LETTERS: Miller on mark: Democrats must address national debt

Miller on the mark

I commend the Review-Journal for publishing the commentary by former Gov. Bob Miller ("Presidential candidates ignore debt at country's peril," Monday Review-Journal). Readers, please do a simple calculation: Apply the prime interest rate during Jimmy Carter's presidency (20 percent) to the current national debt (about $18 trillion), and you'll find that the federal government does not take in enough discretionary money to pay the interest, let alone work down the principle.

Mr. Miller challenged the candidates to be specific about what they propose to do about this problem. I think an old adage applies here: "What can't continue, won't."

Charles Gould

Las Vegas

Clean Power Plan

As an active senior citizen, I took great offense at Jim Martin's article concerning the EPA's Clean Power Plan ("Clean Power Plan will hammer Nevada seniors," Aug. 26 Review-Journal). Mr. Martin's opening quote displays his anti-government bias, which prejudices his further remarks relative to any proposed government plan.

Dirty oil and coal companies rake in profits for the wealthiest, while leaving the rest of us to suffer from their mess. Because these companies place little or no value on the health and well-being of our communities, they have played a major role in why our citizens, and specifically seniors, have been hurt economically.

Now we have government stepping in to right these wrongs. We can work with government to develop a new energy economy that puts people and the planet a tier above profits to companies. The Clean Power Plan presents Nevada with exciting opportunities to expand the use of renewable energy that lower utility costs and creates good green jobs. But we have to get it right.

That means Gov. Brian Sandoval must create a strong state plan that prioritizes energy efficiency and real renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal, while making sure that low-income communities are the first to benefit from the new green energy economy.

Mr. Martin's claim that the Clean Power Plan could increase wholesale electricity prices is beyond bogus. It comes from a report paid for by the National Mining Association, which has a stake in continuing to profit from dirty coal. Researchers at the Natural Resources Defense Council calculate the Clean Power Plan will significantly reduce energy costs nationwide and for Nevadans, especially seniors and others on fixed incomes.

The Clean Power Plan would create thousands of high-paying jobs jobs in the growing green energy sector in Nevada, guaranteeing a future for our state and planet, which promises to be bright if we can shed the dirty coal mantle of the past.

Marlene Adrian

Las Vegas

ESAs a scheme

Pam Selby's letter is entirely right about ESAs stealing some of the best and brightest students from public education, making it even more difficult for those schools to meet standardized test scores ("ESAs steal students," Saturday Review-Journal). But the theft is even worse than that.

The ESA program would also demoralize good teachers who, after the moderately well-off and the wealthy students fly off to private schools, would be left with poor and challenged students that private schools do not want. These are the very teachers who are looking at less-than-adequate salaries.

But there's another point that's been missed in this argument. The assumption is that ESAs were put in place to somehow improve public schools. They were not. They are actually a scheme for the wealthy to simply recoup a portion of the tuition they pay privates schools to educate their children. Those folks have long resented the fact that they pay taxes for public education and also pay tuition for private schooling. It is just that simple.

Richard L. Strickland

North Las Vegas