Blaming the ‘Iron Triangle’
After having key-depressed the $3-trillion pop-up tab on America’s cash register, President Reagan seems to be absolving himself of this monstrous deficit by blaming Congress and the Iron Triangle--whatever that is--for an all-time bookkeeping minus. His contention, that under constitutional law chief executives cannot spend “a penny,” is technically right. However, Presidents are the ones who submit budget proposals to Congress--with the power to rescind them if they so choose if saner second-thoughts should prevail.
Thus, to want to retire from the Oval Office in the plus certainly is understandable and hindsight admirable, but to pass the buck in this amount onto Congress and sundry culprits, simply won’t wash with the public image, which clearly differentiates between rhetoric and responsibility.
ROBERT J. CURCIO
Tuolumne
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