Obama's solutions might be problematic

President Obama certainly has had many ideas so far, but I think some of his plans are at cross purposes; they actually work against each other.

Now he says he is concerned about the growing national debt, but we cannot continue to think that money is the solution to all problems and throw hundreds of billions of dollars we don't have at them all without increasing our national debt. The president's "budget" for 2010 is a horrendous $3.6 trillion, and half of that is deficit spending!

In his 2010 budget, over $600 billion is for what he calls "affordable health care," (Does that sound better than socialized medicine?) while at the same time he plans to spend less on Medicare, a current program that helps many Americans with health care. Might this be a help to more people, but harm some programs?

As promised, but not as quickly as expected, he is planning to withdraw our combat troops from danger in Iraq by August of 2010, but he plans to leave 30,000 to 50,000 others there until the end of 2011 for training and probably dangerous "support" and also sending more into harm's way in Afghanistan. Will the end result save American lives?

I think the President needs to realize that many of his dramatically announced programs have a downside; excessive spending is going to add to the national debt, universal health care while reducing Medicare may be counterproductive, and getting our troops out of Iraq means all of them and not just to send them into dangerous Afghanistan.

There may be solutions to some of America's problems that don't involve spending and programs announced with soaring speeches. Those more boring, but effective solutions may involve education, training and supervision of our nation's banks, auto companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. A think tank of America's best economists, business leaders, financial experts and health care professionals might find those solutions to our problems, without relying on one man for all the answers; The President and Congress would still make the final decisions.

Donald B. Abbs

Elgin