Instead of cuts, how about leadership, priorities?
To the editor:
University Medical Center is cutting more services, schools need more funding -- the list is long.
In the meantime, we see more parks being built and all the city and county recreation centers fully staffed and running normally. We see one of the most elaborate library systems in the nation fully staffed and with all the "programs" running as though times were good.
I am sure there are other less visible public services we could mention. The question is: Where is the leadership? Where are the priorities of our leaders? Why can't we make reductions in nonessential areas to get us through these tough times? We need to start managing the problem instead of allowing the problem to prevent us from searching for solutions -- even if those solutions require temporarily suspending or reducing favorite items until the economy improves.
C. David Harkness
LAS VEGAS
Unacceptable options
To the editor:
Perhaps there is a "new math" we are not aware of, but if the Clark County School District is already 400 teachers short and proposes to cut an additional 476 teaching positions, along with 200 permanent substitute teaching positions (Wednesday Review-Journal), that adds up to 1,076 teaching positions. This prospect must be completely unacceptable to students, parents and the so-called union that represents the teachers.
Another proposal to balance the public education budget is to increase class sizes. Many of our colleagues already have 40-plus students in what are supposed to be core classes that prepare students for the High School Proficiency Exam. Forty students is not a class, it is a crowd and is unsafe in case of an evacuation.
Parents, you must refuse to accept this if education truly is a priority in this school district and not just lip service. Please say no to further cuts. Remember, the true definition of education is what goes on in that classroom everyday between your child and the teacher, not what goes on at the administrative offices.
The choice is yours. Make sure you make the right one.
Frank Russo
HENDERSON
Top heavy
To the editor:
Raising taxes to educate the children of Clark County is the only rational solution to the state's budget shortfall, but there is one area in which the school district could definitely make budget cuts: district- and region-level administration.
It is no secret that this school district is grossly top-heavy, with highly paid administrators at the district and regional levels. Paid significantly more than campus-based administrators who shoulder the actual responsibilities of school operations, these superfluous personnel could be laid off indefinitely with a swift stroke of the pen. They are likely the only ones who would notice their departure.
Having lived in Las Vegas for 31 years, I learned quickly that the Legislature does not want an educated work force. What other reason could there be for funding public education in Nevada so poorly?
Sharon Heflin
LAS VEGAS
Paying for failures
To the editor:
I've been a full-time teacher for 11 years now. I have a B.S. and an M.A. I pay my taxes, pay my school loans and donate to charities and political campaigns. I never bought a house or condo because I knew I could not afford one. I never dabbled in the stock market because I knew I didn't have the disposable income to do so. I didn't buy a Detroit automobile because Detroit makes overpriced junk, and I needed an automobile that would last at least 10 years with minimal repair expenses.
With the bailouts of the past several months, in essence I have had to buy someone else a house and buy bad stocks. Now Congress is essentially debating whether I should have to buy a crummy Detroit automobile.
This is maddening. I agree with the Review-Journal's Tuesday editorial advising that the U.S. automobile industry not be bailed out, but provided protection under federal bankruptcy laws.
Give federal aid to individual citizens if they're harmed by corporate failures. Alternatively, I would be happy to have Congress forgive my school loans -- I'm too big to fail.
Gregory Grant
LAS VEGAS
Proposed partnership
To the editor:
Besides the American public, who has a very vested interest in the success of the American automotive industry? The oil companies.
Who reports billions of dollars in record profits every three months? The oil companies. Who produces the product that is the primary user of the oil company's products? The auto industry.
Beginning to see a link here? Instead of the American public bailing out the auto industry, how about the industry that has a very synergistic relationship with the auto industry and which has billions of dollars on its balance sheets making an "investment" in its primary end consumer?
If I ran a company with a large cash balance and I had a valued customer who needed some working capital, I would think hard about keeping that customer healthy so it could keep buying my products with a little cash infusion when needed. Maybe Detroit should be talking to the oil companies about a partnership.
Richard Olden
LAS VEGAS
Party of no
To the editor:
If people think the Republicans suffered badly in this election, wait until they see how workers connected to our auto industry react.
Congressional Republicans refuse to support loans to the Big Three auto companies. If the Republicans in Congress allow Chrysler, Ford and GM to fail, it is estimated that there would be some 3 million layoffs, with these layoffs causing a ripple effect and layoffs for other workers. All of these people and their families would become instant Democrats.
Whatever the cause of the auto industry's problems, massive layoffs will result if help from Congress and the White House doesn't come soon. Republicans will rue the day they didn't help average workers in the auto industry.
Richard J. Mundy
LAS VEGAS
Giving away the treasury
To the editor:
Supposedly, gasoline prices and high interest rates created a 5 percent default rate in home mortgages. In spite of overwhelming opposition from we the people, our so-called representatives in Congress decided they had to fix this crisis ... by giving away the public treasury.
In the meantime, energy costs have tumbled and interest rates are approaching zero. But the mortgage crisis not only remains, it has spread to the credit card companies and the auto industry. State and local governments want to be included in the bailout. What is next? Is health care on the horizon?
Free money is like rotting fish; it attracts a lot of insects.
This economic meltdown is the result of compassion. Every two years, Congress needs to be re-elected. They buy votes by giving away the public treasury.
It started with Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Compassion said nobody deserved to be poor. Forty-plus years and trillions of dollars later, it has done nothing to reduce poverty. And it is now political suicide to suggest restraint.
Next, Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education to pay off the teachers union. Compassion said everybody deserves a free education. The War on Education has devoured 30-plus years and trillions of dollars. The result? We have dumbed down the public education system into day care centers.
Then, during the Bill Clinton years, compassion said everybody deserves a home. Time-tested mortgage lending rules were scrapped. Ten years later, we destroyed the financial industry. The bailout start-up cost is $700 billion.
Now, the Pelosi, Reid & Obama team want to redistribute the wealth. Compassion says everybody deserves more money. The Democrats took control of Washington by calling for "change," but this is business as usual. An addendum to the War on Poverty. Buying votes by giving away the treasury.
CURTIS F. CLARK
BOULDER CITY
