Spending just digs deeper hole

As a U.S. senator in 2006 Barack Obama said, “If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we’d see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.”

In 2008 the U.S. government approved a budget of $2.9 trillion. We currently have a national debt of $9.8 trillion. Our representatives promised and/or paid $1.36 trillion (47 percent of our total budget) in corporate bailouts in 2008. The interest on the national debt in 2008 was budgeted at $325 billion.

President Obama’s $816 billion “stimulus” plan includes $550 billion in new spending. The U.S. government can’t spend itself out of debt any more than you or I could.

It doesn’t appear that there is any more effort being put forth “to reduce our national debt,” nor are they “returning to responsible fiscal policies.” Our representatives are going to dig our debt hole deeper and deeper until it caves in on us and our children. We need to write to them and tell them to stop spending what we don’t have before it’s too late.

David J. Peterson

Spokane