Drilling will not solve America’s energy problem
Re: “Drill, baby, drill — just do it in China,” editorial, Nov. 25
You imply that we could enjoy lower prices and greater energy security if only we would drill more here in America. But we don’t have enough remaining oil to affect the price of oil more than a few cents per barrel. We only get to burn it once. Burning it faster doesn’t increase our energy security.
What’s the best policy for a nation with a huge oil appetite and modest remaining oil reserves? We should act quickly to reduce our demand, work to develop renewable energy and leave our remaining oil for emergency use. Though our oil wouldn’t feed our vast fleet of gas guzzlers for long, it could keep our tractors and combines running to keep ourselves fed.
Carl Henn
Rockville
School-based clinics will improve academics
Re: “Schools adding health clinics for students,” Nov. 30
Few disagree with the notion that children who are not healthy are not optimally ready to learn. And though the District does a first-rate job of providing health insurance for children and youth, access to first-rate health care, or any health care at all, is another story. Our poor child health outcomes tell that story well.
So though Ms. Fabel is right to raise the question of cost-effectiveness of building new health care clinics in schools, the District has recognized two important justifications for this investment:
1) Health insurance alone does not translate into health care access or improved health outcomes; and
2) School-based clinics actually reduce costs to the taxpayer because of lower emergency room utilization and inappropriate hospitalizations for students who use these clinics.
Additional school health clinics in the District will help to improve the academic and social well-being of our children and youth, which in turn affect academic performance. The mayor’s vision for a world-class education system is only as good as the health of its users.
Jennifer Guste Leonard
Washington
President, Congress turn their back on jobless
How hard is it to provide jobs to those who need and want them?
Unemployment in the United States is at its highest rate in many decades but apparently is a mystery that only a Sherlock Holmes can solve. Despite his promises, President Obama has not fought significantly to bring jobs to hardly-working Americans.
Congress also turned its back on jobless citizens, merely offering short-term solace via extending unemployment benefits. Who can live on such a paltry sum for any extended period?
The banks have washed their hands of millions of homeless indigents who were foreclosed on or walked away from their mortgages. Americans who still have money are getting good deals on these discarded homes, but tent cities continue to grow across our nation.
It would be simple enough to issue tax incentives to businesses that expanded their enterprises by providing jobs to unemployed Americans. It would be equally easy for the government to hire people to build, repair and maintain our depreciating infrastructure. However, simple or not, jobs are not being created.
Peter Stern
Driftwood, Texas
