Common themes making headlines

I recently attended a wedding in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. The flight out of Orlando on Southwest had a layover in Chicago with a final destination in Newark, N.J.

We rented a car in Newark, spent time with family in Staten Island, then drove four hours upstate to Lake George. The wedding was held at a church in Glens Falls.

After the night of the wedding, we boarded an Amtrak train from Fort Edwards to spend time in New York City. Spending time in each of the diverse cities and communities provided the opportunity to read the local papers from the various communities, large and small.

Common themes are making headlines throughout our country; excessive spending by local, state, and federal governments; unsustainable benefits and pension liabilities; reduced funding for education; and a depressed economy.

Leaving Newark, the headlines across all major publications boldly identified the threat to our country's AAA credit rating because of the economy and excessive debt. Our country's debt is non-partisan.

"Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people," as noted by Wendell Phillips.