I begin with a statement of opinion that is bleak. I believe that the financial situation in our country is the worst in our history in terms of long-term concerns.
Yes, the Great Depression was worse in the short term. Fortunately, a war “got us out of the Depression.” During the war we created massive debt. Ending the war allowed us through military demobilization to quickly (a few short years) return to financial surpluses in federal accounts. Unfortunately there is no quick fix today for our huge national debt and continuing deficit spending.
I do not believe this is a political party issue. It is an American people issue. We the people increasingly turn to government in all forms to solve problems. As a government should in a democracy, it tries mightily to create solutions, be they in foreign matters to prevent another 9/11 or meet legitimate needs such as health care. I do not belittle any of the “needs” demanded by Americans. I would love to see all of the problems solved either by private enterprise or government, I really don’t care which.
But the simple fact is the country as a whole, privately or through government, cannot meet all the demands articulated.
I believe the “production” in this country is far behind our ability to meet expressed needs or wants. Another way of saying it is: demand is far outpacing supply in a truly macroscopic sense. And it is going to get worse. Again fundamentally, our “supply” is critically dependent on our intellectual capacity as a country. Then look at the state of education at all levels. Our ability to dramatically increase “supply” or production is going down, not up, with untold long term consequences.
My bottom line is we the people are asking far too much of our various governments. We have to stop “asking” no matter how legitimate the “needs.” Government must in turn start to say “NO, we cannot do that.”
Anson Burlingame
Joplin
