LETTERS: Privatize the VA — and a lot of other government agencies

Kudos to the Review-Journal editorial board for taking a position on how our nation can dramatically improve the care of our veterans ("Privatize VA," Monday Review-Journal).

Privatizing accomplishes the following: First, it gets the government out of running an important service that it has consistently proved it cannot manage effectively; second, it saves taxpayers countless dollars that have been and continue to be wasted on mismanagement and excessive cost overruns; and third, it immediately improves the care and services veterans will receive.

We want a balanced budget and a reduction in the national debt. One way to put a dent in the deficit and get closer to balancing the budget without raising taxes is to get the government out of running agencies that process payments and provide services. Some of these business units include the U.S. Postal Service (which accrues an $8 billion deficit annually) and units that process payments for unemployment, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps and rent credits.

Some computer systems government personnel use are out of date. How many improper payments go out regularly? Why hasn't the government attempted to update its systems? Remember the Obamacare website debacle? The solution is right in front of us: privatize these business units. Private enterprises can create cost-effective systems to manage these payments, thus improving employee productivity and reducing waste.

I applaud the Review-Journal's position on privatizing the VA. I trust the editorial board will beat the drum to call for privatizing many more government agencies.

John Turzer

Henderson

Recognizing all cancers

Once again, we are in breast cancer awareness month. Why can't we drop the word "breast" and just have cancer awareness month? Those of us who have had or still have cancer, but not breast cancer, are made to feel like our malady is nothing.

I am a three-year survivor of stage 4 oral cancer, and I know there are others out there who would like for all of us to be included in any month of awareness. Pink is fine, but let's include other colors. Let's not forget there are way too many types of cancer.

Linda Wright

Las Vegas

GOP talking points

Joseph Schillmoeller's letter demonstrated Republican bias without data to support those beliefs ("Debate takeaways," Oct. 17 Review-Journal). He suggested people think of Wall Street titans as "financial terrorists." I think the Wall Street titans are just crooks who should be in jail.

Mr. Schillmoeller asked if anyone's life had been made any worse by these "speculators," as he politely called them. Did he miss the Great Recession? Did he miss the $700 billion taxpayer loan to Wall Street? Did he miss former President George W. Bush on television, begging the American people to bail out the financial system and tycoons?

Yes, all of us are worse off as a result of speculators gambling with other people's money. They placed high-risk bets, and the American people lost.

Mr. Schillmoeller also referred to the millions who had health insurance policies canceled by health insurance companies. These policies were all held by people who could afford to pay for their own health insurance. These 5 million people all could obtain a new policy under the Affordable Care Act, many at a lower cost. Health insurance companies could have canceled pre-existing policies at any time for any reason, until the ACA took that ability away.

Then Mr. Schillmoeller complained about working-class people having to provide a "standard of comfort to those who don't contribute to society." No one on a safety-net program lives with a "standard of comfort." Working-class people provide for the poor, while the wealthy and corporations pay a pittance in taxes relative to their earnings.

Republicans want to strangle the government by cutting funding until agencies can't do their jobs, so that Republicans can claim they need to privatize and turn everything over to their biggest donors. Then we'll be the United States of Republican America. Heaven help us.

Dave Starr

Las Vegas

Migrants and Europe

European countries being overrun by migrants are correct in putting these people on trains to move them along. They are not acting like Germany did with Jews in the 1930s and '40s, as Judith Lachance suggests in her letter ("Fear of refugees," Sept. 29 Review-Journal).

Eighty percent of these refugees are not from Syria. Why are they not being allowed into Dubai, Kuwait, the the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Turkey? This is nothing but an invasion, and this movement should be halted before Europe is destroyed.

Glenn Crabtree

Las Vegas