ECONOMY
Retail sales holding up despite official inaction
It is amazing retail sales have held up this long considering several factors. Retailers purchase so much of their merchandise offshore. This moves cash away from their customers who previously produced these products. Their only salvation is that the federal government borrows money and pays unemployment benefits and food stamps so that people who are unemployed or under-employed can afford to shop for consumer goods. The retailers are their own worst enemies. Then, the Federal Reserve has policies that reduce interest rates to practically nothing in an effort to “create jobs.”
It is obvious (government officials) have nothing specific in mind. The Congress has been asleep at the wheel for the past 50 years on matters of the economy, and it appears that they are prepared to snooze right through until the end.
MITCHELL L. EASTER, CUMMING
SPEED LIMITS
Law-abiding prompts ‘slowpoke’ legislation
Our illustrious lawmakers want to punish speed-limit drivers because they will not get out the the way of speeders, who are breaking the law (“Could the ‘slowpoke’ law be enforced?” Metro, March 3). Has this proposal been thought through? I am driving in the left lane, doing the speed limit, because I need to make a left-hand turn. If I wait too long, I will not be able to move over to the left because the speed demons won’t let me in. I might slow them down.
Will the Georgia State Patrol really give me a ticket for driving the speed limit? How about the legislators concentrate on punishing speeders and celebrating law-abiders? This law would cause more road rage than currently exists. This is just another example of what makes this state the nation’s laughingstock.
JACQUELINE N. RICE, LOGANVILLE
HEALTHY EATING
Vegetarian diet means a longer, healthier life
A recent Time Magazine cites several reasons for vegetarians living longer. The article was prompted by a report in the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine that a vegetarian diet lowers blood pressure. The Mayo Clinic notes that vegetarians are at lower risk for developing diabetes. An Oxford University study of 45,000 adults in last year’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that vegetarians were 32 percent less likely to suffer from heart disease.
Moreover, researchers last year at California’s Loma Linda University concluded that a vegetarian diet protects against colorectal and other types of cancer. It’s no wonder that a 2012 Harvard University study of 120,000 people concluded that meat consumption raises the risk of heart and cancer mortality. Each of us can find our own fountain of youth by adopting a meat and dairy-free diet.
ANTONIO MATHERS, ATLANTA
