Nevada state song fine the way it is
To the editor:
So Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick thinks it is time for a new state song (Sunday column). It is typical of a Las Vegan to want to implode anything more than 30 years old.
Hey, let’s dump the “Star-Spangled Banner” while we’re at it. No one can sing that song very well with those high notes in the middle. Besides, when was the last time you saw the rockets bursting in air? How about the ramparts?
I can’t wait to hear Mr. Frederick’s new song all about today’s Nevada. What rhymes with slot machine? Personally, I like the old song that reminds people what Nevada used to be like.
CAROLYN SINGER
HENDERSON
Health merger
To the editor:
It took many grains of salt for me to digest a Nov. 9 story in your newspaper about a New York congresswoman expressing concerns about a proposed merger here in Nevada between Las Vegas-based Sierra Health Services and UnitedHealth Group.
The story was based on a letter from Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., to the U.S. Justice Department, the last entity needed to approve the merger. Her letter quoted inaccurate estimates from merger opponents about what percentage of the Nevada health care market the two companies would have after the merger.
Had Rep. Velazquez done her homework, or contacted the companies, she would have learned that the two companies currently account for only 28 percent of all commercial health insurance sold in Nevada. After the merger, the companies will have about 35 percent of the Southern Nevada market and less than 12 percent of the Northern Nevada market.
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman held public hearings across the state and spent months considering this before approving the merger in August with several conditions — all of which the companies agreed to meet.
So it’s odd to see a lone congresswoman from New York wait until the final weeks of the approval process to criticize a merger that Nevada has already approved.
If Rep. Velazquez really wants to protect our health here in Nevada, she should continue her efforts to help the state stop the federal government’s continued push to store the nation’s nuclear waste 90 miles from Las Vegas.
George McCabe
LAS VEGAS
THE WRITER IS WITH BROWN & PARTNERS PUBLIC RELATIONS, WHICH HAS A CONTRACT WITH UNITEDHEALTH.
Hiking time
To the editor:
Now that fall is here, the cooler weather is perfect for going out and seeing the wilderness in areas of Southern Nevada. Places that were too hot in the middle of summer — such as the Muddy Mountains Wilderness, North McCullough Wilderness, and Rainbow and La Madre Wilderness Areas in Red Rock Canyon — are awesome to hike around now.
I wanted to mention that it was five years ago this November that Congress passed legislation to protect these wilderness areas for us and future generations to enjoy. It was the good work of Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign and local community leaders who supported this effort that made it possible.
But I don’t think it should end there. The population of our valley continues to grow rapidly. Consideration and care need to be taken to ensure that other deserving areas are protected. Areas such as Gold Butte south of Mesquite, Highland Range, Mount Stirling, and the Desert Refuge. I think it’s important that these areas be protected for everyone’s enjoyment now and in the future.
Ramsey Hong
LAS VEGAS
Who pays?
To the editor:
As I have gotten older, I have come to the conclusion that the definition of an economic illiterate is “politician.” In Friday’s Review-Journal, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says “there are many industries, businesses in our community, that do not pay anything” in taxes, and he wants to consider a corporate income tax to raise more revenue to fix “a lot that’s broken in this state.” I don’t know if the lack of a major sports franchise is one of the items on the mayor’s broken list, but I found his desire to go after the “people who make millions and millions and millions of dollars, and don’t pay one cent in order to help us make this a great place” to be economically illiterate.
The businesses that make all of this money provide employment to most of the people living in this valley, and those people pay the taxes that keep the government running. The mayor engages in a politician’s double speak when he says he is “not looking to tax the little guys.” I’ve got news for the mayor: The “little guys” always pay the taxes.
If an income tax is levied on businesses, they will pay it and then pass it on to the “little guys” by increasing the price of the goods and services they sell. So who really pays the tax?
Politicians who do not have the courage to raise taxes on the “little guys” always want to tax an inanimate entity such as the “corporation” or “business.” But don’t be fooled by such political double speak. If the politicians raise taxes on business, you and I will pay it.
DAVID R. DURLING
LAS VEGAS
