Dear Editor:Hyperbole and hysteria have run amok in last week's article by left-wing special interest lobbyists ("Lawmakers Must Exercise Discretion with Federal Budget," 5/9/13). The Democrats finally produce a budget - a few years late - and not even Democrats want much to do with it. If lawmakers don't raise taxes - again - and the "harmful sequester cuts remain in place" then people will lose their homes, children will starve and be left to roam the streets because schools will cease to exist, and the rest of us will die of horrible diseases because there will be no funding for critical health emergencies - like replacing hamburgers in school lunch lines with salads that end up in the trash - oh my! Unfortunately for these Chicken Littles, none of their listed services that we will all apparently miss so much are truly the job of the federal government and therefore, must be cut. We are hovering over the fiscal cliff precisely because Democrats have continually biggie-sized the combo meal handouts, but we still want the original price. Maybe we only "needed" these services because we mistakenly thought they were "free." The sequester cuts were temporarily harmful because President Obama strong-armed departments into making sure they were harmful in revenge for Republicans calling his bluff - hello, FAA. But the idea that cutting 2% of the budget increase would devastate the country simply does not fly with the few remaining Americans with common sense. The "balanced approach" has been tried over the last 4 ½ years under this president with constant spending bills, bail outs, and tax increases (some yet to hit until the Obamacare train-wreck gets moving!), and still no economic recovery to brag about. In fact, the rich have continued to get richer by 30% while the rest of us have seen a 4% drop in our wealth. Could it be that enticing more and more people onto the public dole like a drug dealer does indeed prevent individual progress and lead to generations of poverty? Well, I hate to rub it in, but we told you so. Alaina Niemann Downey

********** Published: May 16, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 05