Eroding Our Economic Hopes, Dreams, and Accomplishments

Wednesday we saw another debate and "Roadshow," displaying the remaining Republican candidates on a day when the Dow lost over 400 points and the NASDAQ lost more than 100 points. 

It illustrates how Americans, especially those of the "Boomer Generation," are being devastated by world wide economic collapse.  The Republican candidates will eschew the Social Security system and suggest that private retirement accounts be established so participants will not have to rely on Social Security and the burden Social Security has become on the Federal Budget based on the claim that it is a "Ponzi Scheme" -- by at least one of the candidates.

However, how can we put younger citizens into choosing an investment given the volatility of the stock market and the lack of access to knowledge needed to invest or save money for retirement?  Surely no one will stay up all night to see which Euro Zone country is drowning in sovereign debt or catching the indicators that another Euro is going to bite the dust. 

The world-wide economic duldrums do show that this financial malaise is not Obama's fault as many sectors in the US economy are rebounding.  The Republicans will again target Obama without regard to the international situation. 

Perhaps the current financial situation is not as closely tied to the President as one thought.  I do not excuse him for not doing enough here, but at least we are not Greece and we are not getting ready to mortgage the Coliseum or the Trevi Fountain. 

The problem here is that, we as Americans are the leaders of the free world, one that has greatly expanded due to the fall of communism as well as the rise of the Internet.  The world is a smaller place and is in need of American leadership.  We are the innovators and our leaders need to exude patriotism versus partisanship. 

The so-called, "Super Committee" really needs to exhibit patriotism and leadership, so that this does not become a forgotten decade of economic woes and loss of the "American Dream." Let us not forget that 70 years ago (1941) the world was craving leadership against the Nazis, Fascists, and Tojo and the United States came in and led the defeat of these evil forces. 

Today, we as Americans must put aside greed and partisanship to defeat World Economic War I, because we owe it to the Boomers and we owe it to our descendants. 

I hope we can stop this erosion of the American Dream and look towards innovative thinking to escape this economic malaise.