LETTERS: Raising debt ceiling won’t fix problem
To the editor:
Jim Graham’s letter regarding the U.S. debt problem was astonishing (“Republicans perpetuate debt ceiling lie,” Feb. 1 Review-Journal). The U.S. debt has been growing greatly because of uncontrolled spending. We are not paying down the debt and, according to Mr. Graham, we’re not paying the interest on that debt.
His solution is to borrow more money so we can pay the interest on that ever-growing debt. Is it any wonder that we have jobless college graduates with large student loan debts, families with underwater mortgages and people with huge credit card balances and debts that aren’t being paid?
Apparently, Mr. Graham’s kind of thinking is more widespread than I would have guessed. The United States is on the road to ruin unless we address the worsening debt problem. We cannot borrow our way out of this mess. Our children and grandchildren will thank Mr. Graham for helping make them citizens of a Third-World country.
BERND KLOPFER
LAS VEGAS
Drawing inspiration
To the editor:
Kudos to the Review-Journal for the selection of the Michael Ramirez editorial cartoon in the Feb. 2 Review-Journal. In one terrific cell of a cartoon, Mr. Ramirez captured in five caricatures and a simple sentence what a letter to the editor probably would have taken three or four paragraphs to delineate: the great American hustle that the Obama administration and its toadies have perpetrated upon the population of this great country.
Every so often there is one picture worth a thousand words.
GEORGE PUCINE
LAS VEGAS
Independent contractors
To the editor:
I read with great interest Alice Heiman’s op-ed in your Viewpoints section Feb. 2 (“Independent contractors a boon for U.S. economy”). Her points are thought out well and obviously well-researched. But her assertion that independent contractors are cut from the same cloth as entrepreneurs is simply not the case.
I worked here in Las Vegas for five years as a route dispatcher for a courier company that utilized independent contractors for the bulk of its delivery force. Everyone in the office, including myself, was an employee of the company. The only reason any of the drivers chose to be an independent contractor was for the simple fact that the courier company I was employed by didn’t want to pony up the money necessary to hire actual employees. The company knew, as I believe many others do, that with full-time jobs being so difficult to find, the modern worker will take anything he or she can get.
No job seeker wants anything given to them. The problem with the independent contractor, who is at the whim of the company he contracts with, is the simple fact that he won’t get any work unless he hitches the bulk of his wagon to that company. I can recall many instances when one of the drivers had the option of a better-paying job from a competitor, and because he turned us down, we put him in a category of someone who couldn’t be counted on.
These workers had to wear our company uniforms, which they paid for, as well as phones or radios they also paid for. If they made a mistake, be it wrong delivery point, late on delivery (no matter the circumstances) or any damage during delivery caused by even the most common human error, they paid 100 percent of the cost.
Being independent is the American way. Being used by corporate America to feather the nest of wealthy owners who don’t want to give anything back to their workers shouldn’t be the American way.
CHRIS STEVA
LAS VEGAS
Missing Morrison
To the editor:
Just when we thought the Review-Journal could not sink lower, we learned that Jane Ann Morrison’s column was canceled. Shame on you. We will miss her meaningful and informative commentary.
JOHN ALDERFER
HENDERSON
