Why Not Simply Ask 147 People To Give a Billion Dollars Each?
No, that letter in your mailbox from Kay Fishburn isn't a joke. She wants you to sit down, pull out your checkbook and send a donation to someone who really needs an extra $150 billion or so:</br></br>Uncle Sam.</br></br>Ms. Fishburn, a nurse in New Berlin, Wis., is leading a direct-mail campaign to reduce the federal deficit through private donations. Honest. In fact, members of her own family contribute 2% of their annual income to the cause.</br></br>"It's extremely satisfying" to contribute, claims Ms. Fishburn, who began her efforts in 1981 after she concluded that the tax cuts passed that year would cause the deficit to balloon. "It was an act of frustration. We knew we were getting into trouble fast."</br></br>About 10,000 letters go out a year. And people who actually read to the end are asked to send their contributions to the Treasury Department's Fund to Reduce the Public Debt.