Regarding “A Year Later: Tears and Fears” (A1, Oct. 10):
The stock market is in a free fall because there is a crisis of confidence in our government. George W. Bush attempting to fool the American people out of the problems we face with open-the-purse-strings tactics isn't fooling anybody. The bailout is a big mistake, and the American people know it.
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Instead of letting reality take care of the markets (by not interfering with them) and letting the debris from the big corporate failures settle, our government is trying to pretend that throwing good money after bad will fix everything. It won't. Government needs to stop trying to fix things it has no business fixing and the markets will recover.
SYLVIA HONEYCUTT
San Diego
Regarding “AIG's spending scorned/Lavish retreat days after bailout riles lawmakers” (Business, Oct. 8):
I am always amazed at the gall of our congressional representatives when conducting these supposedly fact-finding hearings and the personal attacks on witnesses that result, such as the one referred to in this article. I am not defending AIG executives or the Bush administration by any means. But how many of these lawmakers could stand the same intense public scrutiny at a similar hearing? They have ignored their responsibility for the current crisis. They have provided themselves with lifetime free pensions and medical care worth millions of taxpayer dollars as well as large personal staffs to do their bidding. They funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to their special interests through earmarks and special interest-supported legislation while accomplishing little in the way of addressing legitimate issues other than their own re-elections.
If our congressional representatives had been conducting the proper kind of oversight with full and complete hearings on a regular basis, as they are elected to do, much of the current financial crisis, intelligence failures and wasted taxpayer dollars spent on unsuccessful and fraudulent programs would be avoided. Instead, it is easier to blame the executive branch or others when things go wrong and deflect where the real criticism and failure to perform should be focused. On top of it all, they have continued business as usual by loading the financial bailout bill with even more earmarked “pork” rather than legislation focused on the problem.
JAMES W. BIERS III
Encinitas
When I read about the scam perpetrated by AIG on the American taxpayer, I was furious. Up until now, I've been struggling to decide who to vote for for president. Now it doesn't matter because I want the next president do to whatever it takes to put all these money-mongering CEOs of these companies being bailed out in prison for the remainder of their lives.
Major financial institutions are going under, taking down the regular day Joe Shmoe while their CEOs are making millions. It's an outright despicable crime against the people of America. If this is how are tax dollars are going to be wasted, then we need to stop paying our taxes to get Washington's attention.
While these lowlifes are living the high life on our money, we are losing our homes and jobs by the thousands. Shame on these animals.
CYNTHIA ORTIZ
Carlsbad
Regarding “Pressure to take risk almost sank Fannie Mae” (A1, Oct. 5):
Our appetites are whetted regarding who exactly exerted this pressure on Fannie's chief executive, Daniel Mudd, to back loans to low-income, risky borrowers. The article allowed us an unusually candid look into the facts of this taxpayer-defrauding debacle when it stated: “Congress was demanding that Mudd help steer more loans to low-income borrowers” and “Democratic lawmakers demanded that the company buy more loans that had been made to low-income and minority buyers.”
This is most interesting information coming from the Democrat-friendly New York Times because it demonstrates these Democrat legislators' lack of understanding of the economic consequences of their generosity with taxpayers' hard-earned income. Lending money to irresponsible constituents is nothing more than pork that has to be paid by those of us who live and spend carefully. (Are we better off now than we were when Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid took control of the House and Senate in 2006?)
These members of the House and Senate need to be investigated and prosecuted along with former Fannie Mae executives Franklin D. Raines and J. Timothy Howard in exactly the wame way Ken Lay and the other Enron criminals were investigated and prosecuted. Seeing the Democrats' Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd on the other side of the inquisitors' table would make us feel a lot better about writing that tax check in April.
DEBBIE CHRISTIAN
Carlsbad
I am not a great admirer of President Bush, but I agreed with him that something had to be done about the financial situation. It doesn't seem fair that taxpayers will pay the bill for the mistakes of greedy companies. Nonetheless, the problem is too far gone, and the bailout had to happen.
My concern is what will be the incentive for these companies not to do it again? What disciplinary action is going to be taken against the executives who allowed this to happen? If these people had been teenagers committing fraud, they would have been punished like any other criminal. I don't see any difference in this situation. There should be some provision for taking disciplinary action against these executives.
JOHN-GLENN ANTONISZYN
Chula Vista
Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. But years from now, if not sooner, we will see that what has happened in the economy and with the bailout was nothing more than a conscious, determined redistribution of wealth. That the rich take advantage of the poor and middle classes is nothing new, but the overall lack of anger is what's really eye opening. In the days before our disposable society and entertainment culture, people would be in the streets with pitchforks and torches, like a bad Frankenstein movie. Today? Not so much.
DON BROCK
San Diego
We need to wave all penalties for IRA and 401(k) withdrawals up to $100,000 per year. This would allow us to obtain funds not now available to us small folk to survive the current downturn in the market. This would give us the ability to pay monthly bills and put money back into the economy to get business moving forward and growing, which in turn would allow it to keep hiring people, etc. We need help to access money, not talk.
CLAIR STEFFAN
San Diego
I'm no economist, but it seems reasonable that “ebb and flow” is a necessary part of growth in any natural phenomenon, especially in a free-market economy. After years of growth, our economy is crying out for a recession. But, alas, our know-it-all government is standing in the way by printing money that will never be paid back, legislating away our ability to fail and lowering interest rates when the markets say they should be increasing. Adding $700 billion to the national debt now guarantees long-term future vulnerabilities – that is a national security issue that is being ignored.
