times the interest by doing it this way than I would have if I put the Christmas money in the bank at 1 percent interest. I just kept making credit card payments. It was like an 18 percent investment,” I explained. “I’m just an average guy, but I figured out a way to motivate myself to get out of credit card debt and then leverage my Christmas and pay it all off again by the discipline I learned.”

“Wow,” my friend commented.

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Yep. Raising taxes. If President Obama gets re-elected, he most definitely will think like most Democrats of the past. His party thinks raising taxes will fix the economy.

But as we have seen in these previous blogs, the deficit isn’t the entire dilemma. How we get rid of the deficit—that’s the problem. There is a right way and a wrong way to fix it.

Congress knows we need to get the deficit under control. However, it will take longer and make matters worse if our elected repairmen use the wrong tools.

One of their favorite ways of greasing up the economy is to pour on more taxes; however, tax increases only gum up the works. We have only to look at recent history for evidence of that fact.

In the early 1960s, President John Kennedy proposed tax incentives somewhat like Ronald Reagan’s, and the economy expanded. When Jimmy Carter came into office, his fiscal policies caused America to eventually end in the second deepest recession in history with interest rates that choked the life out of business growth.

The longest economic boom in American history came during the Reagan years. Why? Because Ronald Reagan cut taxes. Most Americans fared better in the 1980s than any other decade of time in their working lives.

Instead of raising taxes, there are other ways to reduce the deficit and stimulate the economy at the same time. Here’s what I would like to see our U.S. government do:

1. Institute a flat tax. My favorite bumper sticker reads, “If 10% is good enough for God, it should be good enough for the IRS.” A flat tax would eliminate all the thousands of sections, sub-sections, and sub-sub-sections of the IRS code that no one understands. They are so complicated that CPAs and other tax experts, including those agents with the IRS, can’t keep up with them. The IRS makes more errors and costs more money to enforce their garbled tax laws than any other enforcement procedures in American law.

2. Cut government spending. The key to economic success—whether it is in the family, business, church or nation—is not to spend out of control.

3. Cut taxes on the middle class. Someone said, “Thieves rob banks because that’s where the money is.” The same philosophy applies to our government. The middle class is taxed to death because it is the largest-paying tax group, and that is where the money is.

4. Increase the job market. The government needs to work harder to increase the job market by spending tax dollars to make improvements to the infrastructure instead of doling out dollars for social programs and wasting money keeping up dead-beat countries that hate us.

5. Don’t overtax the wealthy. Punishing the rich with higher taxes will not ensure our survival. We need to encourage entrepreneurs and those with large amounts of capital to invest in America and not take their money overseas. That’s how jobs are created.

My parting comment: A taxpayer voting for a Democrat is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.

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