Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Americans need to pay for their entitlements

I see that America’s credit rating has been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s. If you look at the countries that have rock solid credit and aren’t in danger of being downgraded, they pay their bills. They have very low debt relative to their gross domestic product.

If you look at major nations that have lost their credit status or are in danger of losing it, such as the United States, these countries enjoy relatively low taxation, but they are funding the cost of entitlements through debt expansion. This debt expansion is looked upon harshly by credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

The moral of the story is people must be willing to pay for programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid through taxation, or the programs should be eliminated. Conduct a national poll to determine whether people want to pay for these programs.

In addition to entitlement costs, we bear more than 40 percent of the world’s defense costs. Defense should also be drastically cut or paid for through taxation. Every time a politician proposes to cut these programs, people whine like hungry infants. Either accept the cuts or pay the price tag — higher taxes.

You can’t have a large population, sky-high entitlement costs, defense costs, low taxes and maintain top-notch credit. There is not a country in the world with minimal natural resources and a large population that has been able to do it.

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