The following speech was my first appeal to the American people about the economic crisis we were facing. There would be many more appeals over the years. Some I would win, some I would lose, such as my continual fights with Congress to get control of the budget deficit. The Congress of the United States today is a captive of the special interest groups and totally unable to balance the budget. I am convinced we’ll never have a balanced budget unless we have a constitutional amendment requiring one.

To make clear the erosion of our nation’s economy, I used some coins in this speech to show how inflation had eaten into the value of the dollar. The commentators all noted how effective this was. I guess my acting background did pay off now and then.