Fix America First: Opinion

This is the first of a six-part Op-Ed series by Matt Horween, CPA, FSO (retired), that will run each day this week.

How long can we continue to increase our defense spending and our foreign-aid spending while running huge trade deficits, fiscal deficits and current account deficits?

Several people have written to me to ask me to comment on Congress and come up with ways to get out of our current situation. Most people I meet have given up on our existing form of government at the federal level. I've given up, not only on the federal level, but on the state and local levels as well.

A good friend has recommended a new organization that we'll call, "Fix America First." Right now, in front of our very eyes, the market is starting to bring us to heel. The dollar is starting to decline in earnest and the interest rates on the 10- and 30-year Treasury bonds are rising.

Stock picks from my last two articles are doing well, including the real estate investment trusts, since real estate is real and it will go up in dollar terms as the market further debases the dollar.

Recently, the press seems to have caught on to the fact that more than 90% of our congressmen and senators don't read many of the laws on which they vote. One congressman, when asked about this travesty, said he couldn't read them because they had too many pages and were too long to read before voting on them. The congressman's answer leads to more questions.