Fiscal irresponsibility

Your editorial “The Womack budget” takes the cake. Your selfrighteous Republican editorialists sneer at Democrats as they perpetuate the myth that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility while Democrats are the opposite.

Our $21 trillion national debt has been a totally bipartisan enterprise. Both parties have plenty of blame. Republicans certainly don’t have less blame.

Remember that the last president to balance the budget was a Democrat. Clinton was followed by Bush, who turned our budget surpluses into seven years of growing deficits. He did this by pushing through a big budget-breaking tax cut that wasn’t needed, then putting two costly wars on the national credit card.

But the biggest example of Republican foolishness was last year’s tax bill, which was nothing but a massive redistribution of wealth upwards. That bill gave Berkshire Hathaway a $29 billion windfall. Warren Buffett didn’t need or want that money. He’s still complaining that his secretary is more taxed than he is. Just imagine what $29 billion could do for the pressing needs all across this country!

Big banks and businesses have reaped similar windfalls. These represent money diverted from the national treasury straight into the pockets of the super-wealthy. A few dollars were tossed to us further down the food chain, but that is being eaten up by inflation and a growing trade war launched by a foolish Republican president.

Add to all of this the huge unneeded increases in military spending and you have a picture that takes your breath away. The Republicans have set us on a course that will automatically increase our national debt by $1 trillion every year.

So, Republican editorialists, spare me your self-righteousness.

SANDY WYLIE Bella Vista