Eliminate Fraud

* Both presidential candidates seem to be obsessed with using the surplus for either spending increases or tax cuts. Both are shortsighted, in my opinion. The first priority should be using surplus funds to reduce or eliminate rampant fraud and waste in virtually every department of the government. For example:

The Department of Education cannot account for over $500 million of its budgeted funds. The IRS is undercollecting taxes, due to an ever-expanding underground cash economy. Tax cheaters and evaders need to be brought in line with the rest of us, who pay our fair share of the tax burden.

Medicare and Medicaid programs are abused by eligible clients and vendors alike. Problems with overpayments, double payments, payments to ineligible people and outright theft are commonplace. One estimate calculates that 40% of Medicaid funds are lost to theft and fraud. This is absurd.

Before a candidate gets my vote, he’s going to have to dedicate his administration to cleaning up the mess that exists in the federal bureaucracy. The last thing we need is more spending on programs that are already mismanaged.

ALAN J. WEISS

Santa Monica