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I could not agree more with you column " A Radical in the White House " [here]. Today, because of the misguided people in the White House and their direct philosophical and political progenitors , we (American citizens ) are like a hamsters on a wheel that is growing progressively smaller . In addition to the corrupt tax policy you sited , our current leadership's genius is to chase the cheapest possible labor at home and around the world; the exact opposite of the philosophy and actions which helped us build our economic juggernaut . It boggles my mind why anyone thinks that pursuing the cheapest possible labor model is sustainable ; as the critical mass who can contribute shrinks so does the wheel . There is a reason Wal-Mart is now the nations largest employer and I defy anyone to prove the reason is a good one. It's as simple as this : Reduce workers and wages and you reduce consumers ; consumer spending is 2/3 of our nation's economy. It's simply mindless , as the world pursues the US market , we undermine it ; it's line your pockets today , damn tomorrow, even if each dollar pulled out of the pocket is worth less than the one pulled before it , mindless may be to flattering a term.

The U.S. Economy added only 110,000 jobs in the month of March, or 40,000 jobs less than the 150,000 a month necessary to keep up with population growth ; we can not sustain our nation on this path . Roosevelt understood this and put forth a vision which transformed the nation for the next 50 years . The vision is in JFK's " Rising Tide " rhetoric and the " Great Society" in LBJ's . Everything we've gained as a nation economically and socially during this black man's 50 plus years is due to FDR's having saved us from the nearsighted greed of his day and beyond . There is no doubt in my mind that the civil rights gains of the 50'and 60's are linked to the economic prosperity that Roosevelt laid the foundation for . This understanding of my world gives me great dread of the social and political strife which could accompany a further economic decline in this nation . So why go there if we don't have to ? And we don't . My most sincere hope is that we can avoid further economic dislocation and that people who understand the potential peril of a decline , will have the since of urgency to be more vocal in the political arena and in corporate boardrooms.

And we surely could use a Roosevelt now . It is no exaggeration to suggest that we shall all suffer the ill effects of the greedy Faustian pursuit of short term profits we are engaged in , should it persist . Jared Diamond's book " Collapse " is replete with examples of " ships of empire " piloted by nearsighted captains .

You can fool the people and you can fool with the facts - but can not fool the facts.