Spend U.S. dollars at home, not NATO

It's bad enough that we are paying nearly 75 percent of NATO's budget while the European countries reduce their defense budgets. But now, instead of making meaningful reductions in the cost of underwriting the Europeans, we're going to retain 67,000 military personnel already stationed there and add a squadron of F-35 fighter jets.

When will the president and Congress understand that we have limited resources and taxpayers want to see their tax money spent in the USA? Instead of operating as "the world's policeman," we should focus on rebuilding our decrepit infrastructure. While our airports, bridges, highways, ports and railway systems crumble, the Europeans ride high-speed trains and we pay for their defense.

This is a shameful misuse of taxpayer dollars that needs to change if we're to modernize our infrastructure, keep up with China, put millions of Americans back to work and reduce wasteful spending!

Tom Minnerick

Elgin