The Dreadful Flaws in the Bush Budget

Bravo to The Times (“.5 Cheers for Bush’s Budget,” editorial, Feb. 8) in quickly laying out the dreadful flaws in the newest federal budget. It is said between the lines that President Bush will term out a few years from now and leave behind a massive pile of smoking wreckage.

I’m a lifetime Republican who voted for President Clinton in his second term and against Bush the younger in both of his terms. For all his foibles, I do miss Clinton: He knew how to put sentences together, he knew how to recruit a Treasury secretary who understood finance, he knew how to speak out for the disenfranchised, he understood the complexities of the worldwide community and when not to “go it alone,” and he knew how to leave office on the last day with a positive cash balance in the bank.

For the next four years, please keep reminding us of where we are headed ... maybe our electorate will notice the trend.

Lee Ferrero

San Luis Obispo

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Re “Bush’s Deficit Plan Is All in the Math,” Feb. 7: Being that the Bush administration excludes the cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Social Security from the new budget (and we all know our foreign aid isn’t substantial), what’s cut is domestic aid. Sorry single moms who need heating in their homes. Sorry hospitals that have to cut 400 employees to pay for construction. Sorry, taxes couldn’t possibly decrease for the union worker. Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition nailed it when he called the fiscal policy “schizophrenic” because Bush is seeing smiling businesses, not apparent welfare needs.

Corie Lahr

Chino Hills

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Heaven forbid that we give too many food stamps to the poor. Maybe if we quit feeding them, they will go away. Still, what did our president’s favorite philosopher say about this? “ ... if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor “ (Matthew, 19:21). Somehow those words don’t mesh with our born-again president. But maybe I was mistaken about the location of his church. I see he wants us to tithe our Social Security contributions to the church on Wall Street and Boardwalk.

Phil Beauchamp

Chino Hills

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If President Bush really wants to cut programs that “aren’t working,” he should start with the failed missile defense system.

Dale Kutzera

Los Angeles

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Instead of cutting rice and cotton subsidies that feed and clothe people, wouldn’t it make more sense to cut the tobacco subsidies that only help to make people sicker and cause higher medical costs?

Susan Nock

Duarte