Letters to the Editor  Wednesday, Jan 23 2013 11:00 PM  Let's
address spending problem  By The Bakersfield Californian  A
recent TV news segment on the U.S. debt caught my attention. The
debt clock was spinning at $16.4 trillion and climbing higher
with each passing second. President Obama wants to raise the
debt ceiling, yet many in Congress and a majority of Americans
polled recently believe that we have a spending problem in
Washington that is completely out of control.  In 2012, total
revenue was $2.4 trillion and total spending was $3.5 trillion.
In fact, the federal deficit has run over $1 trillion every year
since fiscal year 2009. Unless the Senate passes a budget (which
it hasn't had the courage to do in nearly four years) that cuts
spending, our debt bill will continue to grow at an alarming
rate. Yet Democratic leaders have said that more taxes need to
be raised. I don't agree. There is so much waste, fraud and
duplication of services in our bloated federal government. Why
aren't these areas addres