LETTERS: Jobless benefits merit tax dollars

To the editor:

After reading Brad Evans’ rant regarding unemployment benefits, I didn’t know whether to laugh or feel pity. I did both. (“Jobless benefits,” Dec. 29 Review-Journal letters). Perhaps unknown to Mr. Evans is the fact that his tax dollars subsidize far more outrageous things than jobless benefits.

Wal-Mart welfare is one example. This scheme is actually ingenious, and Sam Walton’s heirs and stockholders are the beneficiaries. It works like this: Pay employees just enough so that they qualify for food stamps and Medicaid. Employees then can spend their food stamps at Wal-Mart and taxpayers reimburse Wal-Mart. Additionally, Wal-Mart does not need to provide health insurance. We the taxpayers do. Talk about gaming the system.

Tax dollars also helped subsidize the likes of Bernie Madoff, as well as corporations such as Enron. Local taxpayers subsidized the National Finals Rodeo since 1985. Osceola County, Fla., taxpayers are now looking to have that privilege, if the NFR decides to move there.

So when it comes to unemployment benefits, I’m all in favor. With all the things our tax dollars are wasted on, I couldn’t think of anything better for which to use public money. Can you?

DANIEL WARNER

LAS VEGAS

Defending Poster

To the editor:

In response to Jane Ann Morrison’s Dec. 21 column (“Ex-casino owner a Poster child for illegal sports betting”), Ms. Morrison and I have different opinions of Tim Poster. I see an extremely talented entrepreneur devoted to his family, friends and the city of Las Vegas. He is responsible for hiring hundreds if not thousands of employees, reinvesting in the city and giving generously to charitable causes.

When Poster Financial Group bought the Golden Nugget, Mr. Poster and my son, Tom Breitling, were committed to improving and expanding the property, including hiring additional employees. As a private company, they were not obligated to their shareholders or the bottom line. Instead, they made investments to improve revenue and yield higher returns for investors in years to come.

Their strategy was rewarded when Tilman Fertitta offered them a price which was 12 times cash flow, a higher multiple than almost all other casino transactions in the past 10 years, and netted them a 226 percent profit on their investment in less than two years. Unless Mr. Fertitta is a financial idiot, he was well aware of the value of the property.

Mr. Poster has made some mistakes and has owned up to them. He has, in fact, paid a steep price. Ms. Morrison’s commentary is a cheap shot at Mr. Poster when he is down, and as his friend, I resent it. An educated reader will see through it; however, I’m not sure that’s the type of following Ms. Morrison has. Her misstatements are especially damaging and not worthy of a reputable newspaper such as the Review-Journal.

FRED BREITLING

LAS VEGAS