LITTLE ROCK — Someone wrote to remind me last week that the wealth of any nation is not a birthright.

Prosperity is continuously earned through each generation by using legitimate economic policies that free and encourage the natural talents of its citizens.

Authors of a new book called “The Financial Tsunami” have deeply researched our economic state. Their grim conclusion: We stand on the brink of financial ruin.

We can give credit for this disgrace largely to those folks we’ve elected to manage our tax contributions. Instead of preserving and enhancing our collective wealth, they have irresponsibly spent us into a crushing debt that rests on our shoulders and those of every unborn American.

And we have allowed it with our lethargy and unrealistic expectations of vote-influencing entitlements.

Speaking of diminishing wealth, closer to home I see where Whirlpool officials confirm that the Fort Smith plant will see more layoffs. They say the October layoffs are due to ending production of counter-depth refrigerators at the plant, a decision announced to employees at the end of 2009. November layoffs are anticipated due to softening of demand.

It’s unknown just how many workers will be laid off as the production of Whirlpool’s counter-depth refrigerators is moved to-waaaait for it-Mexico!

On target

My hat’s off to Professor Terry J. Lovell of Arizona, who has explained the misguided federal lawsuit against his state better than anyone I’ve heard.

Lovell says it’s without precedent in our nation’s history for the elected president and his administration to side with a foreign government and an invading horde against a sovereign U.S. state trying to protect itself against the resulting dangers.

The ultimate constitutional responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens against foreign invaders, not to side with invaders against the interests and safety of law-abiding citizens.

Lovell also says that anyone who reads Arizona’s new immigration law will see that there’s nothing racist about it.

In fact, it mirrors the existing federal law in trying to ensure that citizens can protect themselves against an invasion of foreign nationals that includes heavily armed infiltrators from other nations, Mexican drug cartels and those suffering under Mexico’s human traffickers.

Hard to believe, eh?

Made the grade

It’s reassuring to see some Northwest Arkansas universities cited in U.S. News & World Report’s latest survey of colleges and universities as among the nation’s finest.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville earned a rank of 132. That placed it in the top tier among research-focused schools that offer undergraduate majors and master’s and doctoral degrees for the fourth consecutive year.

It’s also the only one of the state’s 10 public, four-year schools to make the top tier as it welcomes a record number of incoming freshmen.

“It puts us right up there with the top universities in America,” said Chancellor David Gearhart.

John Brown University at Siloam Springs ranked second among 96 Southern colleges that focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half of their degrees in liberal arts.

Ranked 13th in the same category was University of the Ozarks at Clarksville.

Shady side

I’m no Razorback athletic department bigwig, but I’d still like to suggest, especially since supporters of the program are being asked to pay considerably more for their tickets, that it’s good public relations (and shows a caring awareness) to allow supporters to sit on the shady side of Razorback Stadium when they show up to watch practices on hot August days.

The side that faces a bright sun can be brutally hot and uncomfortable for these hundreds of supportive, sunburned fans who help make the program go and grow. I’m thinking now about the last open practice on Saturday. Just a helpful suggestion, fellas.

Cap flap

About that Northwest Arkansas radio reporter who lost her job the other day for wearing a Florida Gators cap to an interview with Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino.

It was a rude and highly unprofessional move for the reporter, a Florida graduate and supporter. Still, a few days off without pay would have sent a strong enough message and perhaps a reminder that, of the Hogs’ 2009 losses, that travesty to the Gators and their referees was the most painful of all.

Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.

Editorial, Pages 11 on 08/24/2010