The Sun believes that Republicans are being irresponsible for insisting that any increase in the federal debt ceiling must be matched by similar cuts in federal spending ("Debt ceiling: Republicans stand by their ultimatums," June 5). I suggest that it is better to play chicken than it is to play ostrich, i.e. bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away.
The current U.S. debt exceeds $14.5 trillion. The federal government spends over one-third more than it obtains in revenue. The Medicare trustees have recently warned us that the Medicare program will run out of money within the next 10-12 years. Those "irresponsible" Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, have put forth a serious plan to reduce spending and reform Medicare. The response from President Obama, Congressional Democrats and their allies in the media such as the Sun has been to demagogue the Medicare proposal and fail to offer any meaningful proposal to either reduce spending or reform Medicare.
