Treading water in a sea of red ink
US Economy:Mr. Bush's other priority is to cut taxes further, but the numbers in this budget add up only to bigger deficits.
The U.S. government is unable to fund its operations without massive borrowing and reliance on foreign lenders such as China. At a time when the nation is fighting wars that carry unforeseeable costs and when it is trying to rebuild areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, difficult decisions must be made that will stop our headlong and dangerous dive into a sea of red ink.
The budget makes a weak gesture in the direction of ''deficit reduction,'' but once again the numbers don't add up. The problem of runaway spending coupled with the lack of revenue is much bigger than the meager cutbacks that Mr. Bush envisions. Consider the reduction in projected Medicare spending by $36 billion over five years. That's going to hurt the nation's senior citizens and families who cannot afford medical care, a community well represented in South Florida. It seems like a cruel hoax to suggest that this $36 billion will make a big difference when the Congressional Budget Office predicts that deficits for the five years starting Oct. 1, 2006, will amount to more than $2.2 trillion.
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