Possible expansion of Colorado Army site
“We support the troops.” Those signs are seen everywhere, on vehicle decals, on newspaper ads, and spouted by the politicians. Do they really mean anything? If so, why the complaints of the politicians and the landowners in the Piñon Canyon area? Isn’t providing training areas for our soldiers supporting the troops?
We found out the hard way, at the beginning of past wars, the travesty of sending inadequately trained soldiers into combat. Thousands of unnecessary casualties were the result. From World War II well into the 1960s, millions of acres of land were available to the military for training for combat. Thousands of these installations were closed and given to local communities for the benefit of developers and to accommodate the population growth. Lowry and Fitzsimons, as well as abandoned missile and radar sites, are local examples.
Other than increased taxes, the American people have not been inconvenienced by this war on terrorism.
If we truly support the troops, it is incumbent on us to support them in any way we can.
A well-trained soldier can defend this nation. An overstuffed cow can’t.
Edward D. Beard, Aurora
. . .
It’s clear now: Colorado supports the troops – it’s the Army we hate. In taking the “not in my back yard” stance over the expansion of Fort Carson, we are saying loud and clear that we want other states and other folks to bear the sacrifice. We were silent when nuclear waste was consigned to Nevada, we cheered when our troops went to Afghanistan and Iraq, but now that it’s our turn to actually step up, we turn away. Am I alone in wondering just what Colorado is prepared to do for country and freedom? Hold a bake sale?
Harry Puncec, Lakewood
Consumer-directed health “insurance” plans
Re: “Consumer-directed health plans rise,” May 18 business news story.
Friday’s story regarding health insurance premiums was quite enlightening. A study done by the Mountain States Employers Council revealed that group rates were up by 11 percent and attributed the smaller-than-usual increase to the wider use of so-called consumer-directed health care plans.
“Consumer-directed” is the lipstick name that has been put on high-deductible, high-copay insurance plans that offer sharply reduced coverage and naturally cost less. It is not health insurance; it is half insurance. The plans have been sugar-coated with a tax break for health savings accounts, which allow the government to subsidize personal health costs with income tax relief.
Of course, the unspoken truth behind the creation of consumer-directed plans is to decrease demand for health care as workers make decisions between house payments, day care and health care. Since it seems impossible to control the ever-spiraling costs of health care, we will be become a society where health care is rationed according to income and wealth.
Doug Hubka, Lakewood
The problem with increasing the gas tax
Letter-writer Art Cornell’s May 17 response to your May 10 editorial advocating raising the gas tax to curtail demand shows a lack of understanding of basic economics and human nature.
First, we constantly hear people complain about those dirty rotten oil companies getting richer. Wrong! The owners of the oil companies get richer. Who are they? You and me, through our 401(k) and IRA investments. These are not some unfunded defined-benefit plan dollars. They are real dollars, by the trillions, going into the capital markets to drive our amazing economic engine.
Second, raising the gas tax to curtail demand would have massive unintended consequences. Sure, you and I might drive less. However, every commercial enterprise would be adversely affected by the increased cost of transporting the materials required for production and then transporting them to market. These increased costs would be passed on to the consumer, with the customary profit margin markup.
Government attempts to influence human behavior by tax policy have failed in the past and always will.
John Eppinger, Erie
The real life of being a young lawyer
Re: “How’s $160,000 for starters? Law firms woo grads,” May 18 news story.
Articles like this help drive the uninformed to take on massive amounts of debt in search of a $135,000 salary. Those same students flee these highly paid positions as soon as they are able, and often sooner.
Here’s how it works: 1) young lawyer wowed by big-bucks starting salary and dinner at the partner’s house; 2) young lawyer put into office/cubicle doing high- stress, mind-numbing drudge work for 17 hours a day, Saturdays and Sundays; 3) young lawyer not learning law, but rather doing aforementioned drudge work; 4) young lawyer with red eyes, ulcer and hypertension quits high-paying legal job; 5) law firm hires another wave of young lawyers dazzled by high salaries; 6) burned- out young lawyers hopefully find positions doing actual law for a rational salary that almost covers those big student loans.
Remember that those 1,900 billable hours do not mean 1,900 hours in the office, but 1,900 actual hours billed to the client.
Law is an efficient marketplace – newly graduated associate attorneys making $160,000 deserve every penny.
Will Stenzel, Glenwood Springs
Hybrids in HOV lanes
Re: “Feds give some hybrids the OK for HOV lanes,” May 18 news story.
HOV lane designation should be changed to “FEDA” lanes, for “Find Excuses to Drive Alone,” which describes this new proposal to let hybrid vehicles drive in the HOV lanes. How on earth does one person per car translate to “high occupancy”? HOV lanes were designed to reduce congestion; that means fewer cars with more people in them, not more cars with one driver each jamming up the HOV lane. Better mileage is not going to reduce congestion. It will take more riders per car. What a joke.
Bill Clayton, Englewood
An eye on the police
Re: “Cop’s gaffe catches city red-faced,” May 18 Jim Spencer column.
Jim Spencer’s column is very insightful and important. Too many people ignorantly believe that police officers are intrinsically noble when, in fact, they are just as prone to corruption as most other members of the workforce. The police serve an invaluable role in any functioning community, but in order to ensure that the cops perform in concert with the preferences of the people, they must be constantly held accountable for their actions. To be sure, police are important, but so are the CopWatchers who keep their actions in check.
Evan Sandsmark, Frisco
Outsource ’em all
Let’s follow corporate America’s lead and outsource this entire administration. Surely, millions of people in China or India – or France, for that matter – could do a better job at following the laws of our land and running our government. Until we take action to remove them, they will continue to do as they please outside the laws of this country. Let’s save some real tax dollars and fire them all. No retirement, no health care, and no Social Security. They serve, after all, at the discretion of the American people.
A. and C. McCormick, Broomfield
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