Our country’s future may depend on how Congress meets the demand for entitlements and how our citizens respond to paying for these entitlements the old-fashioned way, through self-reliance.

The first entitlement everyone is entitled to is home ownership. This has turned into a disaster. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act, which allowed for the purchase of a home with a nominal down payment, a marginal income and a large mortgage with a low interest rate, all of which caused inflated home values. This is the origin of our current financial crisis. Greedy Wall Street jumped on the ­bandwagon by packaging these flimsy investments backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This led to a fiasco caused by congressional meddling.

Is college an entitlement? The president thinks so. However, does everyone need ­college, want it or is qualified for it? Now the government takes over college loans by the slimy maneuver of adding the ­educational amendment to the health bill. Instead of banks we have the government making loans, hiring thousands of overpaid employees and eventually going billions into debt.

How efficiently does the government run Medicare? It’s $53 trillion in debt! The ­combined unfunded liability of Social Security and Medicare, according to the 2009 Trustees Report, is $107 trillion!

Do you believe Congress when it says the health bill will reduce the deficit? A ­completely irresponsible Congress and president can never fulfill the promises made in the health bill.

A future entitlement is retirement income. The future generations will be greatly underfunded for retirement. Will our ­government have $100 trillion to bail them out?

Our entitlements are going to bankrupt our country. Unless Congress has the guts to cut entitlements, the country we love will no longer exist. Does this concern you?

Monroe M. Diefendorf

Pinehurst