Taking issue with Bush’s budget

Re “Bush’s budget swells deficit,” Feb. 5

Regarding President Bush’s proposed increases in military spending and decreases in health benefits for the elderly: At some point, the military will be so rich and the domestic quality of life so poor that the military won’t have any citizens left to defend. They’ll all be poor, sick or employed in foreign countries.

Nancy Kiang

Irvine

--

The article on Bush’s new budget makes the important point that it will result in a devastating doubling of the deficit. Unfortunately, it minimizes the moral aspects of what he is proposing.

Bush continues to support billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, while he massively cuts back on priority programs for middle- and low-income Americans. At a time when millions of Americans are losing their health insurance, how can the president cut Medicare and Medicaid? When the cost of his misguided war in Iraq continues to climb, how can he ask veterans to pay more for medical care when they return home -- driving them away from the Veterans Affairs care they need? When heating-fuel prices are soaring, how can he cut home-heating assistance for low-income seniors?

This is not acceptable.

As a member of the Senate Budget Committee, I will do everything I can to ensure that the president’s unconscionable budget is rejected.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

(I-Vermont)

--

Bush’s national debt-boosting budget proposal signifies that America is broke. Further, it is another omen that America’s bid for a dominating world empire led by Pentagon military supremacy is on the way to being broken. Americans will finally grasp that the Iraq debacle was a product of the effort to achieve a crucial link in the burgeoning American empire -- namely, control over Mideast oil reserves -- and had little to do with the deceptive claims of weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11 and Al Qaeda or the promotion of democracy. They will come to see another connection: Unending increases in military expenditures sink empires.

As a World War II veteran who served overseas, I am concerned about national security in this troubled world. However, this must rest not on imperial dominance but on intelligent cooperation with fellow nations and a reasonable level of military assets.

Benjamin Solomon

Evanston, Ill.