Letters to the editor, February 4, 2009

Auto industry self-destructs from labor pains

The UAW - United Auto Workers - union is a cartel that has monopolized and driven the auto industry to its noncompetitive state of bankruptcy.
Economists conclude that inflation in price occurs as labor forces wages/benefits beyond competitive values; hence, the consumers' requirements are not met and the industry falters. Monopolies are destructive to both our economy and competitive position in the world.
We can be thankful that foreign auto competition has established higher standards for quality, fuel economy and unit pricing, thus offering superior alternatives.
Those nonunion auto companies manufacturing within the United States meet or exceed customer expectations. Their cars produce less pollution and dependency on foreign oil.
The same is true in public education dominated by the NEA and WEA union cartels producing stagnation and regression.
Harvard economists conclude that U.S.A. K-12 school productivity has declined by 65 percent over the past three decades in spite of massive infusions of investments, technology and reductions in class size.
Our world standing in education is a disgrace and the per student costs exceed other industrial nations by 20 to 30 percent.
Unions continue to spend millions of dollars to abate school reform. Obama's selection for education secretary is pro-union, so expect more spin and spending.
Unionism and socialism are in the same brotherhood, and with the new administration, expansion of both spells disaster for the future of the United States.
D. Albright
Sequim


Born before 1945?
We were born before television, computers, cell phones and CDs. Before penicillin, before polio and flu shots, frozen food, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.
We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and the ball point pen. Before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and before man walked on the moon.
We got married first and then lived together.
In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of."
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your friends and relatives.
We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent and outer space was the back of the neighborhood theater.
We were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and computer marriages. We were before day care centers, group therapy and nursing homes.
We never heard of stereo, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt and guys wearing earrings.
For us time-sharing meant togetherness, not computers or condominiums. A "chip" was a piece of wood, and hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.
The term "making out" referred to how well you made out on an exam. Pizzas, McDonald's and instant coffee were unheard of.
We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 stores, where you could buy things for 5 or 10 cents. For one nickel you could ride the bus or streetcar, make a phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, Coke was a soft drink and pot was something you cooked in.
We certainly were not before the difference between sexes was discovered but we surely were before the sex change.
We made do with what we had and were the last generation that was dumb enough to think you had to be married to have a baby.
No wonder we are so confused with such a generation gap today.
Woody Wixom
Sequim


Speak up and work hard
What has happened to American ingenuity? Why are we racing toward socialism? Why are we becoming cowards?
What has happened to this once proud nation? Where is the anger of the American people?
What made this country great are people who are proud to be Americans, who work hard and take responsibility for their family.
Now, too many spend more time blaming others for their misfortune than working to make a decent living. This is still the country of opportunity!
Too many think the government will solve all our problems. Instead, if this so-called "stimulus" package is passed by Congress, we are passing the cost of our greed on to several future generations and severely crippling our freedom.
Entitlement? What happened to free enterprise and entrepreneurship?
Why is the press reporting too many "negatives" and taking pride in pointing out our country's weaknesses and giving away defense secrets and thus damaging our safety:
"Political correctness" is for people who don't have the courage to take a stand and fight for what's right.
We need to protect our borders, take a hard line on immigration and not allow militants, in the name of their religion, to intimidate and cow our people.
Instead - Americans, speak up, work hard and make our country a great nation again! If not, I fear for our future.
Helga McGhee
Sequim


An insult and a cheat
The Senate confirmation of Tim Geither to serve as the secretary of Treasury is appallingly wrong on several fronts.
The most damning is his blatant violation of the Internal Revenue Code. This violation is, in my professional opinion, criminal in nature.
It is a felony violation of Title 26, commonly called the Internal Revenue Code, to knowingly file a false and fraudulent tax return.
Any fraud investigator, even one with limited experience, would find the factual elements of this crime very easy to prove.
Any prosecutor with any financial fraud experience would find the evidence exceedingly simple to present to a jury in order to obtain a conviction.
The handling of this situation is an insult to every Internal Revenue Service revenue office, revenue agent and/or special agent who has had to contact a citizen about a matter similar to this one.
It is also an insult to those in the United States Attorney's Office who handle criminal tax matters.
And last, but definitely not least, it is an insult to every citizen of this country who correctly files their income tax returns each year and promptly pays the tax they owe.
The Tim Geithers of the world should be held to a higher standard of conduct than the average citizen, or at least to the same standard of conduct that employees of the IRS are held to.
Any employee of the IRS that engaged in the same conduct which Mr. Geither did would quite simply lose their job. Instead, Mr. Geither is rewarded with the job of secretary of the Treasury and charged with the supervision of the IRS.
This quite simply is another insult to the employees of the IRS.
To reduce Mr. Geither's situation to the bare facts, he is simply a tax cheat who paid only the tax due when it was in his best interest and was rewarded because of friends in high places. All his statements during the Senate hearing can only be described as self-serving at best and blatant lies at worst.
Surely in a country of 300 million people we could find a person with the skills necessary for this position but with a level of integrity and truthfulness that Mr. Geither can only dream of possessing.
Even in this time of crisis ... a crisis some would say Mr. Geither helped to create.
Robert G. Jewell
Supervisory special agent, U.S. Treasury Dept.
Criminal Investigation, IRS (retired)
Sequim