The Budget Suggests a Deficit in Leadership

Where are the “moral values” of this administration in requesting $80 billion more for war (“Budget Deficit to Set Record,” Jan. 26) while the people of South Asia die of disease, while Americans die from lack of healthcare and adequate food and housing, and the big scare about Social Security might leave all of us scrambling for a decent future?

It is embarrassing to be an American right now, as we are forced to listen to compassionate rhetoric in the face of merciless policy.

The values of true compassion, love, kindness and generosity are left on the page of every speech about hope and freedom.

It is hard to understand how so many good, honest, religious people can support this administration in light of the hard, sad facts facing us.

It is even harder to understand how Congress can just sit back and be walked on, like a nuisance of governance, in the path to inevitable acquiescence.

I can only wonder what that $80 billion, and the trillions over the coming years, could do to better the lives of so many suffering souls that this government is not only leaving behind but burying in the process.

Rabbi Joshua

Levine Grater

Pasadena

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I heard a report that the expected deficit for 2005 would be $427 billion. I also saw that President Bush asked for $80 billion more for the war in Iraq.

Also, the $1 trillion to $2 trillion for the president’s Social Security plan will not be included in the deficit. When are the politicians going to stop playing these games and give us the true deficit? Is this $80 billion for the war going to magically appear? Is Bush going to hold a bake sale to raise $1 trillion for his Social Security plan? When I go out to dinner, I can’t tell the waiter, “Don’t charge me for the wine, it’s not really part of the dinner.” Let’s start telling the people the truth. If we borrow the money to pay for these things, we have to pay it back. At the end of the day we are picking up the tab; we should know exactly how much we are spending.

Larry Berardino

Redondo Beach