To the editor: I agree with the letter writer from South Dakota that Americans are concerned about the national debt and want our government to act in a fiscally responsible way. However, to bestow this task upon an unelected billionaire with no government experience is the antithesis of responsibility. (“The big picture on Trump might be darker than anyone realizes,” letters, Feb. 9)
Fiscal policies begin with the president’s proposed budget, which President Trump has not yet provided. Congress considers that budget, votes on legislation and appropriates money. The judicial branch can decide on the legality or constitutionality of policies.
Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that an unelected individual can arbitrarily seize control of numerous agencies and fire employees without cause. Fiscal policy and management are complicated processes that cannot be responsibly effectuated in less than three weeks, as Elon Musk has tried to do.
If Musk, Trump and Republicans in Congress were truly concerned about the debt, the first action they would take would be to increase taxes on wealthy individuals such as Trump and Musk. Democrats have been trying to do this, but Republicans have always blocked this fair and responsible policy because their ability to stay in office has depended on undertaxing the wealthy.
Maryanne Rose, Laguna Niguel
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To the editor: A letter writer says that what the unelected billionaire Musk is doing to the U.S. government is “common sense.”
This conclusion takes my breath away because it implies that whatever the Trump government says it does for the common good is indeed for the common good. No questions. No analysis. No investigation. If the Trump administration says it is doing good, necessary stuff, then it must be.
That is a sure path to dictatorship. I pray that is not what the American people want.
Tom Brayton, Long Beach
