LETTERS: War on poverty actually a success

To the editor:

The letters in the Dec. 19 Review-Journal produced several points that typify the ignorance of right-wing, tea party types more than anything I have read in a long time. The First and most egregious was Mike Niederberger’s letter on the war on poverty. To say it has failed is a failure to realize that the object and purpose of this program was not to make millionaires out of the poor, but merely to save them from death by starvation, lack of shelter and medical care. In these cases, the war on poverty was a huge success.

If Mr. Niederberger had his way, leaving the elimination of poverty to the trickle-down theory of economics and pulling up by bootstraps for people who don’t have boots to pull up, then indeed, the war on poverty would have been an abject failure. The U.S. probably would have witnessed a Third World type of society in which the poor would starve to death in the street, and any kind of health care would be nonexistent. This would have been the eventual case without the Affordable Care Act.

The sad but real fact is it is impossible for everyone to get rich. The only chance for society, as it is, to survive is for those who do manage to get rich to help those who don’t. That is the purpose of the war on poverty and other government programs, which must be financed by the power to tax and the will of politicians.

This subject dovetails into Arthur McCrary’s letter, in which he says the lie of the year was perpetrated by President Barack Obama with his statement, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” In my opinion, the president’s statement is not close to the centuries-old lie spouted by the right-wing nuts that the market alone can provide prosperity for all. Not even a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot is the reality, as time has proved over and over again.

I believe in benevolent capitalism, which we have experienced in a small way. I don’t believe in the sink-or-swim, dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest capitalism espoused by most Republicans.

DAN OLIVIER

BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZ.

UNLV bowl broadcast

To the editor:

Many Las Vegans are thrilled that the UNLV football team is finally going to a bowl game, and I’m among those looking forward to watching it on Jan. 1. However, I was devastated to learn that it will be aired on ESPNU. That shuts out many subscribers of Cox cable who don’t subscribe to an upgraded package that includes ESPNU. So unless we want to get up early on Jan. 1 and drive to a sports bar or casino by 9 a.m., we won’t be able to witness UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl against North Texas.

It would be great if a local TV station could pick up the feed from ESPNU and broadcast the game for all Rebels fans to see from the comfort of their homes. Here’s hoping.

K.D. GAVIN

LAS VEGAS

Obamacare is Seniorcide

To the editor:

Obamacare would be better termed Obummercare, but it should actually be called Seniorcide. It appears to be a social experiment, like what Russia’s Josef Stalin did through his forced famine, when the world witnessed one of the worst tragedies through millions of deaths.

It seems that senior citizens are relegated to the back of the line for care, seeing a doctor and getting tests and procedures. It’s President Barack Obama’s answer to correcting our Social Security and Medicare population.

Now I am learning that people with pre-existing conditions are finding it very difficult to sign up for reasonable insurance coverage, and that certain prescriptions will not be covered. The bad list keeps growing as we are learning just what is in this horrible law, which needs to be repealed.

Yes, the world is becoming overpopulated, but God help us if this is the government’s answer to correct that problem. The president’s great social experiment is already a dismal failure. The sooner we can find a better solution, the longer we might survive. Please don’t punish us for having diseases we have no control over. Please don’t punish us for being hard-working, middle-class Americans.

JOANN WYMORE

LAS VEGAS

National debt

To the editor:

The federal government will never reduce its national debt unless it institutes Draconian budget cuts that will destroy our economy and reduce our infrastructure to Third World status. We must accept that our national debt will continue to grow, and our only responsibility is to service the debt.

The federal government is as good to the rich with large subsidies and tax cuts as it is to the poor with welfare programs. Our unemployment problem is now chronic, with so many jobs going overseas and technology replacing humans in every field here at home. We are entering a new era. The old guard is in decline as America becomes an ever-more multicultural society.

ANTHONY TIDEI

LAS VEGAS

Social Security

To the editor:

It’s Dumpster diving again for senior citizens. We got a raise, but how are we ever going to survive when that raise boils down to 8 cents an hour if we worked 8 hours a day?

We just have to figure out what we can buy for 64 cents a day or $3.20 a week. Thanks for $1 meals.

So we are thrown under the bus again. That’s what happens when you spend your whole life working every day. God help the senior citizens who depend on Social Security to survive.

GERRY BAXTER

HENDERSON