I couldn't agree more, Steve. But that's where we are now, facing some pretty tough decisions on what we can afford. Even though individual citizens hasn't really felt the effects of the pig-at-the-trough spending of our Congress over the last decade or so, the electorate is becoming increasingly upset over a continuation of that spending. The issue du jour is healthcare reform, but if we're lucky our collective upset will extend to other future spending bills and next year's federal budget. At this point, neither the buyers of our Treasury debt instruments or the money markets which could cause strangling inflation have pushed the country to the need to make those really hard decisions. But I project that those days are coming and they're not too far in our future.

When that happens we will be making national decisions regarding how much we're willing to spend on and in countries other than here at home. Taking only the Middle East as an example, I'm guessing that when we're finally pushed, we'll find another way to assure our national security other than re-building entire countries in an attempt to plant "our" system of government. And hopefully we'll become more effective in convincing the other industrialized countries in the world that they too should take their hands out of their pockets and begin to pick up the check for some of this stuff. We'll have to convince them that we're not as wealthy as they think we are.