Your letters
Your opinions on business news
By Times Staff
Published March 9, 2008
Paycheck to Paycheck: Torn Between Duties March 3
Great Depression was difficult time
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, we lived on a 1-acre lot about 5 miles north of Peoria, Ill. The company that my dad worked for finally closed up, so he was looking for a new job and we were financially in trouble. I was in high school.
We were about two blocks from a golf course, so during the golf season I would try to get a job as a caddy, which paid about 50 cents for 18 holes weekdays or 75 cents on weekends.
If I didn't do that, other kids and I would stand alongside the fairway by the gravel road and wait for a golfer to hit a ball over the fence. Then we would go after it and hand it back. We usually got a tip of 5 or 10 cents. If we found golf balls and didn't know who hit them over the fence, we would sell them to the golfers. A new ball would get about 25 cents and older balls would get 10 or 15 cents.
A big morning for me was when I was able to earn as much as $1.50. I would take it home and Dad would drive to the grocery store and come home with enough food for a big dinner and then some.
During the Depression, lots of men would work all day for $1. Of course, $1 would buy a lot of groceries then, but those were pretty rough times, anyway. I hope we never have to go through another depression like that again.
Bob Cooper, Seminole
Realtors, it's time to appraise yourselves, column Feb. 29
Don't lump all agents together
I have been a mortgage loan officer in Pinellas County for more than 25 years. I was offended by your article.
Case 1: Regarding the "big-shot Clearwater Realtor who helped jack up property values," name names. Not all Realtors got caught up in the feeding frenzy that was our market the past few years. And it wasn't only Realtors who did. There are people from nearly every profession who got caught holding overvalued property when the market turned. And we all hold some blame here - lenders, the media, all of us.
Case 2: Regarding the agents listing condos at 10 percent commissions, we have a glut of condos on the market, therefore the marketing time will be longer and more expensive for the agent. Remember, the agent doesn't get compensated until the sale closes. Higher commissions may also be a tool for dissuading a seller who isn't being realistic about the asking price. Furthermore, I don't know of any agent that wouldn't renegotiate his commission to make a transaction work. You may see listings at 10 percent, but I've never seen one close that way. Remember, Realtors pay for advertising, spend their own time and money marketing and showing properties, before they get paid.
Annie Garron, North Redington Beach
senior mortgage lender, M&I Bank
Reporter lacks any objectivity
How distressing that a staff writer for the Times would write such a prejudicial article.
Blaming a few dishonest Realtors for the housing market crash is like blaming a few plagiaristic journalists for the decline in newspaper readership. Has some bad personal experience led him to condemn an entire industry?
On his blog, his bio says, "Having recently bought and sold a house here, James Thorner has shown his insights are more than theory. He's got the burn marks to prove it."
His use of terms like "rampant greed" and his characterizations of Realtors "duping desperate condominium owners" belie his disingenuous attempt to feign objectivity by saying, "These manipulators shouldn't define a whole profession."
Thorner's assertion that the business, through a minority of bad actors, conspired to bring about turmoil is itself conspiratorial thinking and is absurd. He uses a broad brush to paint Realtors as flim-flamming, greedy, charlatans.
This is inflammatory, irresponsible and erroneous journalism. Congratulations, Mr. Thorner, a triple play!
Lance Lubin, St. Petersburg
broker, Lubin Team Realty
7-Eleven getting fresh March 6
Homeless could use leftover food
This morning's Business section had a good writeup regarding the 7-Eleven chain out of Orlando and its striving to serve more nutritious sandwiches. I think that is great and I applaud their efforts.
But there was a one sentence that threw me: They state that they deliver fresh food daily and "most of it is thrown out at the end of the day if it doesn't sell."
In the Tampa area, they mention that they serve 130 stores. If they throw out one-day-old food, that could add up to quite a bit of food that probably could be used elsewhere.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I've eaten day-old pizza, sandwiches and other things I'd rather not mention. What about those homeless people we read about? Food kitchens?
If 7-Eleven is tossing food, what about the Salvation Army and all their trucks? Couldn't they pick it up and get it to these organizations? 7-Eleven, are you listening?
Jim Hildebrand, Spring Hill
Power companies
Give us answers, not just cookies
We just came back from an open house put on by Progress Energy. This meeting was to learn more about the coming power lines for our area. They had lots of tables, cookies, tea and water, but not enough information to answer my questions regarding how the magnetic fields would affect my pacemaker. They also had no written informational research that they should have done and provided to us.
The answer I got was that, "Oh, yes, I'm sure your pacemaker will be safe." What else would I expect them to say? They should know what radius from the power lines would be safe. I am totally dependent on my pacemaker, and any sort of jolt will be fatal.
My suggestion: Skip the cookies and do some research on how it affects the population they are planning to supply with these new lines.
Mary Kopitnik, Spring Hill
Rubio pushes aid for insurers Feb. 29
He can't play for both sides
The comments coming out of Mr. Marco Rubio, the Florida House speaker, and what he'd like is setting up the insurance business again at the taxpayers' expense. Haven't we had enough of that?
How else do you explain the insurance investigations about why carriers haven't responded with lower premiums, only raises? It seems as though it is all right for government to set up insurance carriers for property coverage, yet all indications are against government to be involved with health care. Why is that?
Also, the speaker seems to be lobbying outright for the current insurance carriers. He should not be eligible to promote his ideas as a lobbyist and a legislator at the same time.
Our people's governor also seems to think this man is the savior to the legislative process for whatever issue. In my view, there areproblems of conflict along with setting up and requesting consultants to review some of the tax laws with whiskers of the 1940s.
Donald Kreis, Largo
New research says ethanol is far worse for the planet than gasoline March 2
Ethanol not a good fit for boats
Your article on ethanol was right on the money, but I think it is important to look at other reasons for not using ethanol as a motor fuel.
First of all, it has little energy - only about 67 percent as much by volume as gasoline and 60 percent as much as diesel fuel. Ethanol stoves were given up as cooking stoves on boats because the flame was not hot and they caused a lot of fires, which were hard to extinguish.
It took forever to boil a tea kettle of water. It would take nearly two tanker trucks burning diesel to deliver an equivalent amount of energy to the end user.
Biodiesel is a good motor fuel, which has 91 percent as much energy as diesel fuel by volume and has as much or more energy than gasoline.
Ethanol also has caused a lot of problems on boats because gasoline with 10 percent ethanol dissolves fiberglass tanks, which in turn causes filters to plug and has ruined engines.
Mark Reinecke, St. Petersburg
Federal Reserve rate cut
Rate cuts hurt responsible savers
In January, the Federal Reserve cut rates twice, totaling 1.25 percentage points, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has signaled the likelihood of yet another cut at the March 18 meeting.
At this stage, it's pointless to complain that the rate cuts bail out the banks that overextended themselves by loaning money to the credit-unworthy in order to cash in on the rising real estate market. We know they rolled the dice and lost, but they know that the Fed will continue to bail them out.
If the Fed wants to stimulate the economy, it had better pay attention to the impact it is having on fixed-income investors.
No one seems to talk about the fact that the rate cuts are negatively impacting those of us who have been conscientious about managing our money. When the Fed lowers rates, the banks drop rates on savings accounts and CDs, hurting anyone who prefers, or depends on, the security of fixed-income investments. Many of these people are retirees and senior citizens who are not "credit abusers," but rely on the security of fixed-income investment vehicles for their day-to-day living expenses.
These folks are suffering, and their situation is exacerbated as they are forced to dip into their principal investment.
Bill McGlynn, Odessa
State Farm loss covered Feb. 26
Switch your car insurance
As a homeowner in Florida, I know how the cost of the insurance hurts. I also know the state government has done little to take the pressure off the homeowners in our state.
I don't have the answers, but as an individual, I can do something. I will not buy my car insurance from any of these big insurance companies that refuse to cover my home, too. If Allstate, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, etc., make so much profit on car insurance policies, then it is up to us to take the car profit from them.
I know we are higher risk and should pay accordingly, but as in many things today, do we have to pay for excessive greed? So switch your car insurance, or stop complaining.
Donna Lettsome, Bayonet Point
Labor Secretary Chao says job center is boost for U.S. Feb. 22
Chao's record filled with errors
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao's public relations damage control is apparently in full swing. Chao is attempting to rewrite her notorious record of failure with a final push to narrate her own legacy. The facts speak for themselves.
Many of Chao's touted "successes" are ridden with irony and clear conflicts of interest.
Indeed, Chao helped settle the 2002 West Coast port dispute, but for whom? Port owners and her family's shipping company, who could have lost millions due to extended port closures, surely benefited. The same can't be said for the longshoreman she wrongly forced back to work without a fair contract.
Let us also not forget that Chao's self-proclaimed "stepped-up enforcement of workplace safety" is stained by her own negligence. Floridians can merely refer to the recent highly publicized mine tragedies in Utah and West Virginia to be reminded of her failures. In 2006 alone, 107 of the nation's 731 underground coal mines were never inspected.
Chao might be naive enough to believe she has served workers honorably, but your readers deserve the truth. Her legacy should be accurately portrayed for what it really is: a blatant attack on America's workers and the Department of Labor's mission, which she has undermined from her first day on the job.
Mary Beth Maxwell, Washington, D.C.
executive director, American Rights at Work and ShameOnElaine.org
Mortgage crisis
Offer a silent second mortgage
I am writing with an alternative to the housing crisis solution proposed by Ben Bernanke.
He proposed having the banks take the full writedown of principal to current values. Since 98 percent of mortgages are performing satisfactorily, I propose a different solution. Homeowners in trouble would be offered an option to refinance at a discount with half the difference becoming, a "silent second mortgage" with 5 percent of the second mortgage forgiven every year.
It would work like this: A $400,000 house purchased with no down payment would be refinanced for a first mortgage of $320,000 with a silent second mortgage of $40,000. No payments are due on the second mortgage until the house is sold, and the bank would forgive 5 percent a year.
This would prevent foreclosure and flipping. I believe it would stabilize the real estate market, but prevent flipping if the market turns up.
Donald S. Weagle, Land O'Lakes
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