To the editor:

Oliphant’s July 12 cartoon about families moving in with grandpa and grandma suggests that he recognizes hard times are coming as a result of unemployment. I believe a more fundamental financial reason is our lack of spending discipline, as a nation and as individuals, where we spend more than we make. This is evident from the sharp rise in the national debt with President Reagan (from $2+ trillion) to our current president ($13+ trillion).

A companion report in the same J-W issue about American’s credit scores by Eileen A.J. Connelly paints a clearer picture of these coming times. About a fourth of the U.S. population has a credit rating as poor risks, which according to current bank regulations, will not allow these families to get credit cards or to borrow money for cars or homes.

Finally, the U.S. Debt Clock (see: usdebtclock.org) gives a sobering view of our national debt situation. This pending national crisis is directly related to our national and individual greed. It and other pending disasters can only be overcome with God-like certainty if we choose to become a nation of God-fearing people who will heed the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”