Letters

Groveling for business

In the not too distant past, new companies were formed by innovative people like Sam Walton, Henry Ford, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few. These companies were formed and became successful, as their time had come to benefit mankind without government subsidies and outright prostituting state and local governments. Not only have disasters such as Solyndra happened, but businesses today solicit cities and states asking for unbelievable tax breaks, free land and many other incentives in exchange for locating their company.

The cities and states that fall into the trap remind me of prostitution: "We know what you are; now we must settle on the price." Many cities and states have fallen into these schemes, resulting in taxpayers losing their shirts.

If Sam Walton and Henry Ford could create new successful companies by finding investors and using their own money, it can be and still is done today.

Any time a business needs subsidies or makes cities and states compete for mythical long-term benefits, we should be cautious of the promises. Why should wind energy projects be subsidized when wind may be totally replaced by future energy sources such as solar? Many businesses have been subsidized by government but other comparable competing businesses are not, and therefore are under unfair competition.

I think it's totally inappropriate to use financial might to make cities and state grovel for their business. Thank you, Little Rock and Arkansas, for pulling out of the bidding for Amazon's new headquarters. In 10 years a new business approach may make Amazon old news. Remember camcorders, 35mm cameras and Blockbuster, to name a few?

JACK McKINNEY

Hot Springs Village

The underlying truth

Remember how Speaker Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republican Party told us this wonderful tax cut that was going to add trillions to our national debt would pay for itself? Guess what? Not true and now it seems Speaker Ryan is using the fact that their tax cuts and omnibus budget will add to the debt and deficit. I'm sure Ryan knew it wouldn't pay for itself, and unless they're all complete idiots (and they may be), the rest of the Republican Party knew it was a lie as well.

The underlying truth to this debacle was that they needed an underhanded way of convincing the public that it was necessary to gut and cut all the social programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all of whose operating budgets they've been cutting for years to make them appear dysfunctional and to tick off the people. Then of course they lie some more (they're good at it) and say if only we'd privatize them, they'd be soooooooo much better.

As FDR once famously said, and I'm paraphrasing here: We like Social Security, we like all these things, but we just don't like the way the present administration is doing them. We can do more of them, we can do them better, and best of all, it won't cost anybody anything.

Of course all those listening to this speech roared with laughter. It was true in the 1940s and it's true today. Republicans haven't changed their spots; they have just gotten better at disguising them.

JUDITH K. ZITKO

Hot Springs Village

The tip of the iceberg

The Sunday article on the opioid crisis mentions the 1996 New England Journal of Medicine article and the 2001 Joint Commission guidelines as encouraging increased pain med prescriptions. These were just the tip of the iceberg.

There was a veritable deluge of articles in the '90s and early 2000s essentially berating physicians for under-treating pain. The mantra of "they won't be addicted if they really are in pain" was drilled into physicians. Alternative pain-management measures were not time-friendly in the new era of managed care.

Is it any wonder prescriptions flowed?

WENDELL W. WEED

Fayetteville

Review's out of line

The music review by Karen Martin in Monday's edition was way out in left field about River City Men's Chorus' performance on Sunday. After reading her review the second time to make sure I understood it, I took great umbrage to the bulk of it. I have been to performances of RCMC many, many times and they are splendid!

Ms. Martin had no right to critique the men's formal attire--which they always wear--nor the venue location (Second Presbyterian Church). I don't know Ms. Martin's age, but I believe the entire audience thoroughly enjoyed the performances of "our" songs from the 1960s.

I feel Ms. Martin owes David Glaze and the entire RCMC an apology in your newspaper.

DOTTY McLEMORE

Little Rock

Schools fail their kids

I write to share my son's story of how the North Little Rock schools failed to provide him a free and appropriate public education. In the summer before fourth grade, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. They refused to call it dyslexia. They refused to provide appropriate reading intervention. We had to pay a private tutor to teach him how to learn to read.

We left the public schools in North Little Rock for a private school in Little Rock. A school that embraced his disability, not tolerated it like the public schools did.

I have heard this same story over and over in the past four years I have been advocating for other children to get the needed reading intervention in their schools. Schools are not doing their kids right. The test scores show it.

This has to change. If I were to give Arkansas schools a grade, it would be a D. D for dyslexia.

SCOTT GANN

North Little Rock

Editorial on 04/18/2018

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