Deficit spending

I must take issue with Professor (James) Sanders’ column, “Increase deficit spending” (BDN, Dec. 12-13).

Deficit spending is the absolute worst possible solution for our economic woes that could ever be prescribed. The good professor should know better! The deficit that we as a nation (and individuals) now possess is a millstone around our collective necks that eventually will ruin our country.

It is a cancer from within that is killing us. Only recently have a few courageous politicians admitted to it, let alone suggested doing anything about it. This situation came about because of reckless deficit spending largely due to the Vietnam War military expenditures and then unnecessarily huge deficit spending for military hardware during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Books have been written about this subject, and probably the BDN (I would like to think, unfortunately) would not allow me the space to properly defend this position. Suffice it to say, the America we are forced to hand over to our children and grandchildren is in terrible financial trouble.

One thing Sanders, and a lot of the American people, do not seem to understand is that the government (be it federal, state or local) cannot create jobs! In order to create jobs, you have to produce something. Government produces nothing. …

Roosevelt did the only thing he knew how to do. He made the people feel good by putting them to work with our (borrowed) money. He paid off that borrowed money with a booming economy financed by a war! This is not good. Sanders refers to “a temporarily larger budget deficit” and a “greatly enhanced deficit spending — on a temporary basis. …” How often have we heard that song and dance from various administrations?

“Temporary” deficit spending has been killing our nation for more than 25 years. We have got to stop budget deficit spending altogether or our country will be spoken of in the past tense very soon. It will be a bitter pill to swallow, but the medicine will not kill the patient — the illness, however, will. Jim Nowland Trenton