Fiscal Irresponsibility in the White House

Re “White House Brushes Aside Criticism Over Medicare Plan,” Jan. 31: George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress are spending like there’s no tomorrow while the budget deficit skyrockets to $520 billion. After years of berating the Democrats for fiscal irresponsibility, the Republicans are on an uninhibited spending binge and, at the same time, are giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy. Now the White House has underestimated the recently passed Medicare drug benefit by a mere $130 billion. That large of a miscalculation offers little confidence in this administration’s fiscal intelligence.

There is little doubt that the spending spree and tax cuts have helped spur an economy that has been in the doldrums for Bush’s entire tenure. But the American worker has not benefited from this recent economic recovery -- even though American companies have profited from outsourcing jobs to cheap foreign workers and, also, from employing cheap illegal (undocumented) immigrants. Unfortunately, because of this administration’s irresponsible economic policies, our children will be faced with an enormous debt (estimated in the trillions over the next decade) to repay.

Dick Meis

Murrieta