What to cut and raise

The question is not whether we should cut government spending, but what spending we should cut. And when we’re running about a trillion dollars short per annum you know you have to go after the big programs like the three Ms: the Military, Medicare and Medicaid.

We should first consider at least a 10 percent to 20 percent spending reduction on that biggest “offshorer” of American wealth, the U.S. military. We are after all ending two wars.

The question is not whether we should increase revenues or taxes, but which should be raised. Again, when you’re running up $1 trillion deficits annually, asking only a fraction of the top 1 percent to pony up a few percent more does not even begin the discussion. We should start by requiring a minimum income tax for all U.S. corporations that currently pay none.

Medical costs have risen at double-digit rates each year for the past two decades, yet Medicare taxes have remained at 1.45 percent during all that time. We should freeze most medical pricing for a few years and increase Medicare taxes by at least 1 or 2 percent.

William Betz

Newport