Private sector doing just fine? Not in Vegas

To the editor:

Last Friday, President Obama said at a news conference that the "private sector is doing fine." As a small businessman, I can attest that he is very, very wrong.

The private sector is not doing fine. Either the president is out of touch, or his staff is painting a picture of the American economy for him that does not reflect reality.

The president recently paid a visit to our state. I wish he had come and talked to business owners. We would have set him straight on the difficulties we are encountering. Unemployment here in Nevada is just under 12 percent. Our state is the foreclosure capital of the United States. All those people who have lost their jobs and who are losing their houses were once our customers. Now they can't participate much in the economy of our state and our country. We are all hurting with them.

When President Obama came into office, he rolled out a stimulus plan that cost nearly $1 trillion. His advisers projected at the time that it would bring unemployment below 6 percent by now. That hasn't come close to happening. Perhaps there was a way to keep unemployment from rising as high as it has. But President Obama's policies not only failed, they might well have made the recovery much slower than it otherwise would have been.

We looked to the president for leadership. What we got instead were fine speeches and lots of new government spending, new taxes and new regulation.

Families everywhere in this state are struggling to make ends meet. We are not doing fine in Las Vegas.

Reynaldo Robledo

Las Vegas

The writer owns the Roberto's Taco Shop chain.

Follow what?

To the editor:

There are people in politics who now refer to themselves as progressives. The question I have: To progress to what? That is something I need to know.

To illustrate, on a tombstone is written an epitaph which reads: "Remember friend while passing by, as you are now so once was I. As I am now, soon you will be, prepare for death and follow me."

Someone wrote a comment at the bottom: "To follow you I am not content until I know which way you went."

Before I could follow a progressive, I would need to know exactly what he is progressing toward, and what his ultimate goal is for the United States.

How about it, Shelley Berkley and Harry Reid?

VERLON BERKEMEYER

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Too much religion

To the editor:

In his letter of June 6, Norman Clow states that Gerard Sanchez does not understand that the "religious provisions of the First Amendment were to protect the church from government intrusion." Not true.

In the first place, there is no religious provision. The Constitution and its amendments are secular documents.

In the second place, the First Amendment was put in to protect citizens from having religion forced on them.

The president can tell the church what to do. An example of this is the government telling the Mormons that they could not have multiple wives. Also, the government tells the church what it mustn't do to retain its tax-free status - something churches do not follow because we have too many preachers mixing politics into their sermons.

These churches should lose their tax-free status. There is too much religion in this country.

NADIA ROMEO

LAS VEGAS

Street smarts

To the editor:

There is a common misunderstanding in our culture - that college and education make a person intelligent. This is just not true.

People are born with a certain level of intelligence, which cannot be altered, even with education. Not to criticize college - it is a good thing to be trained in a discipline - but to be educated is not the same thing as being intelligent.

I work in a vocation where I see many people with advanced college degrees, and there is a wide range of intelligence, from low IQ to high IQ. I have also seen people in vocational trades who have very high levels of intelligence, as well as the opposite.

As a culture, we would benefit if we did not confuse education with intelligence.

JAMES D. BOREN

LOGANDALE

Shocked, shocked!

To the editor:

The relationship between Harvey Whittemore, Sen. Harry Reid and the Reid sons, described last week in the Review-Journal, came as no surprise to this reader ("Feds file criminal case against lobbyist, developer Whittemore"). There have been many stories over the years regarding Sen. Reid helping Mr. Whittemore with projects such as Coyote Springs and then receiving campaign money shortly thereafter.

During the 2010 election, it was noted that MGM had asked Sen. Reid for help in obtaining financing for CityCenter, and Sen. Reid received campaign money from MGM.

As the baby in the TV commercial says, "This is my shocked face."

Sonya Healy

Las Vegas