Big spenders come in GOP packages, too

I just have to set the record straight when Mr. Pratt of Arlington Heights says that President Obama is spending money like “a drunken sailor.” Please keep in mind the simple history of this country. Ronald Reagan left office in 1988 with the highest spending debt for this country to date. He is quoted on national television as saying “not bad” in his last speech to the nation. When the elder George Bush left office four years later the national debt was even higher due to a short war in Iraq. After eight years of President Clinton the national budget was balanced and the national debt was projected to be in surplus by 2010.

Then this country elected George W. Bush for two terms. Two wars, another in Iraq, health policies not paid for, regulations all resulted in an $11 trillion debt and the economy on the brink of depression. Who really is the drunken sailor? These are simply historical facts.

President Obama tried to put money back into our economy by giving spending power back to the middle class for jobs to grow. Job growth is very slow but positive during the last 15 months. We must remember 1929-30. FDR spent money for programs like the WPA and the CCC so Americans could go back to work. These programs were working until World War II, when the nation’s focus had to change.

Now the new Presidential candidate Rick Perry is talking about stopping the Obama spending machine, and saying he and his appointees are “threats.” Hitler was a threat. The state of Texas in which Rick Perry is governor is $9 billion in debt. Do you really believe Republican politics?

Steven Thompson

Arlington Heights