Moral Issues When Farmers Sink Into Debt

What is money? Money is stored time and labor. Money represents freedom to spend time at activities of one's choice instead of activities needed to create money.

If a person's labor is worth $10 per hour, then a sum of $2,500 is equal to 250 hours of that person's time. By having $2,500 saved, an individual can spend 250 hours in activities other than working. Wealthy people have the most choices with regard to their time. They have the most freedom.

Many people become engrossed in the process of making money and forget to use the freedom their money has created for them. That time could be spent with the family, in community service, in growth and learning enhancing experiences, or balancing out life with leisure, spirituality, friendships, charity, etc.

Money and values. How we spend our money is a measure of what we value. Researchers have learned to that they can profile an individual's personality or a family's way of life by examining their garbage or their checkbooks. Our behavior with money is a valid record of choices with our "stored time."

Debt is the opposite of stored time; it is mortgaged time. In taking on debt, we take on an obligation that can be satisfied only through spending time making money. If we owe $2,500 and our income generating potential is $10 per hour, we have obligated 250 hours of our future to satisfy the debt.

Excessive debt is self-induced slavery. If we miscalculate our ability to pay back the debt, then we restrict our future choices and encumber our time.

If we default on debt, then someone else loses the value of his or her time and resources used to create the products or services. Debt cannot be wished away. Somebody always holds the bag.

Judging personal worth. We can judge our morality by the way we look upon our debts. The accounting equation reads "assets plus liabilities equals net worth." If our assets are great and our liabilities are great then our net worth is low. If we discharge our liabilities then our net worth grows.

Another way to read the equation is, "benefits plus responsibilities equals net worth." By applying this formula to non-financial matters, we have a method of judging our morality in a variety of situations.

Our bodies are a marvelous asset. We have a responsibility to avoid ingesting harmful substances or otherwise mistreating it or taking unnecessarily risks. We need to exercise, eat properly and get adequate sleep.

Our country provides us with freedom, justice and opportunity unparalleled in the history of the world. We have an obligation to honor its laws, pay taxes, support its defense and select its leaders.

Marriage partners enjoy the benefits of companionship, loving service and lifelong friendship. We have an obligation to meet the needs to loved ones who give freely to us.

Our work provides us with the income and opportunities for personal growth and challenge. With that benefit coming to us, we have an obligation to give our honest labor and effort to meet the requirements of the job.

Farmers and debt. People who are heavily indebted feel the anxiety of meeting moral obligations while feeling like their future goals and opportunities and limited. Most farmers caught up in a heavy debt load realize the legitimacy of their debts and anguish about their inability to pay their creditors.

With the pressure of a heavy debt load, a few farmers rationalize ways of bending the rules to circumvent the law. Under normal times they wouldn’t think of compromising their morality, but the test of hard times and the threatened loss of a farm puts people's character to the test.

Attitudes vary. Many agonize and do everything possible to satisfy their creditors. They know they are hurting someone when the debts aren’t satisfied. Unfortunately and tragically, debts in agriculture can be so great that bankruptcy is the only solution. The interest on the mortgage payment can be so overwhelming that repayment is an impossibility. This is often the most bitter and hurtful pill to swallow in leaving a failing farm business.

Others plunge ahead in last-gasp efforts to stay in farming even though the negative consequences mount. They add debt to an already precarious situation. Some hide facts from their lender while others sell mortgaged property. They search for questionable legal loopholes while justifying their actions to themselves.

My heart bleeds for those honorable farmers who have been caught with excessive debt. They have so many losses but the loss they should fear the most is the loss of their integrity.

My heart also bleeds for those individuals who cave in to the pressure. They harm themselves and others in a last gasp effort to save the farm. Under desperate conditions and pressures, they begin to rationalize their values and somehow make their actions OK in order to live with themselves. Under ordinary conditions, they wouldn’t be tempted. Under conditions of fighting for their identity, heritage, and way of life, they justify illegal behavior as a justice for the unfairness they perceive.

Too many people find out too late that the price of their integrity is too big of a price to pay, no matter what the stakes are.