Bouquets to The Tribune for Sharon McDaniel’s uplifting Oct. 22 letter; bully for her!

Now let’s look at the case of an 84-year-old male who retired in March 1990, and who took his pension as a lump sum and invested it. His investment portfolio also took a 40 percent hit, and four years later, it is still off 20 percent. Net Social Security costs after Medicare B & D deductions are up 7.1 percent in four years, his supplemental Medicare insurance premium up 37 percent, gasoline up 79 percent, food up 20 to 30 percent and property tax only up 8.6 percent thanks to Howard Jarvis and Proposition 13.

These increases are only half of this 84-year-old’s problem. The other half is miniscule interest on investments that have cut investment income by 80 percent.

No, this 84-year-old male is not better off now than four years ago, and I doubt many folks are.

Anyone trying to save money for college, a new home or retirement can’t make enough interest to keep up with inflation! Why? Because the federal government is borrowing 42 to 44 cents of every dollar it spends and can’t afford to let interest rates rise.

With a national debt already on the brink of bankrupting our country, higher interest on the $15 trillion debt would be the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Time for the U.S. to go back to basics. God bless America.