Runaway debt.

Your article "Who's the Biggest Spender?" (March 22, 2004 issue) was right on the money. It shows a steady increase in our runaway national debt, and the only certain prediction I can make is more of the same at an accelerating rate, no matter whether Bush or Kerry wins next November.

The giant federal deficit is mirrored in our deficit of trade. Japan and China buy huge quantities of U.S. Government debt every year, thus propping up the dollar, buying the complicity of our government, creating the illusion of minimal inflation, continuing the exportation of our industries and postponing the realization that our nation has been beggared.

The recent decline in the dollar is only a foretaste of what is to come. To the surprise of our economic pundits, the deficit of trade in January was over $43 billion, the highest on record. This went against their belief that a devaluation of the dollar would make American exports more competitive. They forgot that dead industries export nothing.

All of this must lead to an increasing rate of inflation and the ravaging of all our savings. The result for most of us will be acute financial discomfort. We may also experience social unrest as the welfare checks buy less and less, and an increasing use of force by the government to control a deteriorating situation.

JUAN J. RYAN

New Providence, New Jersey