Roger L. Thomas – 2/13/05

This page was last updated on February 13, 2005.

‘Somebody flunked economics’; Roger L. Thomas; Beaver County Times; February 13, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Government at every level is supposed to be a public trust. It is supposed to serve the public and operate within its budget.

“President Bush’s $2.5 trillion budget proposal provides additional revenue to defense and homeland security while cutting the most domestic programs since Reagan’s second administration, including 96 percent of the cops programs and 30 percent of the fire protection programs. Similar cuts are in vocational education, farm supports, drug in school programs, Medicare, Medicaid and so on - 150 domestic programs!”

[RWC] Mr. Thomas failed to note national “defense and homeland security” are Constitutional responsibilities while the programs cited for cuts are not.

“Even in the unlikely event that Congress agreed to all of the president’s proposed cuts, they would total only about $15 billion or $20 billion a year- hardly a dent in a deficit of more than $400 billion.

“I would like to offer an alternative way to save. The Defense Department is spending several billions developing outmoded weapons systems, including $25 billion on an anti-missile missile system designed to knock out Soviet MIRVs. Nuclear bunker-buster missiles are another. Vice President Dick Cheney opposed these very systems when he was Secretary of Defense.”

[RWC] Is Mr. Thomas claiming the missile defense system wouldn’t work against missiles from North Korea or other countries that hate the United States?

In any case, I’m no military expert and I suspect neither is Mr. Thomas. Regarding VP Cheney opposing these programs 13 to 17 years ago, things can change a lot during that length of time, like Iran and North Korea going nuclear and developing long range missiles. Does VP Cheney oppose them now?

“If we stopped developing outmoded weapons systems, we could save two or three times as much as Bush would save by reducing police, fire protection and educational programs.”

[RWC] Even if the weapon programs cited by Mr. Thomas should be scrapped, the domestic cuts cited – and much, much more – should remain in place. Regardless of what we spend on national defense, not a single cent should go to programs not specified in the Constitution.

“Incidentally, Bush hopes to reduce the annual budget deficit from $427 billion in 2005 to only $230 billion in 2009. That’s at current income rates. This does not include the $1.7 trillion lost revenue from the tax cuts for the rich.”

[RWC] Guys like Mr. Thomas are like a broken record on “tax cuts for the rich.” Once again, EVERYONE received a tax cut, but in the end, those “evil” rich folks wound up paying a higher portion of taxes than they did before the cuts. For what it’s worth, John Kerry also proposed cutting the deficit in half during 2005-2008.

“Somebody flunked economics.”

[RWC] True, and someone can’t read the Constitution.