Time to tackle entitlement spending: Your Say

A recent Paste BN editorial criticized President Obama's budget proposal for failing to address the surging cost of entitlement programs, expected to be $2.3 trillion this year. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

It is nuts that President Obama wants to ignore the main drivers of the deficit.

— Peter Stein

Let's distinguish among the truly large programs, Social Security and Medicare, from others. The trouble with Social Security is we cap the income level that pays for it. Everyone should pay the same percentage of total income. That is fair and helps solve the issue.

— William Worsham Writes

Dealing with the benefit programs will require a grand bargain. And the Republican Party is not ready for that.

— Doug Larson

Neither party is willing to agree to what would be needed to fix the rising costs of entitlements. GOP members are not the only ones guilty. Democrats might agree to something minor as long as they can blame the GOP for the cuts, but they sure won't want to share the heat.

— Peter Stein

This is the ultimate kick-the-can-down-the-road folly.

— Paul Romano

Nearly 60% of the budget is already for social entitlements. In about 10 years, that soars to a projected $3.6 trillion.

— Gerald Spradlin

What would be wrong if 90% of the budget were entitlements? Do you see something wrong with helping the American people? As for those who complain the corporate tax is too high, please stop. The only companies that pay the actual tax rate are small businesses that cannot write off enough income. Welfare rolls both ways.

— Christopher Daly

Letters to the editor:

As a fiscal conservative, I don't often agree with the president, but he is absolutely right to tax U.S. companies on their overseas earnings ("Obama urges $4T budget over 'mindless austerity'").

This should have an additional benefit of encouraging companies to grow their businesses domestically, rather than creating jobs overseas to avoid paying taxes. With the increase in tax dollars, incentives can be created for businesses to create good, full-time middle-class jobs in the United States.

The trend for too long has been to reduce hours to avoid full-time pay and benefits, and/or move jobs overseas for corporate profits. Wake up, Republicans. This is a good tax increase.

Sandra Wade; Chapin, S.C.

Friday's front-page article made me laugh out loud after reading President Obama's quote on sequestration: "It doesn't differentiate between smart government spending and dumb government spending" ("Obama wants 7% spending hike"). Here is a novel thought: Rather than increase government spending 7% and increase taxes, why not eliminate "dumb" government spending?

Brent Johnson; Belvidere, Ill.