Letters to the editor
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The government must think big with stimulus
I am disappointed that President Barack Obama and Congress feel that continuing to throw money at the economy will improve it without any sense of vision. The article "Spending Fails to Create Jobs" (Jan. 12) illustrates the core issue. We aren't stimulating anything by fixing the existing infrastructure because that needed to happen years ago.
True stimulus would be to create something now that spurs job growth and promotes economic development far into the future. The Hoover Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Pennsylvania Turnpike all were Depression-era projects that we still use today; they created thousands of jobs in the 1930s and 1940s. I'm sorry, but maintaining the Fort Duquesne Bridge just doesn't cut it.
Why not build a high-speed maglev rail system that connects New York and San Francisco and major cities along the route? Such a project would create thousands of jobs now, spur development (and tax income) along the route for years, decrease our dependence on foreign oil and leave something Americans in the future can be proud of and utilize.
Sounds like a winner to me on all fronts. That is stimulus -- for today and the future.
BRENDAN FARLEY
Ambridge
National malady
Praise for Tony Norman's on-the-mark column "Flap Over This 'N-Word' Just Seems Silly" (Jan. 12).
He clearly relates to how hypocrisy plays a major role in the vast social, economic and political malady currently plaguing this nation. Are we not all tired of these contrived and superficial controversies unloaded daily upon us by radical right ideologues? This is the very righteous crowd now disguised as "independent populists" who gave us this malady in the first place.
Are we the citizenry of this pluralistic nation going to be able to tolerate these self-righteous and dogmatic "talkers" indefinitely while they continue to muddy our constitutional system of governance? Are we not sick and tired of their constant political gamesmanship and spin while not offering any new solutions or remedies?
How long can we allow this blatant, hypocritical pounding to endure? Our American soul cries out. Thank you, Mr. Norman, for your journalistic integrity in alerting us all to what is sucking up our lifeblood.
First Published January 20, 2010 12:00 am
