FRANK SCHMITTROTH, Richland
The editorial in the Nov. 16 Herald on avoiding the fiscal cliff had a reasonable tone that obscured its highly misleading content. It started by saying that too many Democrats think we only need to tax the rich. It ends with saying that reining in the mounting debt requires us to "expect less from government and pay more."
The editor board's solution to our problem is compromise, compromise, compromise.
It's the math: revenues and expenditures. On the revenue side, no thoughtful person argues that taxing the rich alone solves the problem. But it is also true that there is no credible evidence that taxing the rich reduces job creation.
On the expenditure side, apart from the military, the major costs are entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. The Herald editorial board's implication that we must expect less from these programs is patently false.
Social Security is not in dire straits. Modest changes in the program will keep it solvent without reducing benefits for those who need it most. And finally Medicare. We do need to markedly constrain its cost, but that is a major goal of Obamacare. Other countries have contained costs while still providing good health care. So can we.
