Trump’s budget will hurt rural Georgia
As Georgia experiences renewed growth and prosperity around Atlanta and other metropolises, as shown in “Georgia’s job growth bypasses rural areas,” News, May 22, our citizens living in rural areas are left behind. Many depend on the social safety net provided by Medicaid to survive and many others have lost this basic protection as a result of our state government refusing to accept the federal offer of Medicaid expansion. Now the Trump administration is proposing a budget that would cut even further into that program and likely affect rural Georgians more than the city dwellers. Instead of providing a “New foundation For American Greatness” as this proposal is called, it is really a first step in the dismantling of America’s social safety net including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Ironically, the people most negatively affected by Trump’s plan are the ones who voted for him and the Republicans. Rural Georgians will be hit hard if this budget is enacted.
TOM MCMANUS, ROSWELL
U.S. must cut back on entitlements
Trump's budget proposal mainly cuts back on Great Society entitlements, while not touching Medicare or Social Security and relying on very unlikely growth projections to make the numbers work. The Wall Street Journal recently reported how much more the debt grew under Bush and Obama than anticipated by their budgets. Cutting back on these entitlements is necessary. We should gradually move the Medicare and Social Security retirement ages to 70. In the process of cutting back entitlements, the following quote from former Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Gene Steuerle (formerly with the Urban Institute, a liberal organization) should be kept in mind: "… there is little doubt that avoiding marriage is the tax shelter for low- and moderate-income individuals." Think of how many problems could be reduced if this reality was reversed.
ALLEN BUCKLEY, ATLANTA
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