SPENDING: $2M on crab legs a great deal

In a March 13 letter, Alyssa Swartz juxtaposed Pentagon spending on luxury foods and ice cream machines against spending for those that collect entitlements paid for by taxpayers. What Alyssa didn't seem to understand is that these luxury items are provided to deployed troops, often shortly before they receive bad news. 

My brothers, father, grandfathers, uncles and many cousins ate tens of thousands of dollars worth of the exact types of luxury food Alyssa listed before: learning their deployments were being extended, being sent on a particularly dangerous mission or experiencing similarly challenging events.

Considering there are more than 1 million active-duty U.S. military personnel, I consider $2 million spent on crab legs to be a screaming deal. I am completely OK with the spending, knowing the items go to people who are voluntarily experiencing physical and mental hardship on our behalf.

That said, we absolutely should be concerned about government spending. According to treasury.gov, entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security accounted for 51-60% of the federal spending in recent years. With healthcare costs growing at a pace that eclipses the rest, entitlements are projected to exceed 80% of spending within the next decade. National defense, by comparison, amounts to 13% of spending.

It doesn't take a PhD to see where the spending issues are.

MICHAEL MAASS

Sagle