Letters To The Editor

Virginia Employees Are Getting Squeezed

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Moreover, this shift is occurring among larger employers -- those with 100 or more employees -- with large risk pools, bringing them nearly equal to small employers with smaller risk pools for the first time in 11 years.

Further, employer-sponsored health insurance continues to decline in Virginia. According to the U.S. Census, Virginia workers receiving health care benefits through their employers dropped by nearly 5 percentage points from 2006 to 2007.

In addition, while nationally the number of uninsured has dipped, the number in Virginia has grown and now stands at more than 1.1 million. And as our national and state economies contract, and more workers lose their jobs -- and income and benefits -- all of these numbers will grow at exactly the same time that our policymakers try to balance the state budget by closing vital programs and services and leaving revenue loopholes wide open.

John McInerney, Health Policy Director,

Richmond.

The Government Owes Auto Makers a Bailout

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Our government has done nothing to protect one of our last fully American products. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have not been playing on a level field with the foreign competition. The American auto companies are all burdened by the costs of pensions, medical care for retirees, and so on. The foreign auto makers don't have these burdens that can add up to a few thousand dollars per vehicle.

There should have been tariffs on foreign automobiles all along. A government should protect its nation's own businesses. This government hasn't done that. I worked as a supervisor at a GM truck plant in Michigan for 30 years. It is true that at one time, the American auto industry produced less-than-stellar quality and was burdened by too many employees. I contracted, for several years, at different GM plants in various parts of the country after retiring in 1992 and can say that GM has made unbelievable progress in the quality of its product and in manpower reduction. I was proud of the product. It is world-class.

People ask why the Big Three kept producing large, expensive vehicles. They were the only vehicles that could turn enough of a profit to fund pensions.

It is time for our government to step up and do what needs to be done. Change managers if necessary. Lend them the money. Enact tariffs if that's what it takes, but do help one of the last American businesses through these abnormally tough times. They will come out on top again.

Thomas F. Neiger. Cobbs Creek.

Sad Turn Taken Was During the Clinton Era

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Clinton's legacy includes the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiasco. Since 1999, a slowly ticking time bomb allowed previously unqualified mortgage loan applicants, including as many as 5 million illegal aliens, to list food stamps and unemployment compensation as legitimate income on subprime mortgage applications. Add in little or no down payment and where is there not the recipe for disaster?

Bush tried addressing the problem early in his administration, as did Sen. John McCain's legislative attempt in 2005. Their efforts were stymied by stonewalling Democrats who never seem to lose their passion for consistently dipping into the U.S. Treasury to buy themselves a constituency at everyone's expense.

Daniel L. Coli. Henrico.

Small Donations Are Pure Free Speech

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

These pages have often railed against finance reform as a stifling of free speech, yet these micro-contributions are free speech at its purest. The large-scale corporate contributions that reformers have targeted are on more an exchange for value than speech, and the frustrating thing is that you must recognize this difference as well -- you just choose to ignore it because it's the Democrat benefiting from the popular financial support.

Shannon Harter. Richmond.