Dear Editor: Please allow me to respond to a rambling letter from Roy Everitt printed June 23. He expounds on what he perceives as knowledge, wisdom and great intellect possessed by a group he refers to as academic. Everitt refers back to the Great Depression and World War II to support some of his contentions.

After World War II, the U.S. had the greatest manufacturing base that had ever existed on the planet. "Made in the U.S.A." was labeled or stamped on goods sold in the U.S. and shipped worldwide.

During the 60s and 70s, college economists and the academic convinced the U.S. government and the American business community that America would be better off by converting to a consumer and service-oriented economy. Today America has no manufacturing base or even a manufacturing and industrial policy. This has resulted in millions of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas and the U.S. becoming the greatest debtor nation that has ever existed.

We have fallen to a federal government where elected politicians maintain power through spending, taxing and regulating. I can think of nothing government has done in the last 40 years that was even marginal in increasing our gross national product. What has an economist or academic done to increase our GNP? Have they ever made a payroll or produced anything? They sit in their ivory towers and try to tell producers and achievers what to do.

In my opinion, we would not owe China or our grandchildren’s labors and inheritances if the academics had staying in their manors and the federal government had stayed in Washington. We certainly would not be on the verge of becoming a third-world country. All one has to do is go to Wal-Mart and see where their merchandise is made. You reap what you sow.

Harry L. Long

Covington