Show a i 3 i. i NN Americans face rocky road of recovery V W u. u A Y wear Dear Editor When President Bill Clinton was Candidate Clinton he told America that it road to economic recovery would not be easy We understood this and agreed with Mr Clinton After all there was and is no denying that the federal deficit currently is and will continue to pose a serious threat to the livelihood of middle America So a ma majority jori ty of middle Americans said We agree with y you u Bill and we are willing to bite the bullet So we elected Clinton and his ideas into office Eight months later the President has presented his proposals to the American public But now that its it's time to bite the bullet to sacrifice for the future everybody wants out The coach's pep talk got us pretty excited time but Americans still are sluggish taking the field Everyone agrees taxes will have to be raised to even make an attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt at balancing the trillion dollar dollar dollar dol dol- lar deficit Yet every tax the Presidents President's camp has discussed has hasmet hasmet hasmet met cruel resistance from the country Nobody wants to pay a Canadian like 12 percent sales tax so throw out THAT idea Never mind that every Canadian has adequate adequate adequate ade ade- quate health coverage And of course we cannot tax the wealthy more because the cost of their kids' kids college education is getting harder to pay Clinton's proposed energy tax has met wide-spread wide opposition because it taxes everything everything everything every every- thing that tha t uses fuel In other words it taxes everybody But isn't that how it should be everyone paying a small share to ensure that our children have the security of a financially independent nation Republican senators and other Clinton critics refuse to admit taxes need to be raised And instead bank on cuts in services in small areas like police departments department social security education and welfare You know know know- the unimportant things Even Ross Perot has backtracked from his campaign philosophy similar to Clinton's which called for taxes to be raised across the board Bu But t the billionaire now says the presidents president's tax package is way out of line Easy for you to say Ross now that you are in no danger of actually being in charge of balancing the budget These detractors and many other Americans need to use their return trip tickets to reality Senators the people know that meaningful budget cuts are no different than tax increases increases increases in in- creases either way we still pay more and get less Whether through higher taxes or reduction of services the country needs to tighten its belt and honor the pledge that tha t was heard so often during the election Im willing to pay my share for the good of the na na- na- na tion Admittedly the numbers Clinton is asking for are not the same ones he promised during his campaign But that does not change the fact that Americans have an obligation to meet this decade We belong to what has been up p to now a successful opera opera- tion Now that the operation is broken we must all be willing to fix it Those who dont don't believe the deficit is anything to worry about should study some world history There they will see that many great empires collapsed collapsed collapsed col col- col- col lapsed immediately after their economies did Charles B. B Straw Shaw communication v |