Despite What Columnist Says, U.S. In A Depression

I have the highest respect for anyone who ever served in the military, and especially for Col. Donald Myers.

I usually enjoy his comments, as he writes very well. However, his remarks in last Friday's Hernando Today were way off base.

He wrote "Economic indicators remain very positive... Inflation remains in check." What planet is he on? Gasoline costs twice as much as it did two years ago. Banquet T.V. dinners, which have been a bargain for the past two years at 77 cents each at Sweet Bay are now $1.38. Experts estimate it is costing the United States $1 billion dollars a day to feed, clothe and support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. $1,000,000,000 per day! Our children and grand children will be paying for this the rest of their lives.

We have been in a recession ever since Sept. 11, 2001. I don't know why anyone refuses to admit this.

Financial experts predict this recession may last another five years. This is not a recession; it is a depression, which will make the 1929 Great Depression seem like a cake walk by comparison.

I retired 10 years ago and moved to Spring Hill three years later. I have not gotten a raise in more than 10 years.

You think my dollar buys more now than it did in 1998? Even the Canadian dollar is worth more.

Don't tell me the economy is fine. Don't tell me Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. I will continue to live in this wonderful country for the rest of my life, taking the good with the bad. Our freedoms rank among the best in the world, and for this, I thank the military. But don't tell me things are fine, when financially they are not! Some of us know better.

Mike Grab

Spring Hill