Who really wants to push granny off the cliff?

To the editor:

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to rely on the uninformed to gain support for the president's programs and to trash Republican opposition. Many supporters continue to misrepresent the Medicare issue and Rep. Paul Ryan's plans for saving the program.

Most popular is the "granny off the cliff" ads that portray Rep. Ryan as a heartless fiend. Actually, his plan perfectly supports many of us on Medicare who already purchase a supplemental plan, which costs us about $6,000 a year. This is just what the Congressional Budget Office says our children will pay under Rep. Ryan's plan -- so our children's medical costs will remain the same as ours. Further, his plan provides an additional and generous amount for the neediest.

The most ignorant rant is that the wealthy will get a 10 percentage-point tax cut. Actually, Rep. Ryan's 25 percent tax rate is accompanied by a loss of prominent tax deductions that the wealthiest have utilized to reduce their overall tax rate to less than many in the middle class. One example serves to illustrate this point. Warren Buffett, the billionaire, laments that after his accountants get through taking these deductions, he pays only 17 percent -- or less than half of the 39 percent shown in tax tables -- for his drastically reduced taxable income. Under Rep. Ryan's plan, without these deductions, Mr. Buffett will pay 25 percent (or 50 percent more than he pays now).

Now, back to Sen. Reid, who has no plan to rescue Medicare for his children. Therefore, this generation will go without Medicare, as it will be bankrupt and provide nothing. Also, remember that President Obama's Debt Reduction Commission has proved that there is no tax available and large enough to save present Medicare benefits.

It is Sen. Reid who is pushing future grannies off the cliff.

Bud Buehler

Las Vegas

Cliff diving

To the editor:

With reference to the article in Wednesday's newspaper about the new control tower at McCarran International Airport:

I found it aggravating that Sen. Harry Reid raised the money for the project by attaching it to another bill as an earmark -- better known as "pork." I don't know if the new tower is necessary. Perhaps the controllers need a larger facility to sleep in.

I do know that earmarks are totally out of control and that our politicians seem to have a great race to see who can add the most pork to the taxpayers' bill. They either do not care or are just too dumb to understand that America and her taxpaying public are broke.

It's time to stop this type of nonsense before we all go over the cliff.

Tony Amodeo

Las Vegas

Gender equity

To the editor:

Jane Ann Morrison's Monday column, "Like men, women veterans bring problems home from war," caused me to recall the following historical pronouncement:

"In order to build a great socialist society, it is of utmost importance to arouse the broad masses of women to join productive activity. ... Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of socialist transformation of society as a whole." That was from Mao Tse-Tung in 1955.

This means that the women of America have been dealt the greatest sucker play in the history of the world: They are marching to their mutual destruction with men under the gender equality movement of world socialism.

And, ironically, they don't even know about it.

Frank M. Pelteson

Las Vegas

Fortune teller

To the editor:

I am a little surprised that it took the Review-Journal so long to let its readers know that the man responsible for predicting state revenues could not even predict his own financial failure and subsequent bankruptcy (Monday Review-Journal). John Restrepo, the Economic Forum chairman, said, "It happened so fast. My personal situation was just like the national situation. Nobody saw this coming."

If Mr. Restrepo couldn't see this coming, while in fact Wall Street and the Fed had several years notice that it was coming, then why in the world is this man in charge of Nevada's future planning? He has no clue as to what is going on.

By the way, this is the same Economic Forum that previously brought about an $836 million tax increase under Gov. Kenny Guinn when it didn't notice Nevada was coming into a "boom" period.

Nevada's sales have risen steadily over the past several months. Many unemployed people have started their own businesses and many are on the way to success. Tourism is increasing, hotel rooms are filling up, airplanes are bringing more tourists, and even the higher cost of gasoline has not stopped the increase in tourism. Given the ups and downs of our economy over long periods of time, I believe that we will continue to grow and be a vibrant state.

I'm not sure what Mr. Restrepo sees in our future, but somehow I don't think that I will agree with him. He really needs to return to school, learn proper economics, and take some real responsibility for his own actions. Maybe he should just resign from the Economic Forum and leave the predictions to a fortune teller.

Bob Dubin

Las Vegas