With debt, it doesn't take a financial wizard

In his state of the union speech, President Obama said that we can't cut our way to prosperity. His idea is to tax and spend our way to prosperity.

It doesn't take a financial wizard to figure out that the first step to prosperity is eliminating debt, and as any sane person knows, that can't be accomplished by taxing the rich and expanding government.

The Senate and Congress aren't doing any better. If any number of politicians had any fortitude, they would ban together (regardless of party), eliminate the 60,000-page IRS code, establish a flat tax and start spending within the budget instead of borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend.

Is the simple tried and true method of responsible spending really too much to ask? Actually, that's the problem. Half of us haven't been asking for responsible spending often enough - or at all - and the other half have been demanding the opposite for far too long. And now, (in the immortal words of Rev. Jeremiah Wright) "our chickens have come home to roost."

Daniel DeYonge

Staples