Speak Out A 12/21/01

Cut menu prices

I TOTALLY agree with the caller regarding tipping at restaurants. I work at a convenience store. Not one time have I received a 15 percent tip. I feel that if the restaurant owners want us to pay their employees' wages, then the least they can do is lower menu prices and give customers a break.

Investigate Enron

DAVID LIMBAUGH should investigate this Enron bankruptcy. These people were connected directly to the White House and the Bushes. This is the biggest bankruptcy scandal in the history of the country. The big boys at the top got paid off and managed to save their own skins.

Nitzschke's career

I COULDN'T believe what I read in the paper: that Dale Nitzschke, the former president of SEMO, is applying for a job as president of the University of Tennessee. That man took the job at SEMO but never moved his family down here. He quit and took an attractive salary package with him. He moved back home with his family. He's supposed to be raising funds for SEMO, but from the figures given in the paper he has raised no more money than the university raised before he was hired. I don't know what kind of game he's playing. He's on our payroll. He's not here but in Ohio. He's applying for a job in Tennessee. This sounds like a racket to me.

Help the workers

TO THE misguided and obviously uneducated person who spoke of union generosity: If you take a look at all the foreign cars, especially the Japanese cars, many of them top $30,000 and even $40,000, and there's not one Japanese plant that is union. It's obvious that the price difference goes either to management or to the workers. In the American car manufacturing scene, most of that money goes to the workers, where it should go. For the Japanese, most of it goes to management. It comes down to whether you want to buy American and support American workers, or buy Japanese and support Japanese management.

Time to clean house

HERE IS why our unemployment is rising: American manufacturers are going out of business every day. Our politicians sit on Capitol Hill and do nothing. It's time we changed parties and cleaned house.

Short vacation

I'D LIKE to speak out concerning the short holiday break my children get this year from Jackson School District. This year, my kids go through Friday, Dec. 21, so their first day off is Saturday, Dec. 22. They go back to school Wednesday, Jan. 2. We know family and friends in other parts of the state who get much longer breaks. I know my children's education is very important, but this year, with all that has happened, I believe that family and friends are also important. Jackson schools, let's start thinking of the families. To me, this Christmas and holiday season is more important than an extra day or two of school. Let's get with the program.

Enron questions

AS USUAL, the Southeast Missourian is trying to ignore a huge debacle that could prove to be a big embarrassment to the Bush presidency. We should learn many things from the Enron mess, and congressional hearings should continue as soon as is practical. The employees who put their IRA money in Enron stock lost over 99 percent of their investment. This means that any Social Security alterations that would allow investment in stocks needs to be set to require investment in a large group of companies only. The auditing of companies should be much im-proved as Enron had over $600 million of debt that was not properly on the books. The CEO of Enron was the only energy executive to meet with Dick Cheney while Cheney was drawing up a new national energy policy in secret. How can a company's stock lose over 99 percent of its value at a time when it paid Laurence Lindsey, Bush's chief economic advisor, over $50,000 for advice?