THREE WORRIES

Most recently, three items of reported news have caught my attention. It would be more appropriate to say they "raised some fear".

An announcement was made from Washington on the topic of single family residences. This report passed on the information that as of the end of December 2010 across our nation 11% of the completed homes were vacant. In rough numbers, the report stated that this percentage equaled just over 18,400,000 units. This number of empty houses is almost impossible to comprehend. However, what is even more difficult to grasp is the amount of money tied up in these vacant units. Even placing a low estimate of the "market value" of these home, a total of well over $1.8 Trillion is tied up and not being reduced by monthly mortgage payments. It was no surprise that the conclusion of the report expressed the opinion that these millions of homes, as well as the remainder of our nation's single family residences, would continue to fall in value.

It is easy to see that the construction industry will not be even a partial solution for our unacceptable level of unemployment.

Related to that last thought was a statistic I read, the second news item to cause worry. It has been estimated by an international organization that during the next ten years some 400,000,000 young people, world wide, will be entering the labor force. With the economies of almost every nation at a standstill, the employment potential for this huge number of people is most pessimistic. Here in America our unemployment level is unacceptable with little, if anything, being seen as an end - solution - to this lingering problem.

The final worrisome item was a quote from the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This extremely powerfully organization is headed by a French Socialist, Dominique Straus-Kahn, who expressed, "As tension between countries increase, we could see protectionism - of trade and of finance. And as tension within countries increase, we could see rising social and political instability - even war." This statement by Straus-Kahn is quite true and is obviously applicable to the current events in Egypt.

In our nation we have little in the way of "rising social and political instability" although we do have a substantial number of Americans who are anti-Obama and his policies. The impact of Straus-Kahn's comment is, however, on our role in international trade. With our international debt being so extreme and our economy being so weak/stagnant there is a real need for America to refocus on its own 50 States; to cease involvement in the internal affairs of foreign nations; and to exercise an effective national strategy for "protectionism - of trade and of finance".