Scaling down?

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Peninsula readers' letters: Sept. 1
From Daily News Group readers

Posted: 08/31/2009 08:42:28 PM PDT
Updated: 08/31/2009 08:42:30 PM PDT



Our decaying empire

Dear Editor: In a chilling forecast, the White House is predicting a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion — more than the sum of all previous deficits since America's founding. And it says by the next decade's end the national debt will equal three-quarters of the entire U.S. economy.

You'll recall that President Obama announced that he had found budget savings of $17 billion. The American empire is clearly overstretched and over-indebted. When an empire is new and fresh and growing, people believe in saving, hard work, and frugality. When an empire is old and decaying, they think the government should spend "whatever it takes" to take care of them. This attitude helps destroy the empire — thus making room for the next one. Americans have found a president willing to go along with history.

Instead of scaling down, he is scaling up. Instead of reducing America's indebtedness, he is increasing it. Instead of going for safety, he's going for broke. America goes on living in a fairy tale, a land of make-believe in which prosperity never ceases. But it will one of these days.

Ted Rudow III,MA