Clean out the barn in Washington
To the editor:
The letters to the editor reflect a cross-section of your readers, who are for and against the Tea Party movement. I believe that we are seeing the second American Revolution. One not fought with guns and cannons, but one fought at the ballot box.
In the first American Revolution, fewer than half of the colonists were in favor of revolting, while the rest were in favor of the status quo under the tyranny of the English King George III. There were detractors in those days of the Boston Tea Party.
Those of us who lived through the Great Depression and fought in World War II helped liberate the world from Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo and created a climate of freedom for millions of people, a lesson that seems to be lost on those who have been indoctrinated in the teachings of John Dewey and Karl Marx in our schools.
Just as those status-quo people in the first revolution benefited from the freedoms the founders fought and died for, so all those status-quo people will benefit today, when sanity is established.
Ross Perot had it right, I believe, when he said in 1992, “It is time to take a shovel and clean out the barn in Washington.”
CLAUDE WOODROOF
HENDERSON
Lying GOP
To the editor:
Gov. Jim Gibbons’ decision to pursue a lawsuit against federal health care reforms is just another partisan ploy by another whiny Republican who just will not get over the fact that a black Democrat was elected president. This is the way Republicans and conservatives operate now. Stir up the people with lies and rhetoric. Gov. Gibbons and the rest of the minority party need to get over it.
Dale Pitney
Henderson
We’ll remember
To the editor:
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey for Nevada shows that 62 percent of Nevada voters support repealing the recently passed health care law. That’s a bit higher than support for repeal nationally. Fifty-seven percent in Nevada say the new law will be bad for the country.
With poll numbers that bad it makes it even more difficult for me to understand why Nevada’s members of Congress — Harry Reid, Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus — defied their constituents and supported a health care bill that is so strongly opposed by most Nevadans. Maybe they no longer represent Nevadans.
The old battle cry was “Kill the bill!” The new battle cry is “We will remember in November!” And we will.
S.G. Hayes Sr.
Las Vegas
Less money
To the editor:
I was disappointed to read in the Review-Journal that the National Park Service is considering fee increases for visitors at Lake Mead. This doesn’t make sense with our current economic conditions.
The article notes, “National Park Service officials … plan to increase vehicle passes beginning Jan. 1 from $5 for five days to $10 for seven days, and again to $15 for a weeklong pass in 2014.
“Watercraft fees would rise from $10 for five days to $16 for seven days, and annual vehicle and lake-use passes would go from $20 to $30. Senior citizens will continue to be charged half the full fees…
“Officials said the park’s revenues could increase from $3.6 million to $11.5 million with the fee increases and the two new entrance stations, each of which is projected to rake in $500,000 per year.”
In addition, vehicle passes are increasing from $1 per day ($5 for five days) to $1.43 per day on Jan. 1, 2011 ($10 for seven days), so the new fee will be 143 percent of the old fee. On Jan. 1, 2014, the fee changes to $2.14 per day ($15 for seven days), so the 2014 fee will be 214 percent increase of the current fee. Water craft fees will go from $2 per day ($10 for five days) to $2.28 per day ($16 for seven days). This means the new boat fee will be 114 percent of the current fee.
Now here is where it gets interesting. With new fees ranging from 114 percent (for boats) to 214 percent (for cars) of current fees, the Park Service estimates fee income will increase by from $3.6 million to $11.5 million, or 319 percent.
Contrary to everything your common sense is telling you and everything we learned in Economics 101, the government obviously does not believe in elasticity of demand, which is the principle that people will buy less if the price goes up. In fact, the government believes consumer demand for its product has some sort of negative elasticity — consumers will rush to the park in far greater numbers once fees are raised. That is the only way I can reconcile the government’s revenue estimates with the percentage increases in the fees.
I have seen many government projections like that one — projections which ignore elasticity of demand. People have no choice when government raises tax rates — they have to pay the increase. But that blinds the government’s budget analysts when it comes to fee increases. They cannot ignore elasticity like they can with tax increases. In a recession, when fees go up for products and services that are purely discretionary, the number of visitors to Lake Mead will likely decrease, along with the park’s revenue.
Ken Price
Henderson
Nuke waste
To the editor:
I read with great relief John Smith’s column last week about Yucca Mountain. Finally, a voice absent the disillusionment that comes with politics and the hot air of politicians. Yucca Mountain may have been put into a deep hibernation, but that faint pulse still beats.
The only true way for Yucca Mountain to be laid in final rest would be the return of the land to the people of the original nation to which it belongs: the Shoshone. Even if it is then used for the purpose for which it is intended, the original people would be the best to ensure waste disposal of nuclear by-products in balance and harmony with their own land, protecting us all from the potential toxic fallout that would be the product of a facility run for profit.
Thank you, Mr. Smith, for noting the truth even as those who want the project dead do not understand the need for it in our bigger picture.
ELAINE CLERMONT
North LAS VEGAS