Let's not base recovery on tax cuts

Interesting, isn't it, that Republican critics complain about raising the national debt for this bailout.

They didn't worry when Presidents Reagan and Bush pushed it up to $9 trillion when we were not in crisis. Now we are in serious crisis and we need to act, but intelligently.

Recognize that our old economy was unsustainable and based on a bubble and cannot be brought back. We need to prepare for our future because it is here. This future demands that we use energy-efficient, solar and renewable technologies.

They are cheaper in the long run and do not require waging wars over oil. We are giving away our industrial base to China and others.

We should stop this now, but recognize that we cannot make it like it was in 1965. We also need to recognize and to use our economic strengths of land and water, especially in the Great Lakes states, some of the world's best farmland and most of its freshwater.

The future will bring serious struggles over the most important economic assets, water and land, which give us food. This year we saw riots over food shortages, especially in Haiti, caused by increased corn prices from ethanol production.

This is our economic trump card.

So, yes, do a stimulus, but do not base it on tax cuts (we've been doing that since 1980 and it doesn't work). Target it on what we need to do, shifting to a green and agricultural economy; which actually produces more jobs. But do it now before our competitors corner all the markets.

And let's put the Big 3 automakers to work making buses and trains in addition to Prius copies and Volts.

Dan Bailey

Wheaton