Letters To The Editor

Tue., Jan. 24, 1995

BORDERLINE ECONOMICS

Make bailout ours from NAFTA

The $40 billion bailout proposal for Mexico is deja vu! Asking U.S. workers to rescue the Mexican currency after having to forgive payment of their recent loan is the ultimate insult.

And please, don’t say it won’t come out of our pockets. When Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) asked the Federal Reserve where we’d get the $9 billion to bail out the peso, he was told it was none of his business, that it had to do with national security.

Remember the promise that NAFTA would help our illegal immigration problem? The Border Patrol, Tucson sector, apprehended 4,164 illegals from Jan. 1 to Jan. 8, up 79 percent from 1994. In one day, 501 illegals were apprehended just in Nogales. For every one caught, three or four slip through.

Remember the assurances about truck safety? In a three-day random crackdown on semi rigs entering from Mexico, 70 percent violated safety regulations. In Arizona, Mexican semi trucks aren’t allowed farther north than the Nogales and Rio Rico areas. Come fall, they’ll be able to head north. About 900 trucks pass through Nogales daily.

In the first six months of NAFTA, our net exports fell more than half. Our trade deficit in electronics doubled and we had a $1 billion deficit in automobiles and parts. In October, we had a trade deficit with Mexico.

All those promises of NAFTA-created jobs don’t help the 30,000 people who are on assistance due to NAFTArelated job losses.

The Senate must introduce a companion bill to HP 449, The NAFTA Withdrawal Act of 1995, and say no to further bailouts. Art Cline Spokane

Let Mexicans solve own problems

Mexico’s loan; taxpayer vs. big business.

Forty billion dollars - even $1 billion - is an astronomical sum of money. Let’s not be fooled by the media rhetoric. The essence of the proposed loan is to create enough financial security in Mexico so that U.S. investors dare to invest and secure their holdings. But for every single investor who might benefit, there are thousands of taxpayers who probably won’t and who will pay the bill.

The argument that this money may be paid back is absurd. When? Please recall that most of the huge sums of money given to South American countries in years past have never been paid back to the United States.

President Clinton and some members of Congress are willing to gamble with our money. What is it in Washington, D.C., just another Las Vegas?

The argument that illegal immigrants will cross the border is also absurd. We have great quantities of U.S. troops available to patrol the border. Such an effort would provide an excellent training project.

Leave Mexico alone and let its people solve their own problems. We do not have a monopoly on intelligence or capability. Mexicans have solid values and are willing to work hard. They have strong family values.

Maybe they should help us in determining what really is important. Burt Covert Elk

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Did Clinton spill the nasty beans?

We noted in the Jan. 9 Spokesman-Review that the Republicans are upset because President Clinton revealed that they admitted to him their economic policies of the ‘80s were a mistake.

Was this just whispered in the president’s ear? The Republicans have finally accepted some of the blame for the horrendous budget overruns of the Reagan/Bush years?

If this be the case and it was whispered in his ear confidentially, President Clinton should be ashamed of himself for divulging the Republican admission. Should he admit to a “Chungism”?

It’s interesting that until the Republican meeting with President Clinton two weeks ago, only one Republican that we know of had admitted that trickle-down economics was a failed policy. That admission was made by President Reagan’s economic guru, Mr. David Stockman, who finally resigned when he realized the economic disaster the country was being led toward.

We all know what occurred as a result of this Republican economic policy: a deficit of $1 trillion in 1980 which ballooned to $4 trillion by 1992. It would have been worse if the Democratic Congress hadn’t cut back on many of President Reagan’s budget requests.

President Clinton said he was encouraged by the Republican admission and he is willing to work with them for the good of the country.

On the other hand, Mrs. Gingrich’s whispered statement to Connie Chung really illustrates the new House speaker’s way of working with someone he doesn’t agree with. Call them a nasty name and don’t try to reach a compromise. Ted and Mary Shepard Otis Orchards

Priorities out of whack

We are outraged at programs like the current attempt to reintroduce wolves into North Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. We believe that spending several million dollars on this effort is a ridiculous use of our taxes, particularly since the budget deficit is in excess of $200 billion per year.

A similar example of misguided environmentalism is the proposal to demolish dams in Western Washington in the hope that salmon might return to the rivers. Not only would the demolition be expensive but someone then must bear the cost to individuals and businesses whose lifestyles and incomes would be disrupted or destroyed by the disappearance of the lakes behind these dams.

According to data printed on the back of the instruction booklet for IRS form 1040, government expenditures exceed income by more than 20 percent each year. We applaud the GOP’s announced intention to balance the budget. However, we urge all voters to insist that Congress find and eliminate all pork barrels and pet projects like the ones mentioned above before attempting to reduce defense budgets or people-related programs that affect the citizens of our country. Jim and Pat Hogan Newman Lake

Democrats better toe the mark

In response to the Democrat-Republican tie-up in Washington, D.C., I’d just like to say that we worked hard to elect the Republicans to try and put through their 10-point agenda, and I do not appreciate the Democrats acting like children, trying to hold things up just for the sake of spite. If they don’t straighten up and start doing what the people want them to do, I think in 1996 there will be a whole lot fewer Democrats. Harvey Fritz Moses Lake

Privatization? Put it to a test

Tom McArthur’s letter (“Privatization? Consider this,” Jan. 15.) on the cleaning business shows that he knows very little about what we in the private cleaning industry are required to accomplish. Privatization is the only way to go

Former Eastern Washington University janitors, as well as other state-employed janitors, apply at our company from time to time. The majority of these people don’t last more than a week and they continue to complain about the amount of work they must provide for us vs. what they were required to do for the state.

