four good reasons to get involved

(1) Our "leaders" in Washington are engaged in political theater these days about raising the national debt ceiling, spending cuts, revenue increases and the like. Undoubtedly and unfortunately, they'll declare victory sometime during the next several weeks without having seriously addressed the real and enormous issues of entitlements like social security and medicare, or their erroneous assumptions about future interest charges on the national debt, or even their use of overly optimistic assumptions about economic growth in the next several years (The Deficit Is Worse Than We Think).

(2) Politicians have long gotten away with this all too typical gamesmanship, because we the people haven't taken the time to become informed with respect to what's really going on in government or the long term economic impact thereof. Thus, we are all too often fed half truths and even untruths.

Only when we the people make the required effort to know how these things really work will the politicians begin to act like responsible adults in servant leadership roles. At such time, as a society we'll then be able to discuss and make realistic choices about what to do and when to do it (In economics, you can't have it both ways).

(3) Greece is rioting today. I guess it beats working, even if it solves absolutely nothing. They also are planning a national "yard sale" to raise money (Ailing Greece Tries National Tag Sale). Sadly, they've already achieved financial ruin as a nation. We can only wonder how many others will follow.

(4) Let's be optimistic about our American future, but let's have legitimate reasons for that optimism. Let's all get involved, because the more we know, the more others, including our politicians, will come to know as well.

Thanks. Bob.