To the editor:

Now that the Laredo City Council, UISD Board, and Webb County have raised taxes, we are now hearing their monotonous, insipid chorus: "If we increase government spending we can create new jobs." In truth, these curators of public trust have assured but one thing -- poorer citizens.
My solution is a gradual but deliberate focus on the areas that are deemed absolutely necessary for government and education, and an elimination or privatization of the rest.
A five year program of downsizing and cost-cutting with the goal of reducing government and school budgets by 25 percent from their 2002 levels would serve the purpose of streamlining and consolidating essential public service and at the same time returning purchasing and investment dollars to the general public.
Civil society requires for the common defense, public safety, private rights, and the rule of law. Governments of modest size and high efficiency are necessary to give Laredoans what they really need -- more reliance on the private sector, a higher standard of living, and a better quality of life.

Michael Creamer