Heaven help us, and that's the answer

The stock market free-fall raises an interesting question: In what or whom should we trust for our future security?

Maybe we've trusted Wall Street and our investment portfolios for future college expenses or retirement income.

That was fine when the economy was healthy, but now it's very sick, and recovery looks to be a long and uncertain process.

Maybe we trust Washington to get us out of this mess, but Washington has a proven track record of "fixing" one problem only to create several others.

Where will $700 billion come from? The usual solution, tax increases, will make our sick economy downright terminal.

Congressional leaders seem more interested in blaming the other party, covering their own back sides and exploiting this disaster for political advantage than in working together to do the right thing for the country.

Wall Street and Washington are dangerously compromised by self-interest, greed and corruption.

Even after last week's catastrophe, I don't see any evidence that those root causes have been considered, much less corrected. It's politics and business as usual.

The best hope for our ailing nation is for us all, individually and collectively, to confess our greed and corruption before God, humbly ask him to heal our land, and pray for our government and business leaders to put self-interest aside and do the right thing. (That would be a miracle!)

Many will think this hope naive and foolish, I'm sure. You are free to put your faith in Washington or Wall Street, of course, but given the results of their greed and corruption on full display lately, that trust is clearly unfounded.

I'll stick with one who is worthy of my trust.

Judy Allen

Palatine