Government bailouts support mediocrity by sending a message that no person or business will be allowed to fail. Why shouldn't every dummy or crook take the risk? And this “coordinated interest rate cut” is truly a conundrum. Interest rates should be increasing, not decreasing! We have a lending – not a borrowing – crisis. Higher interest rates would stimulate lending by lowering the risk/reward to lenders. Even the average soccer mom would lend out her last $100 if she thought she could double it overnight.
Of course, such a scenario could hasten an economic recession. But a recession is a necessary cleansing ebb that allows the flow of stronger growth in the economy to ensue – let's get it over with! The Federal Reserve is the biggest obstacle to natural economic cycles, and it should be dissolved. In fact, all government officials should just take a deep breath and get out of the way of letting the economy heal itself.
GLENN WALKER
San Diego
Regarding the bailout of lenders who lent money that they should not have lent and the homeowners who borrowed money that they should not have borrowed causes me to make this proposal. In order to make life fair to me (you can worry about everyone else), I propose the following action by the federal government:
My wife and I bought a home that we could afford 35 years ago, and we still live in it. In the last few years, we have looked at many other possible residences that were more desirable; larger, in better neighborhoods and/or more prestigious. Unfortunately, we could not afford any of these, having spent all of our money raising and educating our children before we retired. So, we stupidly decided to remain where we are.
My proposal is this. Please allow us to buy a home retroactively either in La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe in the $3 million to $5 million range. About two months after the purchase, we no longer will be able to make the payments and will go into foreclosure. At that time the federal government can buy the defaulted mortgage and allow us to negotiate a mortgage that we can afford; the amount and payments to be determined by us.
BRUCE G. BERTSCH
Encinitas
Not in any mood to back incumbents
Regarding “House map/Our picks for local congressional seats” (Editorial, Oct. 10):
Your reluctant endorsement of Rep. Bob Filner for re-election, the only criteria appears to be experience. This is often cited in other endorsements as well. Look around, read the paper, listen to the news and see what experience has brought. It's time to send the message that we are tried of the same old game.
A little less experience in government may be a breath of fresh air. It's time to shift the paradigm. With an approval rating of 14 percent for Congress, experience does not work. I will not vote for an incumbent.
JAMES L. WYATT
San Diego
Finding Krauthammer out of touch
Regarding “Obama's character is legitimate issue” (Opinion, Oct. 10):
Columnist Charles Krauthammer is out of touch with today's thinking. He uses the famous scare tactics that Josef Goebbels utilized in the 1930s to win over hearts and minds of Germans to the Nazi party.
In his latest attempt, he suggests Barack Obama's character is shady because he knew such dangerous people as Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. This issue came up well over a month ago and has played out with few details that Obama had anything in any way to do with either of these people.
Krauthammer's attempt to place guilt by association fails completely. But if you want to tar someone's character with the dirty brush, what about Sen. John McCain? He had more than a parting interest in former savings and loan operator Charles Keating. He had money from Keating! Before you throw stones at glass houses, make sure your house is secure.
RAY SCHWARTZ
San Diego
Gaining control of health care costs
Columnist Robert Samuelson's “The truth about health care” (Opinion, Sept. 10) misses the real truth about out-of-control health care costs that politicians won't address. No matter what else we do, these costs will never be controlled until Americans adopt healthier lifestyles. Unfortunately, this will not happen until strong economic motivators such as risk-related group health insurance premiums prompt employees to shape up. Also, at least basic health insurance coverage should become mandatory for most Americans, with subsidies available to the needy provided they meet reasonable fitness standards. Also, the government should invest billions annually to promote wellness. Schools should be required to implement mandatory daily aerobic exercise and nutritional instruction with grade promotion tied to fitness.
In other words, it's high time for our entire nation to get serious about wellness before health care costs overwhelm our economy and greatly diminish the quality of life of tens of millions of Americans. What's really out of control in our nation today are unhealthy lifestyles. And our unwillingness to fix them is the real unspoken truth about America's health care crisis.
ROGER CHAPIN
San Diego
State constitution not a legislative catchall
Regarding “Flim-flam time/Deceit the hallmark of anti-Prop. 11 campaign” (Editorial, Oct. 7):
Treat the California Constitution with respect. It should properly deal with the structure of our state government, such as Proposition 11, and with the rights of its citizens. Using it as a catchall for all sorts of legislation diminishes it and should be avoided.
I reject such attempts to use the constitution even where the underlying proposition may have merit as a statute. We have been fortunate in maintaining the U.S. Constitution in the form intended. One deviation from this objective, the 18th Amendment, didn't work out well at all and was later removed by the 21st Amendment.
LEONARD WENER
Loma Portal
College campuses' debate over club name
Regarding “Colleges' gay clubs clash with officials over name” (Our Region, Oct. 8):
As coordinator of the Pride Resource Office at San Diego State University, and as someone who has worked in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for a number of years, I first cringed when I was told that students at City and Mesa colleges wanted to rename their LGBT student organizations as FAGS (acronym for Fellowship of Associated Gay Students).
The word “fag” is not a pleasant one in our society, and we all know the negative connotation it carries. But I have begun to see the light and realize that all that these outside-the-box-thinking student leaders want to do is reclaim a word that has been negative and not it let it be so anymore. The current controversy at City and Mesa colleges, while atrocious, will hopefully serve as a great teaching moment and bring the campus together with a greater understanding of the LGBT community.
Further, while I don't think I would propose naming an organization FAGS, I certainly can't sit and watch an administration attempt to block these students' right to free expression. While student activities are regulated more closely than they are on, say, the SDSU campus, our community colleges are public institutions, funded by taxpayers and the students, and the students of the colleges have a right to that free expression, whether we like it or not. I am thankful every day for the right to free expression – even for the right of those who adamantly oppose my beliefs.
BEN CARTWRIGHT
San Diego
