Fewer Americans are at work today than in April 2000, even though the population since then has grown by 31 million.

These days the American dream of home ownership has turned into a nightmare for millions of families. They wake every day to the reality of a horrible decline in the value of the home that has meant so much to them.

The most critical factor subduing the demand for housing is that home ownership is no longer seen as the great, long-term buildup in equity value it once was.

Natural erosion had reduced the critical barrier islands in the Gulf, the result of the destruction of some 300,000 acres of wetlands. This amounted to 30 miles of marshlands.

Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city in New Orleans.

Americans cannot maintain their essential faith in government if there are two Americas, in which the private sector's work subsidizes the disproportionate benefits of this new public sector elite.

These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off and security, on top of working fewer hours.