The Durango Herald’s recent editorial, “Debt debacle came too close to losing too much.” I would certainly agree, this country can not afford to default on our national debt. However, the proposed fix of taxing the “ultra rich” will not work. We have gone way beyond that possibility.

There simply are not enough ultra rich. Our debt is nearly $32 trillion. Interest for the next decade will be $2.3 trillion per year, so if we have 735 billionaires, they would each have to fork over another $3.1 billion a year, just to pay interest and not including the annual debt increase of 5.6%! Even Donald Trump, with a total worth of $2.5 billion couldn’t handle that.

I also agree that most of the federal expenses are fixed, health, etc., but the enormous expenses for the “New Green Deal” are not. We simply can’t afford it. President Joe Biden intends to spend $12 billion per year on offshore power to catch up with Britain, in spite of the fact that it has been a financial disaster there. The average cost in Britain per MWh is 19 cents versus about 13 cents in the U.S., 46% higher. But we intend to catch up? Again, we can’t afford this, call your Congress members.

R.W. Riethmiller

Pagosa Springs