On Reid, Social Security and jobs
To the editor:
Gerry Hageman's Thursday letter on Social Security requires a response.
Mr. Hageman proposes that Sen. Harry Reid has nothing to do with the problems Social Security faces. Mr. Hageman must read the news with his eyes closed and without Braille.
Sen. Reid has served in the U.S. House and Senate for almost 28 years. During that time, Congress has raided Social Security revenues every year. Sen. Reid, as well as many others in both parties, is guilty of raiding that "lock box" over and over again. That said, even had the trust fund not been raided, it would still run out of money eventually and would still pay inadequate provisions for our elderly.
During his time in Washington, D.C., Sen. Reid has also stopped several attempts to modernize Social Security, to bring it into the 21st, or even the 20th century. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, several Third- and Second-World nations got smart and ditched their publicly funded safety nets funds for private funds. One such nation was Chile. Chile experienced such a long and productive period of economic growth that it went from being a poor nation to being the economic powerhouse of South America.
What's more is that Chilean retirees now get larger retirement checks than the U.S. Social Security program could dream about.
Reliable market analysis shows that given the market conditions of the past 80 years, had Social Security been a privatized fund in low-risk, low-payout mutual funds, the average retirement check today would be more than double what today's retirees receive.
Had Sen. Reid and his cohorts not stood in the way of true progress, our elderly would be much better off today than they are. My dad would not have to continue working at 69 in order to live.
Sen. Reid, along with many other myopic "leaders" in both parties, is directly responsible for our current misery, especially the misery of our elderly. It's time he's replaced with someone with an eye for the future generations. That person is certainly not him.
Ted Sell
Las Vegas
Blame Bush
To the editor:
Ellen Shaw's letter of Wednesday supporting Sharron Angle and disparaging Harry Reid reminds me how short some people's memories are.
Remember, Harry Reid has been a U.S. senator from Nevada for 24 years. For the first 22 years, he led Nevada, and Las Vegas in particular, and we had the most robust economy and fastest-growing communities in the country.
Things were great for a lot of years, and almost everybody prospered.
Still, a lot of folks didn't like Harry Reid. A sparkling personality he is not.
The blind hatred of Sen. Reid, however, seems to stem from the apparent belief that he is somehow responsible for the current depressed economy that is hurting so many Nevadans. Nothing could be further from the truth. The problems that we, and indeed the whole country, are suffering from arose from the reckless financial policies of the Bush administration, particularly during the 2006-2008 time period when a total lack of oversight by the regulatory agencies allowed Wall Street sharks to ruin the national economy.
Regardless of how much Ms. Angle tries to shift the blame, it lies squarely at the feet of the Bush-Cheney cabal. There is no way anyone can blame Sen. Reid for the meltdown caused by Wall Street. He led the state to 22 years of prosperity, and some people want to jettison him in favor of a right-wing religious nut ball like Sharron Angle.
Don Shirley
Las Vegas
Jobs bill
To the editor:
Congress has passed a $26 billion law partially paid for with food stamp reductions in 2014. They want to save the jobs of teachers and other government workers. Seems to me it will be a windfall for public employee and teacher unions at the expense of hungry people. I challenge the unions involved to donate an amount equal from the dues they collect from these "saved" jobs. The local food banks could sure use those funds.
Sounds like a win-win to me. More jobs, more money for the hungry and no union gets a dime out of this bill.
Sue Grue
Las Vegas
