To the editor:

The US isn’t in debt because working-class people have Social Security and Medicare. It is because billionaires are not paying their fair share. When the MAGA party (growing because of Republican silence) proposes a budget that cuts: $230 billion from SNAP/nutrition programs, $880 billion form healthcare funding, $330 billion from public education and workforce training/protection while it gives $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy, our country is on a downward spiral.

Sadly, Trump, Musk and their minions use their wealth and power to falsely demonize the good things our system of government has been doing. Yes, we can always improve, but sending 20-year-olds to hack into Social Security information and rewrite programs is ill-advised and against the law. The Department of Inspectors General targeted fraud and abuse, but Trump/Musk and company decided it was in their best interests to target and fire that department’s hard-working public servants who would be exposing the abuse and fraud that Trump/Musk commit on a daily basis.

Another dark strategy is unfolding as Trump/Musk are planning to lay off at least 6,000 IRS workers right in the middle of tax season. The IRS workers are one hope to go after the ultra-wealthy who are evading billions of tax dollars. The Trump/Musk team wants to avoid paying their fair share which makes life harder for we common folk who do pay their fair share. Does firing people that make the system more accountable seem like a better way to reduce the debt than taxing the rich?

Musk, the wealthiest man alive, donated a quarter billion (dollars)to Trump’s campaign. Musk now stands beside Trump calling the shots. Musk the wealthiest man alive uses his bully pulpit to illegally deny food for the poorest children on earth, while himself receiving millions of supplemental federal dollars to pay for his pet Space X project. There’s so much irony, deception and harm in this growing lust for wealth and power. When debating the Senate Republican billionaire tax cut bailout, sadly every Republican voted against proposals to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires.

Darwin Dyce

Ghent