(MONEY Magazine) – "Squabble," the "cut-the-deficit game" in your July issue, is great fun to play. The game also brings home a reality: We can't win simply by making spending cuts; the deficit cannot be substantially cut without raising taxes. I do not like taxes but would support a tax increase to help the country get through this rough period. R. Iyer Olathe, Kans.

Several months ago, I attempted to hire a bookkeeper for the real estate company I manage. Our choice candidate turned down the position because she said that, with her unemployment benefits and other government aid, she was making more money "sitting home watching television" than I could afford to pay her. Our second choice had the same response. When I contacted the Texas Employment Commission to report that they had turned down the job, I was told that was permissible because the salary was less than they had been making previously. Shouldn't we cut unemployment benefits in circumstances like these? There are jobs waiting for many of the unemployed if they are willing to accept them. Doug Folkerson Killeen, Texas

As a retired Air Force fighter pilot, I take exception to the August letter suggesting that we should help cut the deficit by requiring military personnel to contribute to their retirement. Without the current retirement system, how would you keep highly qualified people in the military? I chose to stay in the Air Force for a patriotic reason: I wanted to serve my country. However, without the retirement system I probably could not have afforded to do so. My contemporaries who chose to leave and fly for the airlines were paid three to four times more than I, and their retirement funds were more generous than the military's. Certainly, my modest retirement pension is a small compensation for being gone from my family all the time, not seeing my children grow up, and for getting fired at (and hit a few times) during 323 combat missions. Please don't take any more shots at the military. We have been shot at enough. William L. May Colorado Springs