To the Editor:

Re “Wall St. in Worst Loss Since ’01 Despite Reassurances by Bush” (front page, Sept. 16):

First it was Bear Stearns, then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now the word is of a possible bailout of Lehman Brothers. Where does the emergency aid come from when the government steps in? Ultimately from my wages and yours.

The Republicans talk a good game about tax cuts. But when untold billions are siphoned off of public funds that might go to any number of worthy causes  what is that if not an abuse of our tax money?

Indeed, after the fact, intervention is the only option. But the Republicans can’t have it both ways. They can’t tout tax-cutting credentials and condemn government spending while refusing to regulate financial markets and letting them run amok. If that isn’t lavish government spending in the extreme, what is?

We wouldn’t be in this situation if the Bush administration had cared about the hard-earned money of average Americans, which it gladly takes from us every pay period. It would be one thing if this were an entirely new phenomenon. But we’ve been down this road before, in the 1980s, under another Republican administration that also touted tax cuts, even as it poured a chunk of our wages down the drain of bailouts.