Well, Louis, consider all what I am telling as newcomer's remarks. I know about facts that you listed and I agree with you almost on everything except that it is possible in the nearest future to "reverse these trends": as far as I know, the majority of citizens support the administration.

>Hi Yuri,
>
>I have no doubt we will survive. I just don't want us to go back in time in which we were all just survivors. We've reached a point of economic prosperity in this country in which we could all truly enjoy life. Now that life style is being threatened by government spending and greedy CEOs who are not thinking about tomorrow. We had a chance to reduce the national debt, save social security and medicare. Do you know how many have lost jobs in this country in the past couple of years? Do you how much of your tax dollars goes to paying the interest on the national debt? Did you know that we are spending 1 Billion a week because of the invasion of Iraq? Did you know that 48 states are having a budget crisis? Am I a pessimist if I worry how this is all going to come back to haunt us 5 years from now? We were warned 5 years ago about our failing grid system? Our country has to wait until 50 million people are without power until anybody does something. Call me a pessimist, but if
>we don't reverse these trends, we won't be able to dodge too many more bullets.
>
>Louis Datz