LETTER: Cut Spending to Fix Fiscal Cliff

To the Editor:

I noticed an ad while I was looking through your site tonight. Starbuck's and Patch appear to be working with an organization called FixtheDebt.org which is concerned with the "fiscal cliff" we've been told we're approaching. As I'm sure you're aware, the Senate voted yea on a measure to push the fiscal cliff back another two years.

the meantime, what do Patch, Starbuck's, and FixTheDebt.org propose to do about this situation? It sounds nice that you want to do "something," but your advertisement is long on telling us that "something" should happen, but short on telling us what that "something" is.

Our current economic situation requires real spending cuts now. Of course the first thing some people talk about is cutting defense spending. Cutting the Department of Defense budget puts people out of work and could potentially compromise our national safety. Is that a wise move at a time of unrest in the Middle East that could have ripple effects here and elsewhere in the world?

Why does nobody ever talk about cutting entitlement spending? We live in a country where it's possible for a poor man who has no job to get free healthcare, free housing and free food. All this while a man who has a job, a house that he has to pay for, and a family that he must feed with his own money should give more of his money to the government to help the poor man.

Ronald Reagan once said that the best welfare program is a job. Cutting entitlement programs would save the government money, save the taxpayers money, and maybe, just maybe, inspire your average welfare recipient to get his lazy butt in gear and find a job. To put things in perspective, entitlement spendingf comprises 62% of this past year's budget, and that number increases every year, whereas defense spending dropped to 18.7% of that same budget. Ask yourself: Why throw money at something that doesn't work?

Chris George
Edison