Sorry, OWS, capitalism works Many people have the opinion that the Occupy Wall Street movement exercising its “rights” in cities across the U.S. is that it vilifies capitalism. Let me offer a for-profit company that has kept people employed for many years with virtually no layoffs. True scenario: A medium-size commercial and industrial electric company exists in the South that employs both union and nonunion staff. The estimating department hires only well-educated, nonunion estimators to bid projects. Once projects are bidded and awarded, these are then assigned to union journeymen and foremen with union-competitive wages and benefits. After union electricians complete a given project, they move on to another project with no lapse of work.
The overall keys to success are the company having a solid, documented business plan, qualified and dedicated employees, a diversified work portfolio, good project management to keep cost contained, outright company property ownership with only needed renovations, and amicable relationships with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — a powerful union. Above all, the electrical company has an excellent reputation, pays its taxes and still has millions in revenue annually!
Therefore, capitalism can work. It just takes the brains and brawn to do it right! I would challenge all presidential candidates to develop a comprehensive plan to create and retain jobs.
Kurt Kleier
San Francisco
Congress has killed all hope for America
Committees, supercommittees, commissions, blue ribbon commissions and other evasive procedural maneuvers by the Congress only delay the decision-making process, which is what congressmen get paid for. The delay game is akin to going AWOL on the job.
The do-nothing Congress has all the power to change the direction and course of the nation from falling precipitously, but the boys and girls are so overtaken by their laziness and stupidity that they have become incapable of dealing with the business at hand. They are indeed a worthless bunch. They are individually and collectively responsible for the abysmal financial situation, which cannot be reversed without major changes and sacrifices that they are unwilling to undertake.
Washington is quickly becoming an example of a spoiled government at every level. With a do-nothing Congress, a failed president presiding and a pompous and arrogant Supreme Court at the tail end, the inexorable decline is unstoppable.
Hope for the rebirth of America is fading fast, and with the GOP’s lackluster presidential hopefuls 2012 will be a worse year for America. There is nothing on the horizon that can offer a glimmer of hope for a better economy or government. It is all downhill from now on.
Louis Ginesi Dominguez
Warrenton, Va.
The Pentagon can tighten its belt
The automatic spending cuts that come with the failure of the supercommittee include $600 billion in cuts for the Pentagon, which will be spread over a 10-year cycle. This represents less than 10 percent of the annual $700 billion Pentagon budget. I guess the Pentagon will have to find $540 toilet seats instead of the $600 ones they bought in the past.
To say we can’t find less than 10 percent annual savings in Pentagon spending is the biggest hoax perpetrated on the American taxpayers. Put another way, instead of the current $700 billion Pentagon budget, they will have to get along with only $630 billion per year.
The $630 billion represents about six times the $114 billion our rival, China, spends every year. I speak as a Vietnam-era veteran who loves my country. I am also echoing the thoughts of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned us of the “military-industrial complex” years ago.
The politicians, who get money from Pentagon contractors, want to perpetuate this fraud on the American taxpayers. Why are the current Republican candidates saying we can’t cut military spending but we can slice social programs to the bone? I will tell you why. It is part of the “starve the beast” thinking of right-wing think tanks.
John Donner
Alexandria
