Once again we ring in that infamous month which marks the anniversary of the Roe V Wade decision that legalized abortion in our land. Many like to think the abortions are only allowed for the first trimester of pregnancy but this simply is not the case and although, thank God, the partial birth abortion has been outlawed, babies are still destroyed when, if born, could survive. Not only do we still have the million and a half clinical abortions, we now have the morning after pill sold daily over the counter. We like to tell ourselves that this pill only prevents pregnancy - and that is true - but it prevents pregnancy, just as the birth control pill, because it simply evacuates a baby, should there be one. Having killed over 50 million+ American citizens how can we hope to survive as a country? I ask all Catholics and Christians who agree to pray with us for an end to this genocide of our children. We have asked God to leave our schools, our government and our streets. He has honored that request and now we stand naked and alone in our sin.

Sincerely,

Annette Corrigan

Susquehanna County

Wednesday in Ohio, President Obama said “You need somebody looking out for your interests and fighting for you.” Said in Spanish, this class warfare speech could have come from the mouth of Fidel Castro. This while standing before a banner proclaiming We Can’t Wait. His “recess” appointments, made this week without the Constitutional requirement of Senate approval, is one more power grab, the latest of many.

Mr. Obama is running roughshod over the Constitution in case you haven’t noticed. The Senate and House control over funding was handed over to the Executive branch by their approval the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill. Mr. Obama is concentrating power as he promotes his populism. He claims frustration over a “do nothing” Congress.

The election of 2010 is working exactly as the people intended - slowing the runaway spending train headed directly to Socialism. The House of Representatives is lamely doing the will of the people and is in a standoff with the Administration. As intended. We are going to see a great deal more of this appeal to the dependent masses as we move toward the election in November. Be prepared and don’t be fooled. Close to half of our population currently receive checks from the Federal government. Meanwhile, the poverty rate keeps rising.

While our situation is very trying, it is the result of the failure of the last three years. A president like Reagan would have us headed in the right direction by this time. Now we’re slashing our defense budget.

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

Picture two trains in a head-on collision course. One train is carrying 50 percent of the U.S. population who receive at least one government check every month. The other train is packed with baby boomers, those born in the '60s and '70s.

For the next twenty years an additional 10,000 newly retired workers will board the boomer train every day - that's a jaw-dropping 3.7 million boomers a year - and be enrolled in the government's Social Security and Medicare programs.

And this while federal revenue is decreasing and sovereign debt is increasing.

This cannot continue. Something's got to give. At some point the government will no longer be able to meet its obligations. When that happens it will be a financial train wreck that will make the Great Depression seem like a minor recession.

Signs of economic desperation are becoming apparent. The demonstrations on Wall Street have grow from dozens to thousands and spread to 25 cities across the U.S. The protestors have a diverse list of grievances: corporate control of government, overly compensated executives, capitalism, taxpayer bailouts of banks. But a common thread is joblessness.

Unemployment is getting dangerously high. According to government statistics, 8.6 percent of Americans are unemployed. But if unemployment is counted the way it was before the government rewrote the definition, joblessness would be 17.5 percent or 28 million idled workers.

Unemployment pushes many into the poverty zone. Some 15 percent of the population, that's 46 million, are living at or below the poverty level. Many have been forced to move in with relatives. Multi-generational households have increased steadily since 1980 to more than 50 million households in 2009.

The American dream of owning a home has been replaced by the reality of “Bank Owned” signs from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The accelerating number of repossessions is sobering: 2008 = 540,000; 2009 = 580,000; 2010 = 1 million; 2011 = 1.4 million.

The federal government, along with everyone else, is strapped for cash. The Obama administration has borrowed an average of $4 billion a day for the past three years. He had saddled the nation with more debt than all the presidents from George Washington to George Bush combined.

The U.S. owes $2.5 trillion to foreign investors more than any other country in history. If the dollar was backed by gold, such an accumulation of debt would be impossible. But when the U.S. stopped backing the dollar with gold in 1971, every major currency followed suit creating a global economic system based on fiat currencies.

A fiat currency is one not backed by any asset; it's simply a chit of paper, nothing more. It has value only because people believe it has value. You might call it a faith-based currency.

The danger of fiat currencies is that historically they fail - they always, without exception fail. They become worth less and less as governments print more and more.

That's precisely what the U.S. is doing to pay its foreign debts and domestic obligations. Eventually it could led to hyperinflation. The iconic example of an out-of-control printing press is Germany. Before WW I, a mark was worth $1. After WW I, a dollar could buy 4 trillion marks. Eventually, the mark was used as kindling.

A recent example of hyperinflation is Zimbabwe where the price of a loaf of bread soared to $20 trillion of their dollars.

What would happen if the dollar collapsed like the German mark or the Zimbabwean dollar?

The global economy based as it is on worldwide faith-based currencies would crumble overnight. Nations and peoples would flee paper currencies for commodities: gold, silver, oil, lumber, anything than had tangible worth.

Prices at U.S. China-marts would soar out of reach for consumers. Interest on U.S. Treasuries would quickly climb to high double digits followed by similar at-home hikes in interest rates for loans and mortgages. Government checks would not be worth the trouble of cashing. Bank accounts and personal saving would be wiped out.

It's a grim picture. Could it happen? It already has.

The American Revolutionary War was financed by the Continental Dollar. It hyperinflated. Shortly after the war “not worth a continental” became a byword for something that had no value.

Could it happen today?

Most probably not. It's in no one's interest for the dollar to fail least of all for U.S. creditors. On the other hand, the improbable, even the seemingly impossible, happens every day.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA