Cutting PBS a drop in bucket
Letters to the Editor October 7, 2012 5:36PM
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Updated: November 9, 2012 6:11AM
When pressed for specific cuts in spending during the presidential debate, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney mentioned only Obamacare and PBS. Certainly Obamacare is significant to address. However, if PBS is the only other example he could present, either he doesn’t, as Joe Biden said, understand arithmetic, or he is keeping secret his true plans.
The total budget is $3.1 trillion. The budget for PBS is $445 million. This amount is significant to an individual, but the percent of the total budget is infinitesimal. In other words, the total budget is $8,380 per person while PBS is only $1.41 per person. The defense budget is $525 billion or $1,669 per person. Reducing it by $1.41 per person would certainly not affect our security.
Unfortunately, this approach is typical for many politicians. Trumpet savings, in dollar amounts that appear significant but are actually meaningless. Let’s attack the waste in government inefficiencies.
John Lenart, Crest Hill
Food-truck plan is ridiculous
Food trucks: Why do we need them?
Way back, when some immigrants came to this country, they would peddle food in pushcarts to earn a living. There were only a few restaurants at that time. Now, there are all kinds of restaurants, including fast-food shops with drive-up windows.
Who is going to monitor these food trucks ?How can we be sure they will be sanitary and that the food is safe to eat? This whole plan is ridiculous.
Vivian P. Gesse, River Grove
‘Gonna’ must go
Regarding Richard F. Friedman’s Oct. 3 letter, “Time for some gonna control,” where he singled out City Hall reporter Fran Spielman for using “gonna” in her reports: I have noticed that the Sun-Times uses “gonna” instead of “going to” in almost every story or article where someone is quoted.
So she isn’t alone. It’s a disease permeating the newspaper and it sure “bugs” me also.
Mario Caruso, Lincoln Square
