Opinions on aiding the Big Three
Like Lawrence MacLachlan (11/22, Letters), I grew up in Detroit, on the east side. When I drive through my old neighborhood, wonderful memories emerge, along with tears for what it once was.
Hard times are not new to Detroit. There have always been strikes and layoffs. What is different are the attitudes.
A worker today looks into the TV camera and cries about how they will not have a Christmas in anticipation of being laid off. One time when I was a kid, my dad — and most of Detroit — was laid off or on strike for nine months, and we kids never knew his worries. He just kept working any odd job that he could find.
Please TV reporters, the poor are still quietly helping the poor. Find them and tell their story.
Barbara Smith
Shawnee
Steven Addison (11/24, Letters) writes that we owe the unions a “thank you.” He states: “Those of you do not belong to a union should thank a union worker every time you meet one.”
Steven, I don’t feel the need to thank the United Auto Workers from the old Fisher Body Leeds plant. In the ’70s, they used to giggle about striking while talking in the restaurant across the street. One plan I heard included placing lug nuts inside car doors during assembly, which guaranteed a rattle for a customer. Not much thanks needed there, is there?
Then there were the union Kansas City firefighters who staged a strike three times: 1975, 1979 and 1980. Among the things we need to thank them for is that they walked out on a half million citizens of Kansas City, leaving them without professional fire protection. Who wouldn’t want to thank them?
Union air traffic controllers? In 1981, President Reagan pink-slipped about 11,000 air traffic controllers who walked out in violation of their contract and federal law. Some were quoted as saying they thought Reagan was bluffing. Apparently, he wasn’t.
No, Steven, I don’t owe them any thanks.
Larry Dickstein
Lone Jack
I wonder why the Honda and Toyota people are not begging for a bailout.
Bob Bacchus
Kansas City
Bailout for Citigroup
What’s with all this hand-wringing about a lousy $25 billion in bailout funds for the auto industry?
We just gave Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (an unelected official) almost 30 times that amount to do with as he pleases. The pork-barrel spending alone in the Wall Street rescue bill dwarfs anything that has been proposed for the auto industry. Citigroup just received an additional $20 billion to go with its previous $25 billion. It needs the money to finish building a new ballpark for the New York Mets.
Perhaps its time to make Paulson king and give him another trillion dollars to play with. Maybe we can build a new stadium for every professional sports franchise in the country.
Let’s keep our priorities in order.
Bill Kuhlmann
Independence
The taxpayers are being asked to bail out Citigroup from bankruptcy.
If we lend Citgroup the money, certain conditions should apply. They should be treated as a poor credit risk and charged 28.99 percent interest. If they fail to meet any of the conditions, interest will increase to 39.99 percent.
What goes around comes around.
Suzanne Colbert
Gladstone
Use money to create jobs
I am glad that we are a nation that helps those who are in need. My concern is that we are continually finding ourselves in a financial crisis, and we are going to be out of money.
We have increased by almost a million people within the last year who are in need of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. I wonder if some or any of the billions of dollars that have been floating around in the air are going to be used to actually get our nation back on its feet. I wonder if any of the money will benefit our supplemental programs, our schools, health insurance and all of the other financial issues that have been affecting us.
Let’s find a solution to decrease poverty. I believe the bailout money should be used to create more jobs. More jobs would make it less likely that people would need to use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Let’s begin to rebuild our nation and start meeting the needs of our people by strengthening small businesses.
Brandy Herrera
Kansas City, Kan.
Pure capitalism doesn’t exist
Mark Robertson (11/25, Letters, “Obama supporters ill-informed”) calls Obama’s economic plan “socialistic wealth redistribution.” He merely spews more supply-side Reaganomics tripe. That angle has reached a cyclical bottom, and to maintain this status quo is ignorant.
Our suppliers of goods and credit are crumbling. Mr. Robertson offers “capitalism” as a solution. But there are no pure economic systems. These ideals are used only for analysis. The problem is people. People cheat, people lie, people steal, and people commit all varieties of crimes to secure themselves wealth. These human inclinations quickly and radically change any economic studies that lead to official policy
Any system we adopt now must include more oversight, not less, as we now painfully see. The supply-side has cycled out, and it’s time to create real jobs and demand. Frankin Delano Roosevelt did it successfully, and not too many people look back at him as a socialist.
John D. Colle
Blue Springs
Crying ‘socialism’ a scare tactic
I read with great interest Roger Merryfield’s Midwest Voices column (11/22, Opinion, “A post-election primer on the new ‘fairness’.”). How useless are inaccurate, sarcastic rants from poor-loser Republicans during this time of crisis?
This is the U.S.A. No one is going to try, or be successful at, implementing a socialist system into our economy. To say otherwise is another example of the politics of fear that the American voter clearly demonstrated that they no longer want to be a part of.
Rob Meacham
Overland Park
