Time for honest discussion on entitlements

Tuesday’s editorial, “The third rail,” lauds Fred Thompson’s plan to partially convert the Social Security system to private accounts. This might save the system for young workers, but its importance pales in comparison to preventing the bankruptcy the system is facing from the huge wave of baby boomer retirees.

Mr. Thompson’s proposal to fix that problem by fiddling with the formula for cost of living adjustments is calculated to upset as few boomers as possible, but future inflation could make the problem even worse.

Simple arithmetic says Social Security benefits and taxes must be balanced. Benefit cuts are inevitable, but could be made relatively painless if they could be accomplished through the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments only for high-income retirees.

It’s time for some honest discussion on fixing the entitlement morass that is about to engulf us.

Tom Keller

HENDERSON

New face

To the editor:

I’ve had it. Twenty years of Bush/Clinton is more than I can take. I am pushing 80 years old, and before I leave, I want a new face in D.C. If I want to watch a Hollywood performance, I can go to the theater or a casino instead of watching it in the Oval Office.

Personally, I don’t care for any of the candidates, Democrat or Republican. But at least everybody would be a new face, other than Hillary Clinton.

John McCain and Bill Richardson appear to personify the old Southwest. But it seems the voters of the Southwest have been mesmerized by the politicians of the northeast and California.

MAX STACK

LAS VEGAS

Budget needs

To the editor:

I would hope that the governor would tread lightly when it comes to budget cuts or tax reform. The state of Nevada — as well as most other states (not to mention the federal government) — is in quite a pickle. The bureaucrats want more money. The taxpayers want to keep more of their money. What to do?

Well, a good place to start would be an audit. Not some “pat on the back with a wink” audit, but a real audit of every dollar spent by all agencies that get any money from the state. Instead of all this rhetoric about we spend too little, let’s see the proof.

If it is proved that we cannot spend money more wisely and thus take away the need to raise taxes, then by all means, let’s do what needs to be done. But until there is proof besides some scale that is inflated by other states that don’t give a damn about the taxpayers, I for one am against all tax increases.

The mayor of Las Vegas, the teachers unions, the university system all want more money. They are all willing to stop all construction and all growth so that they can get more than they already get — and we all know they already get more than anyone in the private sector.

The premise that you can tax business without taxing the consumer is false. All businesses pass their tax obligation along to us in the form of higher prices. If only the bureaucrats could grasp this simple logic.

I do not have the option of going to my boss and demanding more money because the guy down the street gets more than me. I just have to make do with what I get. It is called living within my means.

If these folks who run all the state agencies are incapable of living within their means, they need to be replaced by people who can.

Nicholas P. Gartner

LAS VEGAS

Edwards man

To the editor:

As much as I like Democratic Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, I think his defense of John Edwards in his Sunday letter to the editor was way too technical.

The heart of the matter is that the Review-Journal just loves tarring people with the ugly brush of being a lawyer — and a trial lawyer at that. Mr. Segerblom rightly defends Sen. Edwards on every point, but the big picture is that Sen. Edwards is the son of a steelworker who went to college and became a successful lawyer. I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t want their son or daughter to be that.

This is the fundamental reason I like the guy. He is a hard worker from a no-name family and is incredibly successful as an American lawmaker. As a Nevadan, I think he would make an excellent president.

CHANDLER LEVRICH

LAS VEGAS

Shrug it off?

To the editor:

Am I the only one who finds it a little disturbing that our newest utility regulator Sam Thompson’s favorite book is “Atlas Shrugged” (Monday Review-Journal)?

This is the Ayn Rand political novel that sees government regulators as “looters” who steal from private business. Does he believe, like Ayn Rand, that all government regulation is harmful and destructive?

This guy is supposed to protect the public interest?

KEITH HUBBELL

LAS VEGAS