Columbia, SC — In her Feb. 20 response to Eruch Tata’s earlier letter, Joanne Hafter said sometimes people just need help and told Mr. Tata he should not accept Medicare and Social Security.

People on Medicare paid for that all their working lives, and still pay monthly for Medicare, their supplemental insurance and their prescription plan. Social Security is his money, not the government’s. This tax isn’t supposed to be touched by Congress, but of course it could not leave it alone.

If the president gets his way, he will take more of this money to pay for programs such as WIC, which is mostly for people who make bad decisions and have children they cannot afford; most of the children are born out of wedlock.

So I agree with Mr. Tata: If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it; and if you can’t afford to pay for the children you have, don’t have them and expect others to feed, house and clothe them.

Linda Waters

Lexington