You can't spend what you don't have

To the editor:

In response to the "Responsible for cuts'" Speak Out contributor: I am perfectly willing to take the responsibility for cuts to Medicaid. I am glad we finally have a governor who realizes that Missouri can't continue to spend money it doesn't have. I'm proud to say I voted for Matt Blunt, and I'll gladly vote for him again when he comes up for re-election, not because I'm happy that Medicaid recipients are having their benefits cut, but because I realize that we have to get our spending under control.

Sometimes it hurts when you have to follow a budget at home too, but when the checking account gets empty, you can't write any more checks. Missouri has to operate under the very same philosophy.

People who are angry about the Medicaid cuts are likely the same people who are perfectly happy to see taxes raised on the rich. Those people, in many cases, don't pay any income taxes at all or are recipients of the income-tax credit, which has to be paid for by someone else, and it's not just the rich that pay for social programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and the Income Tax Credit. It's any citizen who pay taxes. I certainly don't fall into the rich category, yet I still have to pay taxes every April.

JANE GAFFIGAN, Cape Girardeau