THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 8, 1996 TAG: 9601060007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
Two recent articles provide insight into why the federal government has such an enormous deficit.
In Health News (Jan. 3), we are provided government-issued guidelines on what to eat and how to exercise. Why are government funds used for this kind of data? Our doctors and local agencies can provide this information.
Second, reports in the last week of December told of a temporary reopening of the Vermeer Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art during the budget impasse because private funding had been obtained. This raises the question: Why are public funds being used to operate art galleries and museums? Admission should be charged so that these functions - which the government has no business being in - can be self-sustaining.
Multiply these two items by the thousands of nonessential programs the federal government has become involved in over the past half-century and you get a good idea why Washington's finances are in such a mess.
SCOTT T. BOOTH
Virginia Beach, Jan. 3, 1996 by CNB