LETTERS: Math says bucks for Hillary could be better spent

To the editor:

My friend Don always says, “Do the math,” and after reading your article on the lifestyle of the rich and famous Hillary Clinton, who in her own words was broke such a short time ago, I did the math and was amazed at how much she will make for a 90-minute appearance, speech and 100 photos (Aug. 17 Review-Journal).

Mrs. Clinton’s fee for her Oct. 13 speech to benefit the UNLV Foundation ($225,000) equates to $2,500 a minute. In other words, she makes more in a minute than most Americans make in a month. Mrs. Clinton’s personal fortunes will increase by $1.2 million for every eight hours of appearances she makes. That is about $1.2 million more per day than most minimum-wage-earning Nevadans make in the same day.

That is if you are one of the lucky Americans to have a job, especially when the real unemployment rate in the United States is not 6.2 percent, but at least 15 percent. The real count is never given because our government does not want Americans to panic by admitting that the unemployment rate it publishes is based on the number of unemployment claims made, not the full count of unemployed Americans, including those who have no more jobless benefits and have quit looking for nonexistent jobs.

Mrs. Clinton typically requires a $500 stipend for a staffer’s incidental expenses. Since every expense is covered in her contract, what incidental costs does she mean? Gambling? Not unless it’s written in her contract. She’s here to make money and take it out of Nevada, not contribute to our economy. Mrs. Clinton’s preference for a private, 16-passenger Gulfstream jet to fly her back and forth to speaking engagements only adds more to the cost. Mrs. Clinton doesn’t want to chance catching cooties by breathing the same air as lower-class Americans on a commercial jet. Meanwhile, how many Nevadans don’t even have a car or can’t afford to fuel one?

Mrs. Clinton requires accommodations in the presidential suite, and my guess is that since MGM Resorts International has already paid $20,000 for a table at her speech, she’ll be staying at one of its properties. This largess is appalling when well over a thousand students in the Clark County School District are homeless and living on the streets. Mrs. Clinton also typically requires three additional contiguous or joining rooms to her suite, plus two single rooms and meals and transportation, etc., for her staff. This will cost several thousand dollars more, and that’s for the staff’s “business class” tickets alone.

I’d like to know how much more will be spent by the UNLV Foundation to provide food for Mrs. Clinton and her minions, because you know they won’t be eating at fast-food establishments. The money spent during this 24-hour period to accommodate Hillary Clinton to give a speech to Nevada’s elite 1 percent would be better spent donating food to the local food banks, money to homeless shelters, getting students off the streets and reducing tuition.

Mrs. Clinton is nothing more than another member of the elitist 1 percent politicians, out to enrich herself as much as she can before her star fades while our country crashes and burns.

KATHLEEN M. STONE

PAHRUMP

Ballpark blight

To the editor:

Only someone who wants to see the project fail would propose a baseball park to be included in plans for Downtown Summerlin. It will only bring congestion, crime and blight to what is billed as an upscale project in an upscale neighborhood.

Why not just bomb the place and be done with it?

FRED CHARETTE

LAS VEGAS