Just Desserts?

I commend Mr. Davis for writing and Ceramic Industry for publishing “U.S. Must Prepare for Day of Reckoning” (CI March 2008, pp. 12-13). The content of the article is of utmost importance to all of us, and I am sure most readers will agree with some of the points Mr. Davis raises while taking exception to others. Hopefully, most will agree that the situation deserves our attention.

But the question is, “What can we do?” Not much, it seems to me, but I would love to read suggestions. Seems we are in so deep financially that about the only reasonable course of action is to hyper-inflate to put off the day of reckoning as long as we can. And with the actions planned by our federal government, we seem well on the way.

Consider that the government will print $40 billion to bail out investment banks, spend $40 million to mail informational letters referencing the coming economic stimulus checks, and spend unknown dollars to pay for the Iraq fiasco extending far into the future. There seems to be no limit-and the American public doesn’t even seem to notice. Maybe there is some consolation in recognizing the debacle will be worldwide.

Paul Gubert
Retired
Pgubert@carolina.rr.com

Dark Days Ahead

I couldn’t agree more with Jack Davis’s March article. Like Jack, I believe very dark days are ahead for this country. Our trade policies are a joke; many times I have visited China and marveled at the “playing field” that tilts on a 45º angle. Unlike Jack, though, I attribute at least some of our policies to the combined stupidity and greed of our career politicians, and I strongly believe that some of our trade policies have been bought and paid for by other countries. At this point, owing other countries as much as we do, I wonder if we even stand a chance of reversing our policies.

When I look at the past decade, I cannot come up with a single bright spot:

• U.S. dollar value-much worse
• Energy situation-much worse
• Health care costs and insurance-much worse
• Trade deficit-much worse
• Federal deficit-much worse

Bush’s legacy will be that stupidity combined with greed is a great way to absolutely ruin a country.

Ralph Ruark, PE
Ruark Engineering, Inc.
ruarkeng@aol.com