Letter: Bush too preoccupied with war and wealthy

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

There was a Washington Post article by Michael Abramowitz in Saturday's paper. That article highlights the obsession of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress with driving another spike in the hearts of the elderly and those in the middle and lower income brackets. The core of the article was Bush's post-election agenda. It seems Bush plans to again attack the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

One hears nothing from the White House on the cost of the backbreaking wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with their attendant drain on our nation's wealth. You have not heard one word from President Bush, Karl Rove or Vice President Dick Cheney about Halliburton and other war profiteering companies charged with cronyism, corruption, theft and utter mismanagement of their contracts in Iraq. Nor have you heard this administration express any concerns over the funding of pork barrel projects such as Alaska's $200 million "bridge to nowhere." Bush and his conservative Republican counterparts in Congress do not seem to care about anyone except the rich and the corporate lobbies.

The fundamental issue goes back to the problem that faces every household in America - an inherent obligation to all members of the household and a balancing of income and expenses. According to the article, the Democrats, though in the minority, seem to care about the underclass of our society and recognize these inherent facts, and contend that tax revenues must at least equal expenditures. One compounding problem, caused by the Bush administration, has been the skyrocketing national debt. The problem stems primarily from the cost of the war, and the tax reduction for the wealthy orchestrated by Bush.

Ray Harbert, Las Vegas

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