I have for years been a general critic of economic trends within the United States. I will be the first to avow I’m no good with money, but some things have always seemed self-evident to me: Isn’t it a bad idea to send so many of our jobs to other countries? Isn’t it a bad idea to base our economy on selling cheap junk paid for with credit cards? Then, what do I know? Things held together reasonably well for so long that I had come to doubt my doubts. However, I think maybe I was on to something all along.