Editor, Times-Union: The big debate in Washington right now is how to bring federal spending under control. Just how much money are we talking about when it comes to the federal budget? To put things in perspective, imagine a 4 lane highway that stretches from South Bend to Albuquerque, N.M. Now imagine that every square inch of that highway is covered with $100 dollar bills. There would be $76,510 for each and every foot along the way. What part of the budget do you think this highway would represent? If you guessed all of it, you have way too much faith in your government. No, it would only represent the part known as the deficit. That’s right, money we don’t even have – IOUs that will come due for our children and grandchildren. Actually, it would only represent the deficit from 2008. For today’s deficit, the highway would be three time longer and reach Hawaii. Let’s not even talk about the total budget which would take you to the other side of Australia. Now let’s consider the budget cuts that have been presented. The “reasonable” 6 billion dollars the White House wanted to cut with their scalpel would have been enough to take you from Elkhart to the South Bend airport. Coincidentally, the “draconian” 61 billion dollar cut proposed by the GOP “meat axe” would have taken you all the way to Urbana, IL. Upon arrival, you could have spent the entire month wishing you were in Hawaii. Thank you. Lloyd Beachy Nappanee, via e-mail
