Lack of fiscal discipline and sound management is partly responsible for the trend. These inadequacies reflect an economic system created by popularity. Politicians who make decisions based on what is popular rather than what is financially sound have virtually bankrupted us.

It is hard to visualize the kind of political climate necessary to reverse this trend.

Rather than working on a feasible solution to our problems, government officials quibble about which group should get the most handouts. They grant price supports to one group, unemployment benefits to another, and gratuities to many people who are undeserving. They provide grants to New England ski resorts because of insufficient snow one year, then support beaches in the south because of too much rain. They pay people not to grow products in a time of shortage, apply price supports to foods when they begin to drop and then complain of runaway inflation on these same products.

The Federal Reserve System cuts off credit to industries that are profitable, protesting that they should be more self-sufficient without credit, when for forty years the system promoted the use of nothing but credit. Nor is the “average” American guiltless either. Most families today live on the brink of disaster. The excessive use of personal and business credit has weakened the already shaky family structure. All of these factors contribute to an almost uncontrollable economy.