Brooks column not up to usual standard
David Brooks is usually an astute, practical writer. However, his column addressing the Affordable Health Care Act misses that standard (“Republicans need to sell us their plan,” Opinion, July 9).
He writes that the problem with the Affordable Health Care Act is that it centralizes power. Of course it does — just as Social Security and Medicare centralize power.
Like the Affordable Health Care Act, both programs addressed a major societal crisis. People have to get over the thought that the private sector can solve all societal issues.
Most disturbing is Brooks’ suggestion that an alternative program (described in a magazine essay) is the answer. He calls it a coherent Republican plan. He then describes the essay’s points that will solve the crisis. Most have been heard before.
This may be the extent of what will be presented on the campaign trail — coupled, of course, with the negatives of the Affordable Health Care Act. The same pattern was followed by opponents before the enactment of the historic Social Security and Medicare programs.
JERRY HULSHULT, CANTON
Wealth was never ‘distributed’ at all
It is absolutely impossible to redistribute the wealth.
Why?
Because the wealth was never “distributed” in the first place. It was earned.
KENTON B. CREUSER, BLUE RIDGE
Media must provide more economic facts
The latest job figures were announced recently. Most experts agree that the reported 80,000 new U.S. jobs are insufficient for sustained economic growth. People need to understand that continuing job loss in the governmental sector has seriously impeded the economic recovery process.
We are proceeding toward the November elections and toward essential decision-making about major issues such as expiration of the George Bush-era tax cuts and new mandated federal spending cuts.
With this in mind, the media should provide more factual data on jobs, the economy and related matters, and ensure that these vital subjects are covered with sufficient depth.
ROBERT E. FLETCHER, MARIETTA
Upward mobility not so elusive
Regarding “Upward mobility elusive for many” (News, July 10), I must be a “glass-half-full” person because after reading this article, I came to a conclusion very different from that of the writer.
Eighty-four percent of Americans in the study mentioned out-earned their parents, and one-third moved between income classes. This kind of advancement is impossible in most other countries. In America, if you stay in school, study hard, work hard and save, upward mobility isn’t elusive — it is inevitable.
RICHARD S. MYRICK JR., ATLANTA
