A hedge is a fence or boundary. When a hedge is in place it surrounds a thing, protects it and provides security. Hedges are used to shelter and mitigate risk. When hedges fail, the results are volatility, troubles and distress in spades. Everywhere you look these days, hedges are failing and being removed. In the old vernacular, woe to those who hedges fail.
I spent 30 years in the financial world before starting to farm and landscape 24-7. Therefore, I see hedges everywhere. Shrubs and trees that shelter a yard or field. Investments and strategies used to limit risk and protect capital. In 2008 failing hedges (derivatives) tied to mortgage backed securities were the origin for the severe damage caused to financial institutions. The rest is a tale of misery and gnashing of teeth felt around the world. In other words, enough woe to go around for everyone.
Today pundits will point to financial institutions being in a much better position and say the ‘great recession’ is in the rear view mirror. But, look closely and you’ll see the next phase of hedges failing is well underway.
We need to recognize the systemic failure of hedging, how widespread it is and where this failure originates. People want to believe as long as there isn’t a monetary and fiscal catastrophe, money and sound finances will hedge us against the woe we lived through a few years ago. Well, look at the hedges being removed today and buckle up.
The police are historically a hedge to protect against crime…that hedge is being de-funded and torn down. The U.S. Military has been a hedge to protect our freedoms and way of life domestically and abroad…that hedge is being removed as well. The border was a hedge to ensure against any and all threats like terrorists and drugs.
Many investors believe Bitcoin is a hedge against government overspending and printing of fiat currencies. Governments don’t accept competition without a fight so that rout is only in the 4th inning. Bonds are considered a hedge to balance a portfolio. Rising interest rates and the failure of confidence in governments across the globe is tearing apart that hedge. Pension funds in Europe will bear this burden at first but American retirement funds will follow. The fruit many expect from hedging is failing to ripen and materialize.
“In Unity We Trust” will replace the phrase “In God We Trust” on the CBDC’s (Central Bank Digital Currency) which will start in Europe. Sound finances and monetary policies of a ‘United Nations’ are not the hedge we need. A little history and knowledge of the Bible reveals that everything we SEE is a reflection of what we don’t see happening in the spiritual realm. The God of Creation is the only hedge protecting our world. When you take Him out of the schools, from the court buildings and out of the conversation in the heart and mind of men and women, woe goes parabolic.
Hedges have been falling my entire life. The family is the bedrock for civilization and the means for passing along Truth and Faith. Parents have the primary responsibility to give their children God’s Truth. When we substitute passing along Biblical truth for a better socioeconomic standing and a college education, the hedge of a Godly family has failed the next generation. When we tell each other and teach our kids evolution trumps creation….abortion is choice not murder…genital mutilation is a means of correcting gender confusion…woe to the press, politicians, church and family.
This isn’t MY opinion, this is what God says. Read the 5th chapter of Isaiah and see if any of this sounds like America in 2022.
…’ Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.’ Can you say urban life?
…’ Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.’ Can you say a culture of entertainment and a work force where the service industry creates more jobs than manufacturing?
…’ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.’ I’ll let you come up with a list for this. It spreads across race, sex and political persuasions. None are exempt.
The God of Creation is NOT a safe God. When HIS people, who call themselves by HIS name don’t act or speak out against what has become politically correct or woke ideology, He removes the hedge of protection. The resulting distress, volatility and trouble is what we are currently experiencing.
God created our world as a garden (remember Eden) and a vineyard that is meant to produce fruit for Him. His people are supposed to work that garden and bear the fruit. That fruit is ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.’ When God’s people don’t bear that fruit, you could say Christians are a large part of the problem. Sound extreme? Listen up.
‘What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed: I will break down it’s wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briars and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.’ Isaiah 5:4-6.
The hedges we see failing in American society and our financial markets is a result of spiritual hedges being removed. Christians must take the lead and produce the fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit…or else the hedges will continue to fail.
If we don’t speak God’s truth, if we don’t love regardless of political affiliation, if we don’t turn back to God, woe is a gentle word to describe what lies ahead.