Dear Editor:
I find the federal budget discussions simply amazing. The Republicans want to ax Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to balance the budget, and the Democrats want to tax the wealthy and close corporate tax loopholes for more revenue. What hasnt been considered by either party (with the exception of a few congressmen), is cutting the bloated military budget and ending these insane wars for control of the worlds natural resources.
Social Security is not responsible for putting our country in debt. In fact, Social Security funds have been robbed to pay for the budget imbalances for years. Hard-working people have paid for Social Security, yet the Republicans want to take it away. Closing the corporate tax loopholes makes a lot of sense, but that alone will not be enough. Ending the wars and cutting the military budget in half would make for a balanced budget and would allow for rebuilding our countrys infrastructure, expanding the educational opportunities of our youth, and development of renewable and sustainable energy technologies. Instead we choose to make war in no less than six nations around the globe (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia). All of this is oil and gas related. Add military costs to the price at the pump, and youll see that the real cost of a gallon of gas is probably about $12/gallon!
Remember when on Sept. 10, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld announced that the military couldnt account for $2.2 trillion of our tax dollars? It may not be a coincidence that the plane (or missile) that hit the Pentagon the next day just happened to hit the accounting section of the building. Yet, the next days activities unleashed even more money to save us from our fears. God help us!
Wilson Bloch
Mancos