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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993                   TAG: 9303010224
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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LIKE CHARITY, THRIFT SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME

THE UNIVERSAL concern today is how to cut the deficit. President Clinton's economic plan is being condemned because the ratio of spending cuts to tax increases is not large enough.

The lead editorial Feb. 20, "Let's see the critics' plan," asks that Clinton's "feet be held to the fire for more spending cuts than those he's outlined thus far." In the same edition, we learn of promised funding for "the Smart Road." What a perfect illustration of why spending will never be cut sufficiently. Let everyone else cut costs, but work hard to keep it from happening here.

We are pleading for spending cuts and government grants in the same breath. Charity begins at home and so should thrift. If this type of spending is being replicated across the nation, and I'm sure it is, there is no hope for the president's plan. Shouldn't all of us "have our feet held to the fire" if we expect to do something about the tsunami of red ink? BARBARA GARST BOONES MILL

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