CAPTION.
CREDIT
If one were to look up the words “ineptitude” and “incompetence” in the dictionary, one would see a photo of President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and both houses of Congress next to each word (” ‘Yolk’ Is on Debt Talkers,” July 25).
To get things done, we need someone like the greatest arm-twister of them all, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Herb Stark
Massapequa
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Our president believes that if he preaches, we will listen.
He and many others may not like what the GOP has presented, but where are his specifics?
Ignatius Giorgio
Brooklyn
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I am tired of Obama and Boehner fighting over the debt. It is time for both parties to stop acting like kids and remember that they hold America’s future in their hands.
It is time to cut up the nation’s credit cards and begin living within our means.
Reduce the current deficit by 5 percent a year and budget items 3 percent a year — while limiting all federal salaries and benefit increases to the same amount as the cost-of-living increase for Social Security.
It is time to lead by example and stop posturing for the best position for the 2012 elections.
Tom Lienhard
Westfield, NJ
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If Boehner cares so much about the American economy, why does he subsidize big companies who outsource jobs to India?
Pamela Daly
Hartsdale
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Just how and when the debt-ceiling crisis is resolved depends on the math.
I’m no Einstein, but I can add and subtract — and I don’t like the equations I see coming out of Washington.
A.L. Cynton
Laguna Beach, Calif.
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Intuitively, the purpose of a debt limit is to limit the amount of debt the government can accrue.
Since 1962, the debt limit has been raised 74 times.
If the debt limit doesn’t limit debt, what is its purpose?
Albert Paparesta
Brookfield, Conn.
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As stipulated in the Constitution, a solution to the debt crisis is the responsibility of the House of Representatives.
Until it comes to his desk, Obama should have nothing to do with this budget plan. Boehner is exactly right in leaving the president out of this process at the present point.
James C. Green
Heber City, Utah
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The looming debt crisis is merely the tip of the iceberg that is slowly drowning the United States in a sea of malaise.
And the fault does not lie with George W. Bush, the financial institutions, Boehner, Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.
The fault lies with one man and one man alone — President Obama.
Right now, even Jimmy Carter looks good to me.
Dan Clemens
Marlboro, NJ
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The one common theme coming from the White House during the debt negotiations is the need for more revenue. The country does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem.
If Americans have to curb their spending and tighten their belts, the politicians in Washington have to do the same thing.
Obama has not submitted any type of credible spending-reduction plan, and the Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in two years.
This country has serious problems and needs serious people to deal with them. If this crop of politicians can’t do it, let’s put in people who will. Washington works for the people, not the other way around.
Peter W. Kelly
Hazlet, NJ
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We have to spend $29 billion a month in interest on our debt. Now we are being told that the only way to deal with this is to make our nation’s debt even bigger.
As anyone who runs a household budget can tell you, if you think like that, it’s only a matter of time before you lose your home.
John Dumary Jr.
Duanesburg