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Reid needs to come back to real world

To the editor:

I was quite surprised to read on the front page of Wednesday’s Review-Journal that Sen. Harry Reid does not think government rules play a role in killing jobs.

Most government intervention in business does not mean just another rule to follow. Most new rules come with a new cost of some sort. If you are required to have a health permit, there is a fee for that. If you are required to have an EPA permit, there is a fee for that. If you are required to have an air quality permit, there is a fee for that.

You get the picture.

Government rules, whether they are requirements to have certain insurance (like workers’ compensation insurance or unemployment insurance) or requirements to have licenses and permits or requirements to have certain financial audits, cost businesses a lot of money. Since the purpose of a business is to make money, each expense taken away from the gross income of that company lessens the amount of money left to hire personnel and expand plants and equipment.

The more government takes out of gross income, the less money there is to operate. Period. There is no getting around that fact. The more money government takes, the less there is for everything else.

Small operators feel this first and are likely to hire fewer people, add fewer new services or spend money upgrading equipment. Even large companies such as General Electric eventually feel the pinch and change operating plans, often relocating to foreign soil.

Harry Reid has been in Washington, D.C., too long if he has lost sight of that fact.

Linda Lovelle

Boulder City

Bus union

To the editor:

I have read your editorials encouraging an award of the valley’s bus contract to First Transit and attacking Veolia. As a Veolia employee who has served the Regional Transportation Commission for the past 13 years, I am very upset over what seems to be your bias.

You have also attacked the commissioners who voted against First Transit’s proposal because it relies on “favorable labor negotiations” (a euphemism for cuts in wages and benefits). Commissioner Larry Brown, at the last meeting, made it absolutely clear that First Transit’s “savings” in its bid comes mostly from tens of millions of dollars in cuts to wages and benefits. Why do you ignore this? Even worse, why don’t you care?

You wrote of “pandering to organized labor” and said that “Veolia’s unionized workforce packs the commission’s chambers at every opportunity.” It seems that you are implying that being unionized is a bad thing.

Being a union member is as American as apple pie. I served on the board of our local for six years. The people “packing” the commission chambers are both members and non-members.

We are not a bunch of union fat cats. Our first-year people make only $13.45 an hour. Our retirement is a modest 401(k) plan, not a juicy defined-benefit pension. Our compensation is fair but modest. Also, all of the excellent improvements to our transit system have occurred since Veolia assumed responsibility for the operation.

Is the Review-Journal so against maintaining fair wages and benefits for those of us who keep the buses running that it is not willing to report both sides of the discourse that transpired in the commission chambers? Perhaps Southern Nevadans need to go to the RTC website and watch the entire proceedings for themselves.

TOM VUKDELICH

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Blaming capitalism

To the editor:

In response to Alexander Cockburn’s Nov. 11 op-ed, “Has anyone the slightest idea what to do?”

Mr. Cockburn is the son of Claud Cockburn, who was a pawn of the communist party in England in the late 1930s. One only has to read Alexander Cockburn’s writings to realize he has a large agenda against America.

He describes America’s problems caused by the onslaught of 40 years of neo-liberal policies. Looking up “neo-liberal,” it is defined as seeking the transfer of control of the economy from public to the private sector under the belief that it will produce a more efficient government and improve the economic health of the nation. I contend that if left alone with minimum interference, such policies would have been successful.

When government interferes and uses a great deal of pressure to force banks to loan to non-credit-worthy borrowers with next to nothing down, thus forcing up home prices, that is hardly neo-liberal. Did capitalism exacerbate the problem? Of course it did, with complex derivatives that even financial gurus couldn’t understand. But they took advantage of the government meddling in many cases.

To have Mr. Cockburn blame capitalism entirely and encourage the Occupy Wall Street protesters toward causing general strikes is disingenuous, in my humble opinion. The protests should be directed toward the progressive politicians who used their political power to put millions in homes that they couldn’t afford, which had to lead to an unhappy ending. In the 2010 congressional election, three of the main progressive culprits were re-elected in their districts by 79 or 80 percent — the voters just rubber-stamp these incumbents.

Please, Mr. Cockburn, put the blame and vitriol where it should be rightfully placed.

Don C. Whitaker

Henderson

Budget priorities

To the editor:

I am a crossing guard. I find it very rewarding, and working with children keeps you young.

For two years now, there have been no salary increases because, we are told, “It is not in the budget. Things are tight.” So how come there is money in the budget for a new, $146 million Las Vegas City Hall and a new park downtown while in some areas there is talk of closing parks? How come all along Rampart Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue there are all these metal faux cactus plants and metal faux plants along with all the fancy, very expensive landscaping?

Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to have all these luxurious items, especially a $146 million new City Hall. But do it when times are good and there is money in the budget for all. Take care of the people first.

We have much-needed senior centers closing down. We have teachers who are purchasing materials for classrooms with their own money and not being reimbursed “because it’s not in the budget.”

How about some of the fat cats take cuts in pay? How about some of the money that is going to all these elaborate projects being put back in the budget?

IRA SHAPIRO

LAS VEGAS

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