Wage freezes, layoffs a fact of life
To the editor:
In response to news reports, columns and letters to the editor about the possibility of the Legislature voting in special session to revoke this year's 4 percent cost-of-living pay raise for state employees:
I find it difficult to understand why government employees feel they should be immune to wage and benefit adjustments. I worked for Lucent Technologies for 20 years and for a major casino in Atlantic City for several years. When times are tough, raises are nonexistent. Even when the economy is OK, pay raises can be limited to 3 percent. There was and is no such thing as a COLA.
When I retired from Lucent Technologies, I was guaranteed access to medical coverage. The first few years were fine. Then, as medical costs rose, so did my portion of the costs. Eventually, the cost was so prohibitive that it would have taken my entire pension to pay for the medical insurance. Needless to say, I didn't let Lucent provide my medical insurance.
I sympathize with anyone who faces a wage freeze, pay adjustment or possible layoff. Most of us have been there. There have been staff adjustments and hiring freezes at many of the casinos and other local businesses, and I don't see anyone writing in their behalf. The economy will get better and hiring will begin again. The state will see its revenue bounce back.
Louis Phillipine
LAS VEGAS
More taxes? No way
To the editor:
In his Sunday column, "Special session will bring pain and parody, not the higher taxes we need," Geoff Schumacher proved that he has never owned a business.
He wants a more "stable" tax base than the sales taxes and gaming taxes that we now have. He forgets all of the various fees and licenses that businesses pay to the state, the counties and the cities. I guess those taxes don't count with him. He claims that "our financial fate depends too heavily on forces beyond our control." What is his solution? He desires that Nevada have a "broad-based business tax and a state income tax."
Mr. Schumacher obviously does not know that business taxes and income taxes depend on the income derived by businesses and individuals. If our income goes down, we pay smaller or no taxes. Like sales and gaming taxes, if our income goes up, we pay more taxes. He also does not seem to know that businesses generally pass tax increases on to their consumers.
I guess Mr. Schumacher really wants to cause havoc in our economy and drive Nevada into a depression. Maybe he would like us to be on the verge of bankruptcy, like California.
He doesn't seem to care that Nevada has a relatively small population and should not be compared with California and New York. And while he and university Chancellor Jim Rogers lament our poor education system, has anyone noticed how the once-proud California education system has become one of the worst?
I truly resent Mr. Schumacher's assertion that "we are not a caring society." I would like Mr. Schumacher to name one nation that gives more to people in need around the world and is willing to help others who we have never met and never will meet. Nevada stands tall in the area of giving and should be proud, not degraded for its so-called lack of caring.
Mr. Schumacher laments the fact that the general population is concerned with meeting their expenses, going on a vacation or generally trying to make a good life for themselves and their families. Maybe Mr. Schumacher should instead look at the millions of dollars in wastefulness in our government. Why is he afraid to admit that, like all of us, the government should have to make cuts in its expenditures when its income goes down?
Bob Dubin
LAS VEGAS
The next step
To the editor:
The latest statistics from both Nevada and Las Vegas indicate that employment in the construction and gaming industries is significantly down. Yet simultaneously, our do-nothing government work force has grown 3 to 4 percent.
Wake up, apathetic Nevada voters. Is it that hard to figure out the next step?
TOM LUSCHER
HENDERSON
Spread the pain
To the editor:
The Gang of 63 will soon gather in Carson City to count our state's money. They may vote to deny promised pay raises to state workers.
Very well, if need be, but I would urge each member of the Assembly and Senate to return their pay for the special session to the state treasury to signal their willingness to shoulder some of the fiscal burden.
Guy Roark
LAS VEGAS
