le, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw,
and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and
most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a
commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for
in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two
centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the
eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as
normal is nothing less than a miracle.

Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to
carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition
process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people
pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual
liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your
people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the
bulwark of our Republic.

The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are
confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer
from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our
national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift,
and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It
threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human
misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair
return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful
achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public
spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging
our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of
the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous
social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but
for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that
collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no
misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They
will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They
will go away b