Nanny Staters eager to relinquish freedoms
To the editor:
In his Friday letter to the editor, "Nanny State rationale," Tom Kinie writes he would "argue that society has a right to regulate activities that impose a heavy burden on the public treasury." I ask Mr. Kinie: Where will it end?
I can certainly see the federal government authorizing and funding a "food regulatory department," whose sole purpose is to maintain proper government diet programs, telling Americans what they can and cannot eat and employing thousands of food police to enforce this insanity. Although this may seem to be blown out of proportion, you have to understand that when it comes to expanding the federal government and creating more and more bureaucracy, all bets are off.
After all, it is for the good of the people. How often have we heard that insanity?
Mr. Kinie also conveniently excludes abortion from his Nanny State rationale. I resent the fact that my tax dollars are going to organizations such as Planned Parenthood, which perform these procedures - which, in most cases, are a result of poor decisions or bad behavior. There is little or no personal accountability or responsibility in this area, yet it is ignored. After all, there is a human life involved. Or does that matter?
If a person wishes to eat steak and drink Pepsi, it is certainly his individual right. It is none of the government's business. It is called freedom - something that Mr. Kinie and others are obviously more than willing to relinquish for the so-called "common good."
Ray Kolander
Las Vegas
Student loans
To the editor:
Our campaigner in chief president was in town last week spewing more misinformation about how the Republican Congress is enabling the impending interest rate increase on student loans. Did he mention that this rate increase is for new loans only? No, he didn't.
Never mind that almost any bill coming out of the House is immediately tabled by our own "my way or the highway" Sen. Harry Reid. He has prevented close to 30 new job bills that would help to put American workers back to work from ever making it to President Obama's desk. Sen. Reid has no intention of helping the Republican Congress do anything positive for the country. That is election-year politics.
If Congress does not stop the student loan rate increase, the rate hike (on new loans only) will end up costing the average federal student loan recipient about $6 a month, hardly a budget breaker and deserving of the "crisis" label.
On April 25, the student loan bubble reached $1 trillion - two years after student loan debt surpassed total credit card debt - and it continues to grow. Currently, one in four (27 percent) student loans is past due in payment, and one in five (21 percent) is in default. It's not the private banks that will absorb these defaults, it is we, the taxpayers, who will pay for it.
Someone needs to ask the president why he doesn't pass some of his wrath onto the colleges themselves. The rest of us have to tighten our belts during this down economy, why can't the colleges do the same? Instead they have failed to reduce any salaries, personnel or costs. We in the private sector have to absorb layoffs, no pay raises and even lower pay. But the colleges instead raise their tuition and do no belt-tightening of their own.
Warren Willis Sr.
Las Vegas
Doing just fine
To the editor:
In recent news, Mitt Romney is criticizing the president for having said that the private sector is "doing fine." In fact, the president's statement is true. Consider:
The private sector has added more than 2 million jobs in the past year. Meanwhile, the public sector has cut more than 160,000 jobs, mostly by state and local governments. We already know about this happening right here in Nevada. This does not help with economic recovery, although it is necessary due to a fall-off in state and local government income. But those government "jobs" are really people, and those people are hurting.
Mr. Romney's plans include more cuts to government spending at the federal level, which translates to more jobs lost in the public sector. We already know what's about to happen here in Clark County with local governments. The public sector was, and is, continuing to lose jobs. Under a Romney presidency, expect more heads to roll at the federal level.
Meanwhile, the private sector is hiring, but private businesses are cautious. Everyone knows that our nation suffered a major economic slowdown at the end of 2008, caused largely by a combination of irresponsible behavior by a few large financial institutions and the collapse of the real estate bubble. While the United States is recovering slowly, we cannot expect private business to act any way but cautious as things slowly improve.
Still, "cautiously" adding 2 million jobs in the last year is "fine" with me.
David Adams
Las Vegas
Office space
To the editor:
Here's a suggestion that political leaders could adopt to help restore confidence in civic fiscal integrity. The opening of Terminal 3 at McCarran International Airport brings with it the closure of Terminal 2. Meanwhile, the Southern Nevada Health District is in temporary quarters because its old building might fall down. There is talk about a new building.
Why not cede Terminal 2 to the health district and let that be used as the new headquarters? We have enough new buildings for government.
An alternative would be to use the 30 percent of vacant space in the Southern Nevada Water Authority building for the health district.
Robert Lieberman
Las Vegas
