I, like many of my fellow countrymen, was on the fence concerning the Detroit bailout. I certainly don't blame the union for trying to get a bigger slice of the pie when times were good, but it is now time to get realistic.

But why didn't AIG get the same treatment? Why does anybody at AIG or any other financial institution that benefited from the Troubled Asset Relief Program make more than the president of the United States? What's fair is fair; if you are going to grill Detroit and the union workers, then let's keep everyone accountable.

And since the United States of America is trillions of dollars in debt itself, I believe all government employees from the president on down should give us wage concessions. The business has not been run responsibly at all. Bad management for sure. I'm sorry the workers have to suffer, but, gee, hard times, hard decisions. In fact, we even owe China money; how did that ever happen?

I am certain the politicians who scoffed at auto workers trying to make enough money to buy the product they were making would be the first in line for wage concessions of their own. Right? That's what I thought.

DENNIS SHEARER
Buffalo, Butler County

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The Dec. 17 editorial "Drilled" falsely claims in the subhead that "Consumers Will Pay for Lack of Oil Exploration." The editorial board is assuming that gas prices are based on supply and demand. They are not. Gas prices are manipulated by multinational oil companies and OPEC.

The economics of oil is not based on a supply-and-demand model. And the true economic, public health and environmental costs of fossil fuels are not included in the price. Unless we move to renewable sources, such as solar, the price of which typically goes down as demand for its use increases, we will continue to see energy and gas prices that are controlled by sources other than the free market.

STEVE KARAS
Forest Hills

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UPMC already has a medical clinic and outpatient surgery center in Monroeville behind the Holiday Inn. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to upgrade that facility if needed? UPMC could then provide a dedicated shuttle service for some of those 80 patients a day it claims to serve from the Monroeville area for a lot less than the cost of a brand new multimillion-dollar medical facility.

By the way, the intersection of Business Route 22 and Route 48, where UPMC is planning on building, is already badly congested. Who is going to pay for the additional police support and improvements to that intersection that will be required to handle the increase in traffic to an already over-taxed intersection? A nonprofit, tax-exempt organization like UPMC? I don't think so.

Monroeville residents, start planning on large tax increases.

MARC YERGIN
Squirrel Hil

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I write in response to the editorial regarding the cholera epidemic and ruler corruption in Zimbabwe ("Grim Zimbabwe," Dec. 8). The editorial concludes by describing the United States as unable to aid the nation due to commitments elsewhere. I dare to ask, what benefit would the United States have if it were to aid Zimbabwe?

The industrialized world has given roughly $60 trillion to the Third World through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and other outlets. What do we have to show for it? Millions still die of malaria, a curable disease, the AIDS pandemic is going entirely unchecked and corrupt Third World dictatorships get the same seat in the General Assembly that the United States gets. I am a strong advocate for Third World aid, but clearly more is not better. Most of the time, the more money we lend/give, the more money goes right into the pockets of the oppressive dictators making the people poorer That's right. More money makes people poorer.

If anything is going to get done about the Third World, it is going to have to be small and localized and by highly specified means. The Nobel Prize-winning concept of micro-lending is a prime example. When the United States or the United Nations comes rushing into a Third World country like a bat out of hell and on a massive scale, bureaucracy and inefficiency get in the way and do absolutely nothing.

PETER JOYCE
Franklin Park

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I find it sad that the Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties has filed an unfair labor practices suit on behalf of its members because of the ban on both indoor and outdoor smoking on state university campuses ("Faculty, Employees Fight Campus Smoking Ban," Dec. 24). It would be better for its members if the union spent more of its time and their dues to help a minority of members recover from their addiction to tobacco.

It's one thing when individual smokers complain about things like this, but when an organization that is supposed to be looking out for their welfare and safety on the job takes this kind of action, then things are really messed up.

COLE MAZUR
Murrysville

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Well, la-te-da. I read that the University of Pittsburgh has lost 22 percent of its endowment ("Pitt Endowment Lost 22 Percent of Value This Fall: State Universities Issue Wage Freezes," Dec. 20). Let's see now ... 22 percent of $2.4 billion is just a little over half a billion. Join the crowd, Pitt.

Since the first of the year I have lost 44.9 percent of my 401(k). I now call it my 201(k). When I look at the half billion or 22 percent that the university has lost, I sigh. When I look at my 44.9 percent loss, I cry.

BOB NOROSKI
Munhall

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Regarding a report I saw on MSNBC.com that Russia had made an offer to the United States regarding strategic weapons: This offer should be refused with counteroffers of collaboration on defensive systems. The U.S. system, if we have not been misled, is a defensive system. It is designed to keep people from being destroyed ... not to destroy people.

The Russian system is an offensive system. It is designed to destroy people.

Mutually assured destruction was and still is a very bad idea. The acronym, MAD, says it all. MAD takes just one big mistake and the globe is gone. And, everyone has to constantly live with the threat of that one big mistake ... to say nothing of bad intent. That is obviously not the case with defensive systems.

If the Russians' hearts and heads were in the right place, they would be building defensive systems and offering to collaborate with the United States. Instead their hearts and heads are focused on pride and power.

The Russians' track record of telling the truth and keeping promises is not exactly stellar, but the same can be said of the United States.

ALLEN W. McCREADY
Bethel Park

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Regarding "Nations on Track for New Climate Pact" (Dec. 13): To slow global warming, the United States must finally restore our leadership among nations. The argument over whether humans are causing global warming is over. It's almost, but not yet, too late to prevent its worst impending impacts -- including the increasing spread of infectious diseases (like malaria) carried by insects now able to survive warmer northern winters.

More than 1,700 prominent U.S. scientists and economists, including numerous Nobel Prize winners, have called for the United States to commit to cutting global warming pollution 80 percent by the year 2050. Not only will this protect our climate, it will create 5 million new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Pennsylvania has a big part to play in reducing global warming. We are the third-worst state for global warming pollution, and we create more pollution than 101 other countries combined, according to our own U.S. Department of Energy!

Protecting our environment will solve many of our nation's other problems, too. If we move toward the responsible, clean and green energy economy of the future, we can shore up our financial standing and manufacturing base and strengthen our influence in the world, all while averting dangerous global warming and preserving this planet for our children.

This is a win-win-win all around. We should all urge our elected officials, particularly in Congress, to take immediate action on global warming.

BILL WOOD, M.D.
Highland Park