Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I am writing to finish Andrew Maggard’s thought from his Dec. 29 letter (“A wolf at our door,” Readers Write). Mr. Maggard partially articulated a serious threat to America’s ability to survive not only as a functioning democracy, but an independent state at all. Our debt is a mammoth $19.9 trillion, which represents a gross debt-to-GDP ratio of 106.37 percent. Considering how dire our situation is, it is critical that we view every governmental action through the lens of ultimate economic costs. In real terms, this means asking how much the looming trade war with China will cost.

A trade war with China would cripple the United States economically and, even more frighteningly, militarily and politically. Due to the combined effects of its one-child policy and state-directed investments, China is on the brink of a society-wide investment failure that will leave at least 10 million men unemployed and unmarried. Painfully sensitive to thi...