To the editor:

The 2009 U.S. military budget was 6.5 times China’s military budget; 9.5 times UK’s; 9.8 times France’s; and 10.8 times Russia’s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures).

With our entry into a third war in Libya, or fourth if you count Pakistan, the comparisons will be more extreme. At a million to two million dollars apiece for cruise missiles, the first day of the Libya war would have kept 2,200 to 4,400 American teachers employed for a year.

In a Seattle Times article from April 6, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, Wis, proposes a 10-year budget plan that would exempt the Pentagon from deep cuts (if any).

When the wealthy and corporations withhold tax revenue, the burden for these lucrative foreign adventures falls squarely on an American middle class suffering from underpaid overseas competition, gluttonous healthcare increases and a threatened dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

My advice to taxpayers: Don’t plan on getting old unless you’re rich. The young should save every penny they make. That could help, but at the expense of economic recovery, as businesses close for lack of customers. On the up side, banks will have more of “other people’s money” to speculate with.

Rep. Ryan wants his way: Middle class taxpayers will choose between medicine, shelter and food, and like it.

Mark A. Skullerud

Coupeville