One angry man speaks for millions

To the editor:

To those to whom the public's trust has been given: Allow me a few minutes of your precious time to comment on the unfolding financial crisis.

Rational or not, I hold every representative of government and top business executive responsible for presiding over the development of this mess. Don't tell me that nobody knew this might happen, either. I read a shareholder's letter from Berkshire Hathaway several years ago in which Warren Buffett warned of the "ticking time bomb" called derivatives.

I do not understand anything about mortgage derivatives except that they have turned out to be something that threatens my very existence, my job, my family. To think that I have worked all my life and could now see it all threatened by this stupidity makes me seethe. To think that those of you who are in a position to know about such things allowed it to go on makes me seethe.

Now, from the same government that brought us Iraq, the energy crisis, the mortgage crisis and the ensuing crash, this is all being topped off by a demand that I pay for it all.

I'm tired of paying for everyone else's screw-ups. All my life, I was informed that you should never spend more than 25 percent of your monthly income on your dwelling costs, and for years, you have allowed people to hold mortgages that totaled more than 50 percent of their monthly gross income?

I am sick to death of being asked to pay for every idiot's irresponsible actions, so make no mistake about it, I want you and the top people involved to be held responsible for allowing this situation to develop, and I will do everything possible to make sure it happens that way.

Frank M. Needham

LAS VEGAS

The price of meddling

To the editor:

F.A. Hayek, noted economist and Nobel Prize winner, detailed how governmental policies were directly responsible for deepening the Great Depression. Sounds familiar, huh? Instead of listening to politicos who know nothing in terms of economics (or anything else for that matter, except how to steal our wealth), shouldn't we be listening to respected and knowledgeable economists? Fact is, the current economic crisis is a direct result of government and quasigovernmental (Federal Reserve) intervention in the markets.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were chartered by government. When it comes down to it, they did not fail in their mission. They did exactly what they were supposed to do: provide home loans to unqualified people.

Then there is also the Federal Reserve. This criminal institution was inflicted upon us back in 1913 by government. It is the absolute root cause of this crisis. While a few years ago Alan Greenspan was being lauded as "The Maestro," today we see the results of his artificial manipulation of interest rates, which allowed for insanely risky credit expansion.

Interest rates should be determined by the market, not by some central banker. Surprisingly (cough, cough, ahem), we now learn central planning does not work. Makes one wonder, could central planning be the reason why the Soviet Union collapsed?

It appears there is a bipartisan effort under way to devalue the dollar, or, to put it another way, a massive bailout is in the works. As a country, what we should do will not be done, but I will lay it out there anyway: nothing. That's right, nothing. Let the market correct itself. Yes, it will hurt for a little bit, but without this correction and with direct government interference, things are only going to get far, far worse.

Think Greater Depression. Soup lines. "Buddy, can you spare a dime?" Extreme unemployment, and a whole new generation that will refuse to ever throw anything away ever again, just as our grandparents who lived through the last depression do.

David Whiting

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Spelling skills

To the editor:

In response to your Thursday article, "School Board hopeful's posts on site sprinkled with errors," in which Clark County School Board candidate Deanna Wright is singled out as someone who definitely has trouble spelling and typing:

Having lived and worked in Las Vegas for six years, I've read thousands of pages of correspondence and documents in my industry alone. And I've finally given up my drawer full of proof that this problem runs rampant among professionals and non-professionals, akin to the unemployed. I've even witnessed communications experts (newspapers and television networks) blatantly err in both spelling and grammar. Ever read the news ticker along the bottom of your TV screen?

Americans are supposed to be taught -- and subsequently learn -- to spell in elementary school. Those skills can be expanded by continually reading throughout life. It simply does not change by way of a college degree.

I don't know Ms. Wright, nor do I suggest she is qualified to be a candidate on any board. I do, however, say that Thursday's article by James Haug is a joke. At best, it was a low blow aimed to strike at the intelligence of Clark County voters. At worst, it told them Ms. Wright is just like everyone else.

Debra Medvis

LAS VEGAS