To the editor:
As the health care debate goes on, one thing is for certain: With the best intentions another bill is coming out of Washington D.C.
With the mountains of disagreements on how our health care system should be fixed, I am more skeptical of its costs. This year alone we have amassed $1.4 trillion in debt, for a national total of $12 trillion. Earlier this year, the White House estimated $9 trillion more in the next 10 years. All this before any health care legislation is passed.
This gives me 21 trillion reasons to believe whatever is passed will not be debt-neutral, and most likely a bill this size will add to the deficit.
Where does that leave us 15 years from now? The likelihood of a national deficit of $25 trillion does not seem that far out of reach today.
What does that kind of deficit mean to our children? What does that mean to the existence of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and health care? What about our ability to maintain welfare, public housing and food stamps?
Sadly, I think the answer lies in two areas. First the federal government will simply print more money to pay its bills. Second is aggressive taxation rates. The first action causes inflation, and both actions limit our freedoms.
All this culminates in one final thought: Having a daughter who will enter the work force in the next dozen years, I think of the struggle women and minorities have waged to achieve equal work for equal pay. I believe the next generation will achieve that, but to what end? To pay the bill we leave behind today?
The thought of my daughter's generation opening up their paychecks only to see 75 to 80 percent of it go to taxes to pay off today's responsibilities, is wrong. The next sad chapter in American history may just be my daughter's generation coming to the conclusion that their struggle wasn't really worth the effort.
Ken Burgess
Peabody
