OPINION:
The total public debt, outstanding, is $13.4 trillion (“Democratic decline,” Comment & Analysis, Aug. 11). The American taxpayer is facing $61.9 trillion in unfunded federal government liabilities. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security present the greatest challenges. In the coming years, 78 million baby boomers will retire.
There simply are not enough young, working taxpayers to pay the tab. It is time for the American people to put the squeeze on Congress. We need meaningful spending caps and entitlement reform, and Congress should allow a tax credit, a dollar-for-dollar reduction in tax liability, for charitable gifts made to the Bureau of the Public Debt for purposes of reducing the national debt.
JOHN T. MCFARLAND
Hillsdale, Mich.
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