Letters to the Editor

Making it work

1) Wall Street ran amok and is a major cause of the Great Recession.

2) Executive bonuses are inappropriate, costing "minions" their jobs.

3) People are hurting because of restrictive health insurance policies.

4) People are dying because of the mining industry's priority of money over safety.

5) The government's lack of regulation and BP's bottom line causes the Great Oil Spill, where 11 die and a sea and its inhabitants are dying, not to mention livelihoods.

I realize all of this is not cut and dried, black and white. Checks and balances were put in by our forefathers to keep politicians from getting too much power. The same checks and balances need to be applied to businesses when they let their selfish human nature take over, causing people to be hurt or killed. Business and government need each other.

We can make this country work again, all of us together: government, people and business.

ED KOSAK
Evening Shade Drive
Charleston

Jazz Orchestra

There is an obvious one-part plan to save the Charleston Symphony Orchestra: Forget the past and adopt the Charleston Jazz Orchestra in its place. Not only is it music native to our environs, the Charleston Jazz Orchestra is for the new decade, and Conductor Charlton Singleton is the man of the hour, leading his hip, swinging Big Band. Many of the talented musicians who played at a recent concert were members of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and now unemployed.

Perhaps they can play this new vernacular of classic jazz and swing, and we can keep the CSO alive. It's time for a change back to music that was popular years ago and has re-emerged as a breath of fresh air. This is Charleston's classic music. Let the Symphony reinvent itself as a jazz orchestra rather than die.

ELLEN LEIGH MURRAY
State Street
Charleston

Fiscal problems

In a speech to the London School of Economics in 2006, U.S. Controller General David Walker stated that, in the previous six years, America's unfunded liabilities had risen from $20 to $53 trillion. (It's now $59 trillion). The Republican Party controlled both houses of the Congress during the first four years and the White House during almost all of the cited six years. George W. Bush effectively had veto power over any spending bills sent to his desk, yet this was the result.

Mallory Factor in his May 18 column blames our financial problems on progressive Democrats (as does the Tea Party). I can't help but think that Mr. Mallory's hidden agenda is that the rich should pay less in taxes and the poor should pay more. But most of all I am offended by the politicizing of our financial problems. This is typical of contributors to Fox News.

In the end we are all going to have to pay substantially more taxes and have substantially fewer benefits than those projected. There is just no other way short of Greek style economic disaster (and there's no one to bail us out).

As for Obama's budget deficits, they are a drop in the bucket compared to our $59 trillion in unfunded liabilities. They are designed to get the country growing again. Without strong economic growth and near full employment, it will be hard to avoid economic disaster. Mr. Walker has stated that he understands the need for this fiscal stimulus.

By the way, David Walker is the CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a non-profit bipartisan organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility. The foundation has also worked closely with the Concord Coalition in the distribution of the movie "I.O.U.S.A." The Concord Coalition is another bipartisan organization dedicated to solving the nation's financial problems. Viva bipartisanship.

WILLIAM A. JOHNSON
Serotina Court
Mount Pleasant

Survey response

I was recently called to respond to a survey on behalf of a gubernatorial candidate (unnamed). One question was what I thought about the importance of family values as a campaign issue. I responded that family values were not campaign issues as they, in my opinion, were not a part of public policy. We elect our governing officials to develop and implement public policy -- issues like education, jobs and fiscal management. The final question I was asked was, "How often would you say you attend church?" I asked, "What is the relevance of that question? Why not ask me how often I attend Chamber of Commerce meetings or adult entertainment establishments? Those questions are just as relevant as church attendance." I declined to answer the question.

As we enter this high season of politics we are also entering the usual period of chest and Bible thumping and piety on parade. Many constituents are concerned about the moral fabric of our country, as we all should be all the time, not just in times of heightened political interest. "Family values" are always important, but they should not be confused with public policy. You cannot legislate morality. Values are taught in families and the places where those families choose to congregate -- churches, community centers and the dinner table to pick just a few. Public policy, on the other hand, is a totally secular concern, the stuff that makes for substantive issues for real political debate.

The founding fathers were brilliant. They realized the importance of separating secular and non-secular matters. They knew that the best protection for freedom to worship was to ensure there was no established national religion. They understood that family values and public policy were both important but needed to live and grow in very different spaces.

SKIP CRANE
Seabrook Island Road
Seabrook Island

Filling stations

A recent letter writer is correct about a full service "filling station," where you got your windshield cleaned, and your oil, water and tires checked for free, but he didn't take into consideration how prices have changed with inflation.

I also worked in a Gulf filling station when I was going to college, back in the 1950s. I remember that lots of customers would buy a dollar's worth, just to get their windshield cleaned, and other free services. A dollar's worth of gasoline bought you 3.3 gallons. Back then, I was making the minimum wage of 50-cents per hour, and it took me working two hours to buy 3.3 gallons of gasoline.

Now, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Two hours work would earn you $14.50, and $14.50 would buy you more than 3.3 gallons of gasoline. Considering inflation, gasoline is cheaper now than it was in the 1950s. Ponder that.

WAYNE HOWARD
Milano Street
Hanahan

Budget questions

In Thursday's paper we read that the cost of the renovations for Gaillard Auditorium will be $142 million, half of which is to come from private donations.

As the board of directors of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra continues to insist that the current $2.5 million budget is a pipe dream and that it could only manage to raise $1.35 million for next year, one can only observe with incredulity as the city commits to raising a sum that the CSO could operate upon, with its meager budget, until 2067.

RYAN LEVEILLE
Spokesperson
Player's Association
Charleston Symphony Orchestra
Pinecrest Road
Charleston

Gaillard renovation

I cannot believe the city would contemplate a renovation that would cost millions when we can't afford an orchestra and the streets of Charleston still flood when it rains at high tide. Priorities?

MARY ANN GARCIA
Deepwater Drive
Mount Pleasant