I must respond to Rick Pierchalski's breathtakingly arrogant Business Forum column ("Will Financial Services Be Pushed Offshore?" Jan. 9). His position that financial industry credit and pay practices should not be subject to criticism or oversight lest "capital and bankers flee our shores" resembles organized crime thugs extorting protection payments: "It's a nice economy you have there, it'd be a shame if something should happen to it."

Mr. Pierchalski spends much column space comparing criticism of the steel and financial industries, although steel companies produce a tangible and necessary product. The banking industry created what Warren Buffett called "financial weapons of mass destruction" -- producing not "one shred of neutral evidence" that these "innovations" led to economic growth, according to Paul Volcker.

These firms sold credit-default swaps and other toxic assets to investors far above their true value. When the housing bubble burst in 2008, we bailed out these "too big to fail" institutions, allowing the industry to evade accountability. Now they are back to business as usual, paying themselves seven- and eight-figure bonuses.

Mr. Pierchalski says "the disturbing part about [government] action of this type is that ... the real collapse" comes years after.

In non-CEO reality, we already have seen a collapse of our economy after adopting a laissez-faire philosophy that financial industries did not need oversight. Just as we police street crime, we must have effective regulation of financial institutions, because they have proven that they cannot be trusted.

I have to commend Apple's marketing savvy to fool the public into buying their bulky, user-unfriendly and costly products.

While there are much more user-friendly, business-friendly and phone-carrier-friendly products like BlackBerry in the market, it amazes me that Apple garners all the hype.

Does it make much sense that a product designed for a specific purpose lacks in that area? The new iPad will once again have a sealed battery. Anyone who ever had a laptop knows that batteries die quickly. How convenient has Apple made your computing when you have to send your tablet for repair for a battery issue?

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