Best thing to do: Jump off the cliff

At this point, the best thing for our nation's economic health is to go over the so-called fiscal cliff. Do we really think that politicians will voluntarily spend less? Do we as citizens really think that we can have a generous government for free?

The cliff provides a unique opportunity to move our nation's fiscal dysfunction in the right direction. Yes it will it be painful. But it will be pain that will be distributed across the populace with some degree of equality. If we do not endure the pain now, it will only be worse later. Government is never free. We all pay for it one way or the other.

In order to pay our debt now the Fed is printing money like it is going out of style. The result will be every dollar, whether possessed by rich or poor, will be worth less. We all pay for our government's profligacy. There's a reason you can't just print money when you need some. When the government does it, it diminishes the money's value, in other words, its reality. When the government gives you something, it is taking it from someone else, one way or the other.

GREGORY W. DAVIES

Sonora