<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: 10px; line-height: 17px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; ">"…the United states could be forced to default on its obligations for the first time in its history.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; ">This country now possesses the strongest credit in the world. The full consequence of a default--or even the serious prospect of default--by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate….The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; ">- President Ronald Reagan in a letter (November 16, 1983) to then-Majority Leader Senator Howard Baker</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/2011/05/19/reagan-explains-why-raising-the-debt-ceiling-is-necessary">http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/2011/05/19/reagan-explains-why-raising-the-debt-ceiling-is-necessary</a><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/05/14/National-Politics/Graphics/reagan_letter_0514.pdf">http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/05/14/National-Politics/Graphics/reagan_letter_0514.pdf</a><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 45px; font-size: 1.3em; "><br></p></span><div>Seeya later, Moscow.</div><div><br></div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Spokane, Washington</div><div><br></div><div>"If not us, who?</div><div>If not now, when?"</div><div><br></div><div>- Unknown</div></div></body></html>