Sequester crisis: It’s all Republicans’ fault
To the editor:
Sequester, sequester, sequester. What is it? The sequester is a group of automatic budget cuts that kick in today. The sequester is another premeditated financial crisis that Republicans have created.
Republicans have persisted in their “do-nothing” attitude of the past four years and have resisted any form of compromise and negotiation with the Obama administration, holding to a position of spending cuts only, including cuts to Medicare. President Obama favors a balanced approach that would include spending cuts and some tax increases (closing tax loopholes).
It’s a no-brainer as to which way the American public is leaning in regard to the sequester showdown. A new Pew Research Center/USA Today survey finds that 76 percent of Americans say they want a solution that includes spending cuts and tax increases.
RON LOWE
NEVADA CITY
Job for life
To the editor:
Great Sunday column by Vin Suprynowicz on Assemblyman Harvey Munford’s stupid fast-food tax idea and the prostitution issue.
Mr. Munford could care less about fat people. He just sees it as a con to get more tax dollars. And stealing from the poor is such an easy mark.
I lived in Germany for three years, and legalized prostitution was not a problem. There were no pimps to beat up prostitutes and hook them on drugs, and johns were never rolled.
Anytime the government declares a war on something, you know two things will happen. It will cost billions of dollars and the problem will become worse. Unintended consequences always occur with each new government law or program, and it is usually not to the betterment.
Thanks for making sense, Mr. Suprynowicz. Keep up the good fight and keep pointing out the ignorant people running government. You have a job for life.
MICHAEL O. KREPS
LAS VEGAS
Don’t cut art
To the editor:
I was saddened to read that Las Vegas Councilman Bob Beers has proposed eliminating Las Vegas’ successful 1 percent for art program (Tuesday Review-Journal). Cutting this program, which has provided numerous benefits to the Las Vegas community for a decade, makes no sense logically or economically.
Public art, which the 1 percent for art program funds, enhances strong urban and architectural design of public and private spaces, increasing the attractiveness and appeal for people to live and/or work in well-designed environments. Consequently, real estate values increase, neighborhoods improve and strong communities are formed.
Further, public art imbues a city with a specific character and identity that attracts cultural tourists, who are an economic boon to communities. According to our Arts and Economic Prosperity IV study, arts tourists stay longer and spend more than twice that of their local counterparts ($39.96 vs. $17.42).
Even in times of fiscal austerity, we must still be future-focused and wisely capitalize on the proven strategies that link funding to outcomes for the sake of our economy and our society. Public art has more than proved its worth.
ROBERT L. LYNCH
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The writer is president and chief executive officer of Americans for the Arts.
The sky isn’t falling
To the editor:
Chicken Little said it best. “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” Somehow I believe that President Obama, the Democrats and the Republicans were all raised on Chicken Little.
We needed bailouts to save the economy, we had a budget crisis without having a budget, we had a fiscal cliff, we had debt ceiling crises, we had revenue crises and now we have an administration-made sequester crisis. Where, oh where, is Chicken Little when you need him?
Rahm Emanuel said to “never waste a good crisis.” Next we will have another debt ceiling crisis. I wonder what follows next.
When are Americans going to wake up to the utter stupidity of what is going on in Washington, D.C.? I have had it with this administration and this Congress, and I will now only be concerned with what is good for my family, my clients and my friends. I don’t panic easily.
I still believe that every American should go to whatever country they believe they like and then come back to the only free nation on earth. Seeing other nations only proves how lucky we have been up until now.
We don’t need the government to tell us how to live and what to do. Let the government get out of the way and watch how well we Americans do for ourselves.
Stop being depressed by what you read and hear and start getting motivated to be successful in life. I don’t want to be the only American who is tired of the nonsense and stupidity coming from Washington.
BOB DUBIN
LAS VEGAS
Strip shooting
To the editor:
Columnist John L. Smith of the Review-Journal did Las Vegas and the nation a real service by clearly documenting that all “victims” are not created equal. A hard-working cabdriver going about his business and a wonderful lady going about hers were taken from their families by the mindless depravity of two individuals, not one.
On a daily basis, Americans are subjected to the wailings of the families of criminals whose lives are ended during the pursuit of their lifestyle. Usually the real victims — those whose loved ones did not engage in personal behavior that placed them in harm’s way — are heard from only through spokespersons, if at all.
We might do well to focus our compassion on the truly innocent victims of violence and give short shrift to those who nurtured and now mourn the killers.
JAMES GATES
LAS VEGAS
