THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 26 lines
If government is spending $500 million on a program, and the politicians say they are going to cut spending on that program, do they mean that they intend to spend less or do they intend to spend more? Well, that depends.
Here's how ``spending cut'' means ``spend more.'' Take that $500 million program. If, sometime in the past, the politicians had decided that they wanted to spend $600 million on the program, but at a later date changed their mind and decided to spend only $550 million, then they call that a cut in spending, because although they are spending $50 million more, they are not spending as much more as they had first intended.
If that sounds like double-talk, you're right. Since the media often prefer shock-value reporting, or political bias, you may have to dig to get the facts.
C. J. CARPENTER
Virginia Beach, March 16, 1995 by CNB