Budget fights.

• Author: Mad, Dennis O.
• Position: Readers' Forum

I read your article, "On Third Anniversary of Budget Control Act, Fallout Still Unclear," (National Defense blog, July 29). There are always more good ideas for spending other people's money. For every one of the military chiefs' priorities, the secretary of Health and Human Services has a different priority. The national debt is about $17 trillion and the GDP is about $17 trillion. The GDP is growing at 2 to 3 percent, while the debt--even if "the federal deficit has plummeted" (your words)--is growing at 12 percent.

-Even the most optimistic person in the country doesn't believe we can grow much faster than perhaps 4 to 5 percent on a sustained basis; while even if we cut the deficit in half, it will grow faster than GDP. The Office of Management and Budget forecast is for the annual deficits to be back in the trillion-dollar range in the next decade. Add to this the fact that the Treasury is financing the debt at about 2.5 percent per year (or about $400 billion per year--and we...