Cutting Social Security not the answer to budget woes

Letters to the Editor

 

Last updated 6/9/2016 at 10:17am



The Cheney Free Press of May 26, 2016 printed a guest commentary by Don C. Brunell, retired Pption of Washington Business. As expected of Mr. Brunell, his commentary presented the usual Republican rubric that the national debt must be reduced and one of the major financial problems of the debt crisis is Social Security.

It is true the debt is a problem but it is false that Social Security is a problem. In 2014 Social Security’s receipts were $931.1 billion and expenses were $906.8 billion, a net gain of $24.3 billion.

Additionally the system net assets are $2,721.8 billion. To Brunell’s credit, he does acknowledge the United States tax structure does need some major tweaking.

Another major point of contention I have with his position on the curtailing of social programs such as Medicare is ignoring the discretionary spending of the Department of Defense. This budget item for fiscal 2014 was $520 billion, much of it for Navy warships and Air Force planes neither service wants.

A single payer health system, an increase in minimum wage, truly free public education and an increase in the tax structure would solve most of the economic problems in our nation.

Dave Daugharty

Cheney

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024