US on path to bankruptcy – Rutland Herald

The U.S. is on a path to bankruptcy with government debt at $20 trillion and long-term obligations exceeding $200 trillion. Our government spending is unsustainable.

In an effort to bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington, Trump proposed cutting Amtrak by $630 million. Environmentalists and train enthusiasts are vocally opposed to the cut and are holding protest rallies around the country. Senator Leahy vigorously opposes this cut, indicating rail lines bind our communities together and are crucial to our economy. However, in Vermont Amtrak service costs taxpayers $58 per passenger in subsidies, which is unaffordable to the state.

Nationally, around 60 percent of the gas tax dollar is used to fund our roads and bridges, and the rest is spent on non-road programs like Amtrak. Also, 65 percent of Washington spending goes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and defense. Congress should spend their time reprioritizing and reforming programs to reduce our debt, and the public should rally and support those efforts instead.

If politicians dont realize the seriousness of our fiscal challenge and stop promising everything to win votes, we need to rally for term limits to bring in new leaders to focus on more responsible spending policies that wont accelerate Americas demise and burden our grandchildren for bailouts.

FRANK MAZUR

South Burlington

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US on path to bankruptcy - Rutland Herald