ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601050012
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
I MIGHT have assumed that Richard Rothstein's Dec. 18 commentary (``Stop obsessing about deficit reduction'') was only an opinion reprinted from a news service, and that you knew better. Then I recalled Ray Garland's Oct. 19 column (``Does a national debt of $4.9 trillion matter?'').
Garland spoke of ``spending restraint'' probably because that makes sense to laymen and voters. But his real point was that not only don't budgets need to be balanced, a balanced budget probably wouldn't even be good for us. You highlighted his remark: The deficit in fiscal 1995 was about $175 billion. Representing just over 2 percent of our $7 trillion economy, it clearly poses no threat.
Clearly? No threat? Rothstein and Garland hope the public doesn't know that the deficit and debt aren't the same. We're to keep believing they are.
Rothstein argues that ``businesses borrow to expand. Families borrow, mortgaging homes, financing cars, and other purchases.'' He argues: ``Budget balancing is a policy unknown to businesses, families or local government.''
Excuse me? Budget balancing has to be our policy or our credit comes to a screeching halt! Deficit spending is what lenders see as the reason not to extend credit. We are lent money only when what we earn matches, at least, what we need to survive plus what it takes to pay the loan payments! If the total of all my survival costs, taxes and loan payments used all my income, would you loan me another $1,000? C'mon, pal. Why are you laughing? My kids might pay you back.
Balancing the budget doesn't mean paying down the debt, although we should. It means not adding to it! When politicians speak of ``reducing the deficit,'' they're only offering to slow the rate at which our debt is rising. There's no intent by either major party to balance the national budget. This year's posturing and playacting is more smoke and mirrors. Each party wants credit for trying to balance a budget as it prepares to blame the other for the intended failure.
Arguments like those offered by Garland and Rothstein aren't meant to inform. Like the words of our politicians, they're only meant to cloud the truth.
ROBERT S. TERRY
BEDFORD
Trash cans are a county eyesore
FOR MANY of us in Roanoke County, the distribution of our large, roll-out garbage cans came more as a nuisance than as a convenience. Our rural areas that before the distribution had been fairly tidy and scenic are now very unsightly, and at times a litter-ridden mess.
The program claims to save county residents tax dollars by utilizing "one-armed bandit" refuse-collection trucks that require only one worker per vehicle. In theory it is a grand idea.
But in the more rural areas, residents must either roll their containers a long distance to the nearest street-side collection point or, as has unfortunately become commonplace, they leave the containers by the roadside because of the utter inconvenience involved.
As if the eyesore of the containers by the roadside were not enough, many residents overload their containers to the point of overflow, welcoming animals and wind to scatter their refuse around the area.
The county needs to reassess the program, and allow rural residents who cannot keep their containers out of public sight an alternative plan for refuse collection. The trial period is over; it is not going to work, and we need to clean up the county.
SAM HOLLINGSWORTH
ROANOKE
`Overboard' shows area's good taste
REGARDING your Dec. 16 Extra section article, ``The new year will start with some laughs'':
My compliments to you and your readers for choosing ``Overboard'' to grace the pages of The Roanoke Times. I've recently been transferred to the area, and find such a decision to be clear evidence of good taste and high cultural standards.
``Overboard'' quickly became my favorite when it debuted in Salt Lake City in 1990. So I was very disappointed upon moving to the pirate-infested waters of Tampa Bay in 1992 to find ``Overboard'' missing. I launched a campaign to add Seahawk's and Charley's faces to the local comic strips. It was a valiant though futile effort, spoiled by the spineless, uninspired editorial staffs of the Florida newspapers. Leaving was the only option.
I had a few doubts about moving to Southwest Virginia, but no more. People here obviously know a good thing when they see it. Besides, if it's a good enough place for a real pirate like Nate, then it's good enough for me!
BRUCE WEBB
RADFORD
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB