HEALTH CARE
Response to “Health care concerns beget wrenching decisions,” (News, Aug. 4) and “Message to drivers: Follow the law,” (Metro, Aug. 4)
The heart-wrenching stories about Lisa Ehlers and Gwinnett police officer, Rolando Jimenez, are two more reasons America needs universal health care. Ehlers had to choose between a job she loved and one that offered health insurance for her special-needs child. Jimenez’s family finances have taken a huge hit because of the high cost of his many surgeries and rehab.
How can America not provide universal health care to all of its citizens? It is unconscionable that we live in the only country in the civilized world that does not provide single-payer, universal health care!
Shame on those who worry about more about keeping their money than helping their fellow American!
PHIL MANSON, CONYERS
GEORGIA FORWARD
Divisive General Assembly creates disunity
Andre Jackson’s “Two Georgias are too many” (Opinion, Aug. 4) had no mention of the role of our elected state body. I presume this is because Georgia Forward is in place to “lead the leaders.” The division between Atlanta and the rest of the state was evident under Democrat one-party rule, but at least the legislature was presiding over statewide business. Under Republican leadership, the legislature has become much more arrogantly a place to perform special interest business and disrupt localities, usually by community-dividing referendums. One legislator, when asked what was accomplished this year, said, “nothing, except local legislation.” Georgia Forward will be taking one step forward and five steps back until this trend reverses.
TOM DOOLITTLE, ATLANTA
ATLANTA VS. DETROIT
‘Sprawl’ a reflecton of people’s freedom to choose
Paul Krugman aimed his liberal cannon at Atlanta in his recent opinion piece, “How sprawl is making Atlanta just like Detroit” (Opinion, Aug. 3). According to Krugman, sprawl is the root cause of stagnant social mobility, high unemployment, single-family households, and the death of the American Dream. Wow, all those problems, just because people didn’t want to live in the city? Come on. “Sprawl” is the effect of people making the decision to live where they feel safe and comfortable with their families. Krugman would prefer that people not have that decision to make. He would prefer that that the government decides where you live, based on social engineering agendas. Sorry, that’s not freedom, Mr. Krugman. Go back to New York where the government is passing laws about the size soft drink you can buy.
CRAIG COCHRAN, KENNESAW
Social mobility thesis worth consideration here
The headline “How sprawl is making Atlanta just like Detroit” (Opinion, Aug. 3) was disturbing to some AJC readers long dedicated to metro Atlanta’s ongoing economic and social progress. Paul Krugman has set forth an interesting viewpoint about “social mobility” and lack thereof in Atlanta. Quoting liberally from a new study led by academics from Harvard and Berkeley (University of California), Krugman makes his comparisons with Detroit. He acknowledges that Atlanta’s metro area “epitomizes the rise of the Sunbelt.” But being “spread out” and sprawling has hindered social mobility for many citizens in getting to jobs that would aid such mobility, Krugman cites from the study. Interestingly enough, Krugman says the study by the Equality of Opportunity Project finds “little direct role for race.” It’s sprawl that makes public transportation “nearly impossible to operate, even if politicians were willing to pay for it, which they aren’t.” The columnist had no answer to the problems he identified. But he did set forth his opinion of the source of failed “social mobility,” which deserves evaluation by metro Atlanta political leaders and media commentators.
RICHARD E. HODGES, JR., MARIETTA
MINIMUM WAGE
Fans of higher pay ignore facts, basic economics
Response to “Why minimum wage is now everyone’s concern” (News, Aug. 6). The author objects to the current minimum wage, writing “You can’t live a decent life on it.” We have been having this discussion since 1938 when the minimum wage was established. Oceans of empirical study data, most notably in the past 20 years, have repeatedly displayed the negative effects of the minimum wage, but its dedicated proponents prefer to cite the entitlement imperative embedded in their belief system — instead of demonstrable facts. Minimum wage was never designed or intended to be a living wage, but rather a starting wage from which people advance as they demonstrate increased skills. It is also a government-imposed redistribution program that defies marketplace economics and carries negative consequences, particularly for young workers. Perhaps an understanding of the laws of economics would trump reliance on the emotional coercion that accompanies socially imposed artificial guilt.
DENNIS E. MCGOWAN, SNELLVILLE
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