If he is doing the Eastern campus for 97 cents per square foot, the private sector could do it for at least 10 cents per square foot cheaper. Our company would start this project immediately for 87 cents per square foot. I would guarantee higher quality than is presently being provided, even with the cheaper rate.

Our company could obtain more than double the profit margin that we currently get from any of the buildings mentioned in the “A clean sweep” article.

If the Eastern project were put out at a competitive bid, rates could go as low at 75 to 80 cents per square foot. The private sector generally will do it better and cheaper whenever given the opportunity.

If he’s so confident about his productivity, why not let the private sector bid the Eastern campus? If his bold statements are true, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about. This would then alleviate any further concerns about privatizing Eastern’s cleaning program. David B. Watkins, president Allied Janitorial Service of Spokane, Inc.

MEDIA AND THE SPEAKER

Quit picking on Gingrich

It’s time to leave Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich alone. The liberal media have been out to disgrace him since long before he took office, labeling him a grinch and claiming he wanted to take everyone’s children away.

Once news of Mr. Gingrich’s book deal got out, the media labeled it “inappropriate” and called for further investigation, despite the fact it was perfectly legal.

The truly pitiful people in this country are the ones who take what the left wing media say is truth. There are many better places to receive unbiased information about Mr. Gingrich and other topics, such as radio talk shows.

The media are there to provide the news, not to tell us what to think about it. Miranda Hale Spokane

Give the facts; Hold the spin

Thank goodness for C-SPAN. If I had not listened to House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s speech myself, I might have believed your misleading front page headlines of Jan. 21.

Nobody likes to believe they have been manipulated. I’ve always fought the idea that The Spokesman-Review was biased. I have come to the conclusion, however, that I must go to some other source for the real news.

The quotes from the speech were accurate but the leading sentences and the way they were taken out of context changed the whole spirit of the speech.

This article was written with the express purpose of forming readers’ opinions, not for the readers to form their own opinions. Everyone, whether they agree with Mr. Gingrich or not, should be appalled at this distorted coverage.

I have but one bit of advice for The SpokesmanReview: Just the facts, please. Let us make up our own minds. Karen Whitehead Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Hasson speaks before thinking

The recent letter by Mayor Batson of Millwood regarding traffic volume on Argonne Road was an excellent statement of what is presently occurring on that road. Spokane County Commissioner Steve Hasson’s response was less than satisfactory, as well as defamatory.

The necessity for another access across the river as the Valley continues to grow, and as access from the north becomes greater, has not been addressed in any serious way by the county or by the Growth Management Act. This lack of planning has resulted in a town divided in two by ever-increasing volumes of traffic.

To say, as Commissioner Hasson claims, that support for the Argonne-Trent railroad improvement indicates lack of intelligence says a great deal about Hasson’s intelligence level. Rather than responding in a responsible fashion, Hasson has once again shown his ability to react verbally, without thinking about what he is saying. Helen Koivula Millwood Planning Commission

Seems we are running in place

That the members of the Spokane City Council emerged from their $7,000 retreat “with optimism and praise for each other” is certainly cause for celebration. Deemed earlier this month by California consultant Dr. Bill Mathis to be a “little dysfunctional,” the council has now agreed to its top five priorities and subcommittees have been formed to examine each issue.

Of course, it is entirely possible that the same result could have been achieved by providing each councilmember with copies of Robert’s Rules of Order and Thomas Harris’ “I’m OK, You’re OK.”

Interestingly, the council’s propensity for dictating to rather than representing its constituency does not seem to have been addressed as a cause of the diagnosed dysfunction. By ignoring this factor, the newly united council, free from the encumbrance of internal dissent, may now pursue its long-standing policy of favoritism toward those members of the community with business cards and fax machines, secure in the knowledge that they speak as one voice.

Subject to the adjustment of the Consumer Price Index, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Scott Leyland Spokane

Cab driver honest, helpful

Several weeks ago, I was unfortunate enough to end up in the hospital emergency room. After I was taken care of, I had them call me a cab to take me home as I am alone.

About 20 minutes before I was picked up, I was given a shot to relieve the pain. Spokane Cab driver Al Root came into the emergency room and helped me into his cab. He then drove about three blocks to my residence.

At this time, because of the shot, I was really not with it and was unable to find my keys for my apartment and secured building. He assisted me and found them in my purse, then helped me into the building and up three flights of stairs - above and beyond his call of duty.

At my apartment, I could not find my money but again, with his help, found it and paid him. He then stayed with me until he felt I was OK.

In this day and age I could have been taken advantage of but he definitely was a gentleman - and they are few and far between. Jane Toftness Spokane