Speak Out 12/20/08

Getting to school

THE JACKSON and Cape Girardeau school districts put the lives of students, faculty and parents in danger by having school Tuesday during the ice storm. I slid all the way to school to drop my daughter off late. The safety of the students is the most important thing, and going a couple of extra days is not going to hurt anyone. Why take a chance when you don't have to?

Dealing with criminals

I WOULD like everyone to get a life and quit getting uptight about things they have no control over. Criminals need to learn how to earn a living. When they are caught, they should have to do community service. I bet if someone was attacking you in your house, you would be so happy to yell for someone in that noisy garbage truck to come help.

Reclaim a neighborhood

I WOULD like to commend the Cape Girardeau Police Department and all those working for the south side, cleaning up the neighborhood, getting rid of troublesome establishments and catching crooks. Neighbors standing together with community support is a sure-fire way to take back the community.

Free markets

EVEN FORMER Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has admitted that he put too much faith in the ability of free markets to self-correct and had no clue as to the disastrous effects of excessive mortgage lending. In his own words, "Those of us who looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief." Though a major contributor to our current economic woes, at least Greenspan was willing to step up the plate, admit he was wrong and realize that excessive deregulation of the market had led to the mess we're all in. That's more than can be said for columnist David Limbaugh, who takes the position that free-market failures happen from time to time and that nothing should be done to alleviate an already disastrous situation other than riding it out. It is this kind of Herbert Hooverish thinking that, if continued, would have led to the collapse of capitalism and the coming of the thing Limbaugh claims to dread the most: socialism. Limbaugh may not be hurting too badly, but millions are. Thank goodness we have pragmatists coming to power who realize that unregulated free-market capitalism is not a sacrosanct religion.

Bailout ideas

WHY DOESN'T the government help the elderly with utility bills and medical bills and bail them out instead of the car manufacturers? Help people who have lost their jobs.

U.S. bidders only

IF THE Big Three automakers go under and have to sell their assets, the government should make it so only American companies could bid on them. We do not need any more foreign interference in our country's economy.

Going poof

YOU CAN tell who they are by just looking at their expressions. They look dazed, confused, sometimes almost zombielike in the way they walk around. They try to maintain some semblance of an optimistic expression, but the smile seems forced. They range in age from 20-somethings to the elderly, but all appear to have significantly aged almost overnight. They're all over the place. Who are they? In a nutshell, they're people who believed their financial advisers concerning the stock-market boom that "this time it's different," meaning that there would be no bust. They have seen some or all of their one-time substantial portfolios go poof.