Unfettered Letters

Condom switch lacks common sense

After reading the article “Move to cheap condoms threatens American jobs; The U.S. will switch to Chinese products to distribute in poor countries, putting 300 out of work at an Alabama factory” (3/23. A-1), I was left speechless. Just maybe if the government would have cut out the middle man, the domestic price would be competitive. Now we’ve decided it is OK to add 300 jobs to Alabama’s and the nation’s growing unemployment rolls.

Here’s a thought. Shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and let the feds feel some of our pain. We can use that budget money to support those 300 soon-to-be-unemployed workers in Eufaula, Ala.

Tom Klingner
Roeland Park

KC should consider pay cuts

The Kansas City government is in bad financial condition. Instead of reducing services by laying off a lot of employees, why doesn't the city or other government agencies reduce the pay of all employees - more at the top and less at the bottom?

Some employees might be able to get other jobs, thus freeing up more money for the remaining employees.

Bill Joyce
Westwood

Repair aging water systems

I have been reading about the drinking water system problems in this country. It seems that most city water systems are old and decrepit. Also, it would take an estimated $380 billion to fix them.

Why don’t we put the stimulus money to work correcting this problem? This would take care of a vital system and create instant jobs all over the country.

David Napoli
Kansas City

Too scared to stimulate

Has anyone given a thought that one of the reasons people who have jobs, and have money, aren’t spending could very well be that they are scared to death of the new president and his agenda?

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt so famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” And frankly, I’m scared to death of this man.

I’m not spending anything. If Congress sends me a check, I’ll bank it for a rainy day.

Joe Neuner
Olathe

Look at the bright side

The other day I watched a reporter on the TV news tell me that 14 percent of small business owners plan to cut their work force.

What the news folks did not tell me is that 86 percent of small business owners will not cut their work force.

Bob Faulkner
Prairie Village

Flight of ‘talent’ from Wall Street

Some people object to our government capping executive compensation to a mere half million dollars per year if the company in question is receiving bailout money. Their argument is that excessive pay is necessary to retain the best and most competent minds; otherwise these brilliant people will go to competitors.

That is hilarious. This so- called “talent” got us into this huge mess in the first place. And where would they go? Wall Street isn’t on a hiring binge these days.

Catherine Bowser
Overland Park

Defending foreign workers

The article “Banks sought foreign workers amid layoffs” (2/2, A-1) misleads the general public into thinking that H-1B workers, who hold highly specialized jobs, have contributed to Wall Street’s collapse.

On the contrary, these workers are highly educated, hardworking, highly skilled contributors to American society — super-achievers in our world who hold such critical positions as doctors, scientists, high-tech workers and the like — and only strengthen and improve our economy. And contrary to what this article implies, a U.S. employer hiring an H-1B worker must make attestations (under penalty) intended to protect U.S. workers.

Unless our laws continue to encourage the best and brightest to be employed in highly specialized positions and contribute to the U.S. economy, the best and most successful people will go elsewhere. America needs to attract and retain highly successful immigrants who create jobs through the critical work they do and the money they spend. It is these important contributions that add to our economic prosperity.

H-1B workers had no role in Wall Street’s collapse. American taxpayers will only be “suckers” (in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s words) if they believe the misinformation circulated in this biased and xenophobic article.

Lisa Reichle
Olathe

U.S. needs jobs now

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins of Kansas recently voted against the $819 billion job-stimulus package because of certain perceived objectionable provisions of the bill. She praised the tired and non-workable solutions of tax breaks for businesses and the wealthiest Americans that got us in this mess in the first place (1/30, Opinion, “As I See It: “Billions for stimulus bill that does not stimulate”).

Perhaps Rep. Jenkins should have attended the much-ballyhooed job fair at the Marriott Hotel on Main Street in Kansas City on Monday, where hundreds lined all around the block and through the hotel lobby and up the stairs and waited longer than an hour and a half to get a chance at 21 employers.

Maybe then Rep. Jenkins would have seen the error of her vote.

Bill Emerson
Shawnee

Illegal labor’s effect on economy

What plans are being made to fix the construction depression regarding housing? How are the men and women who were and are displaced by illegal immigrants going to get their jobs back? Many builders and small-business owners have been gleefully subverting the income tax and Social Security systems by paying “contract” wages. Illegal aliens happily take untaxed money across our border.

How is that going to be fixed? How do local workers protect themselves against van loads of workers who are allowed to camp on the job site and undercut the cost of labor so drastically? How do we protect ourselves from poor construction practices when building inspectors turn a blind eye?

Maybe the housing depression is a blessing in disguise. It puts workers on an even field: unemployment. You don’t need building inspectors either, if there isn’t any construction. Trickle, trickle, trickle.

Carol A. Clopton
Kansas City

Boomers’ retirement would create jobs

We do not have to “create” jobs to produce goods or services we don’t need to rescue the economy. We can instead elect to open up the remaining jobs by making it easier for the baby boomers to retire. This is a huge portion of our population, and inducing 5 million to retire would probably be easier than trying to jump-start the economy.

What would this take? Definitely access to health care would be a requirement. Also, there would be a need to access Social Security. Rules to relax the regulations on 401(k) withdrawals may be necessary. However, these steps would not require us to make up work that may misallocate our capital resources.

Every coin has two sides. Why not think creatively?

Stephen Kunz
Overland Park