Want to submit your letter to the editor? Here is how. Wochit
Balanced budget necessary for greatness
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his primary goal as president is to make America great again. A critical part of that agenda was his promise to balance our budget in 10 years. Now, however, that fundamental requirement has been set aside under Trump’s newly proposed budget for fiscal 2019.
Instead, in a complete turnaround, the Trump administration recently acknowledged that not only will deficits not be eliminated, as previously claimed, but that there will also be more than $7 trillion added to our debt over the coming decade.
Sale: Get complete digital access to knoxnews.com for a full year for $9.99, through Feb. 23.
However, if you factor in the Congressional Budget Office's deficit projection of $10 trillion during this period, plus an additional $1.5 trillion projected for the recently passed Trump/GOP tax cut plan and a separate spending bill, our overall debt in 2027 will likely exceed $32 trillion.
Lastly, both Social Security and Medicare will be facing serious funding shortfalls around the same time. Still, in spite of this, Trump has said he is opposed to making changes to these programs, a position that amounts to ignoring the problem.
Clearly, Trump has walked away from delivering on a key component of what needs to be done to restore America's greatness. To suggest otherwise is to ask the American people to embrace a promise that lacks credibility.
If Trump truly wants to make America great again, he needs to speak to his complete about-face on his promise to balance our budget, and explain exactly how he expects to make America great again while further eroding our fiscal integrity.
Unless our budget deficits start to decline in a dramatic way in the very near future, there is little reason to believe that an America saddled with an another $12 trillion of national debt in 2027 will be anywhere close to becoming great again.
Ken Gerstenmaier, Morristown
With school shootings, gun ads disturbing
Oh, the irony. Earlier this month, as I was listening to the news of two 15-year-old students shot by a 12-year-old in a Louisiana school and browsing the News Sentinel online, I came across a full-page ad gloriously advertising guns for sale.
My count may not be accurate, but I believe this is the 12th school shooting just in 2018 alone -- a year barely out of its diapers, like many of its victims.
What is wrong with our society that we gloriously advertise massive multipliers of lethality as if they were toys to be collected and admired? If tobacco had the same status as guns in this society, there would be a howl of outrage across the country.
I can already hear the nonsensical, thoughtless arguments; “Tobacco doesn't kill people, people kill people.” I guess that means guns don’t kill 12-year-olds, 12-year-olds kill 12-year-olds. Sounds stupid and shallow when you put it that way.
Eric Brelsford, Knoxville
Join the Conversation
To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs