Today's Letters: Market gains don't help ordinary people

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published July 17, 2007

The markets up, why aren't we? July 14, story 

The Times sends a couple of writers on a mission to figure out why most people think the country is headed into a hole while the markets are burgeoning. The article never really addresses the headline issue.

The answer is obvious. Only the very wealthy and highly invested older people are benefiting from the rising stock market, while real people fear their lives are slipping into an abyss.

Let's start with health coverage dissolving underneath us. Then there are soaring housing costs backed by scary financing in the middle of a major downturn, insurance at triple the costs of three years ago, gas at $3. The costs of milk, beef and corn flakes are at record highs because of a bogus fixation on ethanol solving the gas problems. There are hundreds of others.

Real people don't benefit from the huge gains in private equity clutches. Geezers with decent portfolios feed on the scraps and feel fine. But everyone else is waiting for something to fix that sinking feeling in the gut. Daily reports of new highs on Wall Street are no salve.

Dale Friedley, St. Petersburg

What about then? 

The real state of your taxes July 16, news graphic

It was a perfect opportunity to inform the public about where all their tax money goes. But it was lost.

So if you live in any of the three cities you studied, your taxes nearly doubled between 2002 and 2007. Where did all that government wealth go? My income certainly didn't double during that period. I'm not sure my neighbor's did either.

You provided some interesting statistics for 2007 and somehow left all the comparable numbers for 2002 out of the table.

For example, Tampa has 101 employees with salaries over $100,000 now. How many did it have in 2002? Tampa has 1 employee for every 66 residents now. How many did it have in 2002? St. Petersburg has 2,895 employees now. How many did it have in 2002?

You had the chance to provide information to those who may vote on Jan. 29 on a constitutional amendment to change homestead exemption, and instead produced a table of apples and oranges. And I'm not sure that readers knowing what it costs for an overdue library book makes them any smarter about the subject matter.

Bill Boyd, Apollo Beach

Property taxes

A flawed system

Amid all the controversy regarding property taxes, it seems to have gotten lost that the ad valorem tax is perhaps the only tax in which an average citizen is taxed on unrealized capital gains!

Any plan that continues to be based on "paper money," especially in regard to something as volatile as property values in Florida, will be flawed to some extent.

I will never understand how a sales tax increase in lieu of a property tax is deemed unfair to the poor, but a property tax based on "assessed value" is not unfair to folks who don't sell the asset to which the value is assessed.

Brad Bell, St. Petersburg

Tackle real problems 

Fla. enters warming deals July 13, story

Returning from out of state, I read on the front page that Gov. Charlie Crist has entered into a deal to combat global warming. With our state in desperate need of real tax help, I do hope there were no tax dollars being used in the hosting of the climate change "summit" or for any followup programs.

Once our critical Florida needs such as "real" insurance reform and "real" tax reform are met, then perhaps discussions with scientists on both sides of the warming issue could be involved to assist.

Crist needs to spend more time attempting to solve what concerns most Florida residents. I have never been so disappointed in someone for whom I voted. It appears Crist has joined the ranks of Al Gore in attempting to make himself loved by everyone. He should be more loyal to the people who voted for him.

Robert K. Reader, Clearwater

Say no to single-payer

With the release of Michael Moore's new film Sicko there have been several articles and letters published in the St. Petersburg Times discussing the idea of implementing a single-payer system in the United States. Although Americans are clamoring for health care reform, this is one proposed solution that needs to be taken off the table, as it would have disastrous consequences for our country.

Under a single-payer system, the government would have a monopoly over health care coverage, offering only one insurance plan with no alternatives. That means when the government decides to reduce funding for a procedure or deny coverage for new medical technologies determined to be too costly, Americans would either have to forgo those potentially life-saving procedures, or finance them out-of-pocket. We deserve a system that encourages quality and innovation among health care providers.

Perilous problems plague virtually all countries with single-payer models, including health care rationing, loss of physicians and restrictions on health care investments. If a single-payer system were to be implemented here, bureaucratic inefficiencies would replace free-market systems, resulting in an overburdened, underfunded system that is more cumbersome to navigate than the current structure.

There is a good chance that "universal health care" (or health care for all) will be a reality in our lifetimes - however, a government-run system should not be the way we get there. We need to seek alternative health care reform solutions, such as free-market competition, and just say no to a single-payer system.

Michelle Urso, Tarpon Springs

This isn't working 

On health care, be fully informed July 14, letter

While a small part of the movie Sicko featured a few stories about uninsured citizens, the bulk of the movie was about insured people and how the profit-motivated health insurance and pharmaceutical companies failed them when they needed the most help.

While I feel Michael Moore's movie is very one-sided and I don't believe universal health care is as rosy as he leads us to believe, the current system is not working. People who really need care are too often summarily denied based on a technicality or are buried with deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses that the insurance companies find a way around paying. Nobody should have that kind of power over who lives or dies based solely on their ability to pay.

If Moore's movie gets America talking about alternatives to the grotesque profits of insurers and pharmaceutical companies, that's great. I don't think many of us can afford to continue the status quo.

Heather Kosinski, Largo

Moore's insult

The average American cannot possibly understand how hurtful and appalling Michael Moore's movie Sicko is to the Cuban exile community. To use Cuba's own health care propaganda to highlight problems with American health care is outrageous.

For those of us who have experienced firsthand the lack of adequate health care our relatives receive on the island, this movie is a sham. Most Cuban hospitals lack basic supplies like syringes, bed sheets, working X-ray machines, etc. Without essential medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and pay commensurate with their education, talented physicians have left the island. Many more would leave if Fidel Castro did not make it harder for them to do so.

For the most part the press has given this film praise. Shame on the press for not challenging questionable information. Most Americans would find all aspects of life in Cuba, including health care, deplorable.

George Rodriguez, Tampa

Thanks, blood donors

This is a long overdue expression of appreciation to Florida Blood Services and the hundreds of volunteer donors who keep the Tampa Bay area's blood supply at safe levels to meet the needs of patients requiring blood transfusions.

When I was younger, I too was an avid donor. In those days, the main need was for accident victims and major surgery patients. What the public may not realize is that there is another large group of patients in need of this precious gift and that is cancer patients like myself who are undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatments. While these chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells they also can destroy healthy red and white blood cells and platelets. When this happens, we become extremely weak, bruise easily and can be bleeding internally and not know it. Our immune systems are severely compromised as well.

Thanks to your gift, blood and platelet transfusions allow us to buy "time" so our bodies can replenish our blood with healthy cells. Your unselfish gift is truly the "gift of life." May God bless you for taking the time to donate.

Robert W. Goodin, Tampa

[Last modified July 16, 2007, 21:57:42]