Gone are the days

Contra Costa Times



eEdition / Subscriber Services

Mobile


Mobile Alerts


RSS









News Photo Galleries

Obituaries

Crime & Courts

Bay Area

Breaking News

California

Data Center

Education

Elections

Environment

Nation & World

Science

Growth

Politics - Local /State

Politics - National







Publications Contra Costa Times

East County Times

San Ramon Valley Times

Tri-Valley Times

West County Times





Opinion Blogs

Editorials

Letters





Peninsula readers' letters: November 10



From Daily News Group readers



mercurynews.com

Posted:   11/09/2012 06:32:22 PM PST

November 10, 2012 7:34 AM GMTUpdated:   11/09/2012 11:34:08 PM PST









Gone are the days



Dear Editor: Gone are the days when former President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched bold government programs to cover a country 27 times the size of Germany with a network of interstate highways. Gone are the years when former President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty and enacted federal laws declaring that there could be no second- or third-class citizens, regardless of skin color. And gone is the spirit of renewal after former President John F. Kennedy's visionary promise to send Americans to the moon within a decade, a program that would cost taxpayers billions.



That's when an ultimatum expires that is known as the "fiscal cliff," which Democrats and Republicans set for themselves, after the dramatic failure of their budget negotiations in the summer of 2011, so as not to drive the world's largest government budget against a wall. If both sides can't agree to a joint solution, budget cuts and tax increases will automatically take effect on Dec. 31 that will massively reduce the deficit by $900 billion.



President Obama has announced he will veto any proposal that doesn't include higher taxes for the rich. Now the United States alone owes that much money to the world. And of course the rest of the world, they owe their governments too because they're all operating on deficit spending.



Ted Rudow III,



Palo Alto





Copyright 2012 San Jose Mercury News. All rights reserved.