Following the Lehman banking debacle of 2008, the government-sponsored bailout of too-big-to-fail banks only created an illusion of recovery because the bailout did not stimulate the economy. Seventy percent of the economy is consumer driven, thus spending must increase.

The U.S. economy is crashing as major retail chains close thousands of stores due to the decline of consumer spending. This decline is due to the loss of permanent jobs, resulting from the collapse of the housing bubble and to massive debt carried by consumers. A catch-22 situation is occurring because job creation requires an increase in consumer spending.

Many college graduates cannot find jobs with underemployment becoming the norm, as full-time, white-collar job opportunities never fully recovered after the recession. The burden of growing student loan debt creates a further decrease in consumer spending.

We are a Christian nation with roots in Judaism and God has a solution for our economic dilemma. The Jubilee law described in Leviticus 25 provides a national cancellation of private debts every 50 years. This will ensure that no one would forever become trapped in debt and poverty. Providing immediate and future Jubilee debt relief for mortgage, student loan and credit card debt will prevent our nation from sinking into an economic depression.

Robert A. Dahlquist