OPINION:
In the editorial “Stopping the spendathon” (Aug. 9), The Washington Times discusses steps the new joint committee on deficit reduction must take to restore fiscal balance. Consider this: In an attempt to curry favor with constituents, Congress, from which this committee has been formed, promised well more than was affordable.
In fact, Congress hid the cost and explosive effect on the deficit that these promises created. This criminal obfuscation was possible because the federal government continues to use a “cash basis” of accounting, which hides the true cost of these policies.
But instead of ending these irrational, never-affordable promises and jailing the perpetrators who did the same as those at Enron and WorldCom, we just re-elect them. And then, with these promises seeded in people’s minds, legislators insist that tax increases be used to pay for them.
We can do better. We must rid our government of ineffective and dishonest programs - and legislators.
ALAN J. DLUGASH
New York City
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