Letters: America's economy has become like a ‘hollow shell'

I cannot help but agree in emotional feelings with Clark Wade's letter in The Triplicate of Aug. 5 ("Obama would have radically left, socialist presidency") but I believe that the U.S. now has no choice but to actively cooperate in a world economy.

Although I would have preferred Hillary Clinton because I believe she is strong and nasty enough to do some badly needed butt-kicking in Washington, I will probably vote for Obama now because I see him as the lesser evil compared to another four years of Republican arrogance, blunders, deception and lies.

Mr. Wade appeals to flag-waving, slogan-shouting nationalistic pride while ignoring the realities around us. America's economy has become a hollow shell, like a grand old oak tree still standing proud and glorious on the outside, but a rotted-out hollow shell on the inside, ready to fall in the first real storm.

Much of America's past greatness and rapid rise to world power came, not from some mysterious magic in our corrupt and inept political system, but from the existence of a wide-open frontier filled with natural resources easily exploited by unskilled labor. Later, our greedy and short-sighted industrial expansion gutted our remaining resources without a thought for the future.

Now we are dependent on foreign sources not only for our economic survival, but even for much of our food. Foreign nations now "own" a good part of America because we simply cannot survive without them. Our national debt has exploded to $10 trillion over the past few years. Politicians will not tell us that our often-cited Social Security "fund" is not a fund of saved money that can actually be used to pay benefits, but is instead a fund of debt on which we are paying billions of dollars in interest, much of it to foreign countries.

Any realistic and objective analysis of America's future is not pretty. Our flag will not save us when the crash comes.

John P. Cupp

Smith River