In "The Golden Age is Ending," Zuckerman is overly pessimistic when he concludes that "We are no longer as dominant in the world's economy as we were. Everybody's lives will be affected by that."
No doubt economies in countries like China and India are growing at rates of 10 percent, posing a challenge to the United States in the global marketplace. But an American company like Boeing, whose order books are overflowing with requests for planes from Asian countries, can tell us a different story. Asian countries' well-equipped hospitals and care centers can provide high-tech healthcare developed in the United States. It stretches our credulity that China will reach the U.S. standard of affluence and personal well-being this century.
Kangayam R. Rangaswamy
Waunakee, Wis.
I recall overwhelming optimism that returning veterans from World War II felt, as we suddenly found college available to us through the GI Bill, only a dream before the war. That bill provided the foundation for a solid middle class, the backbone of America. We have since gone from being a manufacturing economy to a consumer society. Will the United States be held hostage by competing economic powers as a result of a huge percentage of our national debt being foreign owned?
Burt Newbry
Mesa, Ariz.
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