Letters 03-23-2015

March 22, 2015

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Fresh & Unbiased

I have always enjoyed reading the Northern Express to discover all the cool things happening in our region. However, as the time went by, the level of left wing bias became more evident. I stopped reading the paper until yesterday. While waiting to have my car repaired, I opened up the March 16-22 issue and began reading. Page three, same ole stuff! I almost put it down but somehow powered through it, probably because there was nothing else to do.

Flipping to page four was a breath of fresh air. "The Lie Told 1,000 Times" by Thomas Kachadurian is a good example of reporting both sides of an issue while remaining unbiased. Your editors should follow his example.

Dave VanLente, Cadillac Fresh Perspective Regarding Thomas Kachadurian’s column, "The Lie Told 1,000 Times" last issue: Brilliant article. A breath of fresh air. A stark contrast to the "left wing" narratives we have become accustomed to reading from mainstream media sources from 1933+/- to the present day.

Thanks to the Express for choosing to print the article I thought, by the way, was exceedingly well written.

Bob Sullivan, Traverse City

Racism Continues

Even before the United States was an official nation, we were a country that practiced slavery. We are a country of slavery for more years than we have been not.

The American Civil War cost upwards of 500 thousand lives, more than any of the many wars fought on foreign soil. It legally ended slavery, but not racism. Racism remains alive and well. Recent events have underlined this fact. We are passed the era of lynching; now we just shoot unarmed black people down in the street white frat boys on a bus perform racist chants. A mostly white Secret Service repeatedly behaves badly and lackadaisically protecting our black President and his family.

The civil rights laws were hard fought and helped some, but even today there are states that are trying to make it difficult for minorities to vote. Racism is not something a person is born with; it is taught. The American youth gets wiser with each generation, rejecting the ignorance and fear of the past. But still, it will take many generations before this stain on what will finally be a truly great country disappears.

John Billette, Traverse City

Rich Get Richer

The other morning NPR said that GM had so much money the board of directors bought back $5 billion in stock. This is the corporation we taxpayers bailed out to the tune of $50+ billion just a few years ago. Just 20 percent of GM’s stock buyback would help to fix the roads of our state, which also generously supported GM in their time of need.

In the 60’s and 70’s, corporations invested 40 percent of their profits in product research, facilities, and equipment; today that investment amounts to about 10 percent, while the rest goes to investors, the wealthiest 10 percent of our population.

Some people in government feel austerity is our only route to prosperity. They are cutting education, infrastructure funding, and social services because they feel we can’t afford it. This is happening because they refuse to raise taxes on those with the greatest ability to pay, those people and corporations who offer to pay generously to remain in power.

All state governments are competing to lure business to their state with austerity sponsored tax cuts, and other benefits. How can any state actually win at this game? This policy is one aspect of a nationwide plan to destroy the economic structure of our democracy and the people who work for a living. Money wins; we the people lose!

Last fall when gas prices dropped and people had a little more money to spend, our economy grew at a rate of 5 percent annually, something that hasn’t happened in a decade. Give the tax breaks to the people who work and spend to survive.

Stop the stupidity.

Bob Wallick, Harbor Springs