A Panel’s Plan to Cut the Deficit
Published: November 12, 2010
Re “Some Fiscal Reality” (editorial, Nov. 11):
The current federal budget deficit was caused mainly by unnecessary wars and related military spending, the worst economic downturn since the 1930s, and large tax cuts and bailouts for the rich, all stemming from the Bush administration.
Now a bipartisan commission proposes that we solve the long-term deficit “problem” by cutting back Social Security, Medicare and other social welfare programs. Thus the poor, the sick and the elderly would pay for the tax breaks and bailouts for the already wealthy.
The Republicans have made it clear that they have only one economic goal: making the rich richer. Are there no Democrats left with any backbone?
Robert Ortner
Short Hills, N.J., Nov. 12, 2010
The writer was chief economist and under secretary of commerce during the Reagan administration and is the author of “Voodoo Deficits.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/opinion/l13panel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Ortner&st=cse
Inspirations and Aspirations 