The retirement age must be increased. Medicare must be means-tested. Defense spending must be reduced. Many loopholes in the tax law must be eliminated. Every subsidy must be on the table.

If we cannot meet the obligations of a humane, modern society and protect our people without more revenue, then we must get it from the people and corporations who have it. We all know this.

We must understand that business owners do not create jobs. They manage businesses and thus are focused on creating profits. They hire people when they must to meet a growing demand for their products or services. The people who purchase those products and services create the jobs.

The best way to support job growth is to increase the purchasing power of people who must spend.

We must control health care costs, and that means we must control drug prices, malpractice insurance and litigation and fee-for-service practices. More importantly and with more difficulty, we must stop pretending that my 65-year-old body is more important to society than the lives of my grandchildren.

We must recognize that a strong economy supported by modern education, communication, energy and transportation systems is more important to national defense than our ability to kill people.

Don't most of us agree on these points? Can we not do what's necessary?

Richard Willever

Okatie