Darned good topic:

1. Iraq/Afghan War: Don't know what the "right" answer is here, except that history will tell, not us, whether the result was worth the cost. If one were to look back at Korea, Vietnam, Gulf I, Gulf II and all of the Baltic stuff the viewpoints would be varied depending on the criteria one wants to employ. Nobody likes casualties, especially those of us who have participated in any of the events listed above, but at the same time, nobody on this side of the oceans wants the dangers here.

2. The Debt: Almost all of the debt is related to national security - whether the expense is the current war, internal security upgrades or the rebuilding of the intelligence communnity that was sacrificed for the sake of $$$$. What we are experiencing in many cases reminds me of the old FRAM Oil Filter commercial - "Pay me now or pay me later." We are now living in the "later."

3. Currency Value: You want cheap goods (China, etc) which result in an upside-down currency flow? The effect is a weakened national currency. No free lunch here.

4. Health care: As long as health care is a free-market commodity, cost shall be influenced by supply and demand. If it becomes two-tiered (a "national" system supplemented by a free-market system), will that really make a difference to the situation of today? Just visit the average hospital's emergency room....?

5. Social Security: The Social Security mess can be tied to multiple events - all of which prove the "law of unintended consequences." The sad part is that the mess is the result of at least 30 years worth of actions which no one ever considered would affect the demographics of the social security contribution population or would tap into the fund. Democrats, Republicans and Independents - Legislative, Executive and Judicial branch folk combined - all share some of the blame for this.

6. Education: If one tracks the college board scores (the only real constant we have), the declines started during the '60s. The 'why's' are legion and go into demographic shifts in the teacher population as well as curriculum tweaking which stress 'soft' subjects. The classroom of today (student discipline, parental involvement, teacher motivation and credentials, etc.) looks nothing line the classroom of the '50s. This is one of those situations were chronology and progress don't match.

7. Amnesty: In the '80s the illegal immigrant population was in the 4-million range (give or take some, depending on whose stats you want to believe). Then amnesty happened. After that, the illegal immigration population took off because the folk all believed that if the USA granted amnesty once, it would do it again - and the big question was when. Any person who has worked as an immigration professional has heard the "when's the next amnesty?" question many times from clientele. - - - - As far as the 'can we deport them?' argument is concerned, the real answer is we won't have to, provided employers follow the law and don't hire them. It's a matter of 'supply and demand' in that if there is no 'demand' then the 'supply' will pretty much leave on its own. That's what other countries around the world have found, and the USA is not that unique. -- As far as who will fill those jobs, again 'supply and demand' rules. I can remember when many of those jobs being filled by illegals were decent-paying union jobs (especially in the meat-packing industry), and if the pay is there, the job is filled. All one has to do is watch "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery Channel for proof that there is no job that Americans won't do, but the employer must pay a fair wage.

8. Homeland Security: Definitely a subject near and dear to my heart! The answer to #2 above ties into this. We never had many of the security problems before because they were sufficiently handled in 'olden days' by an intelligence and response capacity which was sacrificed to provide a budget surplus. Now it's catch-up time, and you can't make everything well in an instant, especially when the need is technology-based and you stopped its development and production years ago. Most businesses follow a 'risk management" philosophy of some kind, and governments are no different. When you take on more risk by not funding protection (in whatever form), sometimes the 'risk' wins. That's where we are today. We're getting better on the 'protection' side, but it does take time (and $$$$). There is no free lunch!

9. The Elected and Appointed: As I read the history books, they all seem to indicate, "Some things never change." The elected and appointed here now are really no better/different than their predecessors - and so far nothing seems to show that the successors will be any better/different. The patronage 'system' best demonstrated by the Plum Book and whose names end up in it, and the legislature which (by wink and nod) grants itself more perks and retirement than anywhere else in American society make even the most noble rhetoric during campaigns turn into "did I say that?" after the votes are counted. Elected messiahs are fiction.

Thanks for the opportunity to rant a bit....