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Welcome to breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. What can a breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth?

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Well, perhaps the only upside of Americas and Americans' debt problems is the many funny memes that have been spawned by the financial precariousness.

Currently, the national debt stands at over $36 trillion. That's more than $100,000 of debt for every

person in the country. And that's on top of the debt that's personally incurred by 77% of American households,

at an average of about $65,000 each. At least a third of Americans have some form of credit card debt, which is arguably the

most dangerous kind. Personal debt, whether the result of poor financial decisions or causes beyond

one's control, can cause incredible stress on individuals and families. When it's at a civilizational

level, however, debt becomes an indicator of decline, a symptom of a destructive worldview

in which immediate gratification is prioritized over and above any long-term thinking.

In his 1941 book The Crisis of Our Age, the great sociologist Petirum Syrokin

categorized cultures between two extremes, ideational and sensate. Ideational cultures are

oriented around ideals, aspirational visions that govern and direct social life. Sinsate cultures

are oriented around immediate fulfillment, focused on the immediate gratification of physical desire.

Extreme levels of debt are signs that a culture or civilization has become sensate,

seeking immediate gratification, wanting what we want now, not willing to work for it later.

Irresponsible spending habits and sacrificing financial security to acquire what's new and flashy

...