Re: “Staggering U.S. deficits call for a debt-to-GDP limit” (March 18, Opinion):
Abby McCloskey, previous director of economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute, rails against the national debt in her opinion piece. This is disingenuous at best since the tax cutting and trickle-down policies espoused by the AEI are substantially responsible for that debt.
Tax cuts under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump have sliced revenues and created deficits. Anyone can tell you that cutting your income is no way to balance your budget. Yes, there have been spending programs but those have been dwarfed by the trillions of lost revenue.
She owns up to the $4.7 trillion price tag of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, championed by Sen. Lindsey Graham claiming falsely that it would not increase the deficit. The national debt has increased by over $35 trillion since 1989, while the wealth of the top 1% has reached $52 trillion.
This is not a coincidence. Tax cuts for the rich are one of many ways that wealth disparity has been accomplished over the past 40 years. Repealing the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is the only way to start to restore some sanity.
Vincent Fratello, Bellevue
