Republicans sound incredibly phony when they carp about President Obama's failure to reduce unemployment. These are the same folks who'd otherwise be pontificating that government doesn't create jobs - the private sector does. But while they attack government itself, it's the private sector that let us down. They are the ones whose recklessness caused the Great Recession. Despite that, and with our bailouts, corporate America is now sitting on at least $3 trillion in profits that they're not using to expand the economy. They're hoping to extort even more concessions from a government that's long been comprised of servile lapdogs. And they (joined by their amen chorus in the GOP) whine about "uncertainty" - when was there ever certainty in this world?

Well, We the People should lay down the law to them: Either invest that money, or get it taxed away!

Deficit solved.

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck

Rushville, PA

I want to thank the members of the Susquehanna Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees (PASR) for their generous donations of socks for our "Socks for Tots to Teens" collection. The socks were given to Interfaith for their back to school program. A reminder to bring donations of socks, cell phones for our troops and items for the Women's Resource Center to our spring general membership meeting in June 2012. Also, volunteers are always needed to ring bells for the Salvation Army.

Sincerely,

Linda Lee

Montrose, Community Service Chairperson

The second decade of the 21st century is fast becoming known as the terrible 10s. Climate change is causing floods and droughts, pollution is suffocating the oceans, Japan's triple-meltdown radiation encircles the earth, Euro-zone may disintegrate, England is savaged by race riots.

In the U.S., unemployment is intractable, gas and food prices rise while the value of the dollar falls, stock market shocks spook investors, and the once Almighty Dollar is dethroned from its pedestal of AAA credit rating to a AA by S&P.

What else could possibly go wrong? Plenty, says Gerald Celenti: “The economy is on the threshold of calamity... another violent financial episode is looming.” Celenti's business is predicting the future. His highly successful publication, Trends Research Institute, is usually right, in this case, alarmingly right. He made that prediction four years ago.

Who is Gerald Celenti? The Wall Street Journal noted, “Those who take their predictions seriously... consider the Trends Research Institute.” The New York Post wrote, “If Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celenti.”

So what does this “Nostradamus” foresee? “ We predict teetering economies will collapse, currency wars will ensue, trade barriers will be erected, economic unions will splinter, and the onset of the 'Greatest Depression' will be recognized by everyone.”

Unsettling to say the least, even more so since Celenti doesn't stand alone.

“We are in the middle of this crisis and there is more trouble ahead of us,” Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University; “The next financial tsunami is emerging,” Peter Morici, professor of economics at the University of Maryland; “The green shoots of recovery have turned into poison ivy,” Bob Chapman, publisher of the International Forecaster.

Even Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman warns, “It's not hard to see Japan-style deflation emerging.” And Mood's Investment warns of following the S&P downgrade for U.S. bonds.

Many economists see a coming collapse that we can't do anything about. For decades American has been living on the cuff. Our “credit card” is approaching $17 trillion, an amount that cannot possibly be repaid.

Defaults on international loans and dozens of domestic entitlement programs including Social Security and Medicare are inevitable unless the dollar is devalued to pay back debt obligations with a cheaper currency.

“There [is] a 50 percent devaluation of the dollar, and an end to the greenback as the global reserve currency,” warns former Secretary of Commerce Clyde Pretowitz.

A reserve currency is held by governments to conduct international business. If a government or institution wishes to purchase commodities such as oil, lumber, cotton, or wheat, dollars are the preferred medium of exchange.

If the dollar loses its status as the world's reserve currency, much of the $6 trillion held by foreign governments as reserve currency will no longer be needed. A glut of dollars would come onto the world currency market significantly reducing its value.

Baseball great and fount of unintended humor, Yogi Berra, once said, “Prediction is very hard, especially about the future.” But it seems safe to say that in these precarious times the world and especially the United States are in for a hard-knock time or as some would call it, the Greatest Depression.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Thursday evening I watched (until I ran for the toilet) as the president gave us another “kiss and a promise” speech. Except for the fact that the speech was supposed to be reality, it was like watching and listening to a soap opera. “Pass it now, pass it now, pass it now.” Here we are, a nation in pain and suffering, listening to fantasy expectations in lieu of a credible plan to get ourselves back on track. Albert Einstein said it best: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Does this man think we are crazy? Well, no, he doesn’t. But he does know that the only possible plan he can use to win re-election is to convince us (the voters) that all our suffering and pain is the result of a Congress which will not follow his lead. Since we are in shambles after almost three years of his “leadership,” I would do the same thing.

Does anyone remember the famous reply Nancy Pelosi gave when asked about details of the abominable Affordable Health Care bill? She replied “We have to pass it in order to know what is in it.” Doesn’t last night sound vaguely familiar? We should spend another half a trillion dollars doing roughly the same thing that the almost trillion dollars Stimulus plan on 2009 spent, and expect different results. It would be funny except for the suffering of so many million unemployed. The Republicans will be painted by the president as the reason nothing is being accomplished. Yeah, sure. If we repeat our failure, everything will be OK. People - are there any of you still believing this? God, I hope not. And, to top it off, he claims to have a sure fire plan to pay for it (of course, we can’t know what it is until we pass it). Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice...

Last point. Do not believe for a moment that he and the Progressives are idiots. They are surely not. Look through all of this posturing and connect the dots. A 14th century philosopher, William of Ockham, would put it the same way: Connect the dots. If you care to do so, you will fully understand the path on which we are headed by this administration - Socialism and the inevitable failure which comes with it.

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA