Letter: Debt needs to be balanced

John Strauss of Campton Hills presents a case for federal debt in his May 15 letter. True, the debt has financed many beneficial things over the past 150 years. But Republicans don't seek zero debt. They simply want to curb rampant spending that leads to creeping socialism year after year.

Our economic system is still mostly capitalism, which produces taxes that pay for most of the benefits Mr. Strauss recounts. Simply put, capitalism works and socialism fails because nobody has a profit motive.

I would not want Mr. Strauss to be my math teacher in high school or my physics professor in college. He'd want to dumb it all down. Nobody would get A's. Everyone would get C's then D's then F's. Today I'd be on welfare - and so would Mr. Strauss.

Dan Brown

Des Plaines