Letter to the Editor: Government waste

Dear Editor:

On Dec. 27 , the Times published a great photograph of the “Precision Tracking Space System” (PTSS) with the following caption: “The Planned network of nine to twelve satellites orbiting high above the equator was designed to detect missile launches and track warheads in flight. Four years after its inception, the government quietly killed the program before a single satellite was launched.” 

The program cost $231 million. The people working in the program in 2013 left the Department of Defense, saying that “the PTSS would have been an important investment to make for the long term. It might have proved its worth 10, 20, 30 years from now.” 

It never worked. Now we know why Social Security recipients did not get a rise (COLA). 
This is only an example of how the government has better ways to spend our tax money. Not very wisely, though.

Margo Baird
Downey