Need an adult debate

As currently structured, Medicare and Social Security will end Medicare and Social Security as we know it. Neither program is financially sustainable. This year’s presidential election should be about how much of our national income to redistribute to these and other entitlement programs and how to pay for them.

The Republican candidates have put forward some plans. The president’s treasury secretary has admitted the administration “has no definitive solution.” Mr. Obama was elected promising to change the tone in Washington. So far, the president’s campaign tone has been that Mr. Romney wants to kill your wife and Mr. Ryan wants to push your grandma off a cliff.

If the president wants an adult discussion, there are still two and a half months until Election Day. The time for delay and evasion is over. These programs cannot be saved by some small group of “other” taxpayers. The people of this nation will have to decide how generous they want to be, not only with other people’s money, but with their own.

Bill Manuel

Spokane