Trace origins of deficit

We hear a lot from the far right and tea party groups about the deplorable federal budget deficit and how we must cut back on essential programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. But why don’t we hear anything about what caused this deficit?

Last week, an audit reported in the July 14 Spokesman-Review revealed that $51 billion in taxpayer dollars have been spent to rebuild Iraq (after we destroyed it), and that much of this money has been wasted or misappropriated. “The precise amount lost to fraud and waste can never be known,” the report said.

Add this to the billions spent on this unnecessary war, and then President George W. Bush’s decision to cut taxes – becoming the first president in history to cut taxes during wartime – and you know where our deficit came from. It may take years to reduce it to the surplus of the Clinton years.

Those who favored the war should have been glad to have their taxes raised to help shoulder a burden thrust only on our service men and women. And now the wealthiest 5 percent should not object to sharing their part of this burden through reduced tax breaks.

James W. Ramsey

Sandpoint