Obama not managing storm of debt

Imagine trying to shovel 14 inches of snow with a thimble instead of your snow shovel. Then, after making one pass across your driveway, you put away your thimble, break out the lawn furniture and margaritas and call the job complete despite a forecast of 53 more inches of snow in the morning.

This is how President Obama and some of the Republican leadership would handle snow removal. Our nation has piled up $14 trillion in debt with an approaching blizzard of $53 trillion in unfunded entitlement obligations to be paid by our children.

Instead of preparing the nation for the heavy lifting to come, the President got out his thimble and proposed a $478 billion cut in discretionary spending while the GOP proposed a $2.5 trillion cut in discretionary spending over 10 years.

Either proposal leaves us buried. Even the Republican cuts wouldn't be enough to pay for just the interest on the debt over those same 10 years.

Certainly, cuts in discretionary spending should be considered, but entitlement and tax reform must come first, followed by defense and then discretionary spending.

Structural reform of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare programs is essential because they represent the largest and fasting growing part of our federal budget.

If we are to preserve these cherished programs for our children, we need to reform them now. Not on the backs of retirees, those near retirement, or those who truly rely on them as alarmist so often fear. But through shared sacrifice by all income levels except the poor and by those of us under 54 years old.

Why? Because passing on approximately $200,000 of debt to every man, woman, and child is not only fiscally irresponsible, but is also morally irresponsible.

John Szalinski

Mundelein