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Readers Write for Wednesday, Sept. 23
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THE BIG PAYOUT
Shame on Golden Valley, Browns and Strib
Let me get this straight: In order to earn $200,000 from the city of Golden Valley, all one has to do is drive under the influence of alcohol, speed, ignore a police cruiser behind you for 2.5 miles, and be belligerent and uncooperative enough for a police officer to use a Taser. Your Sept. 22 article says that Taser shocks may have "contributed to or caused at least 50" fatalities since 2001.
According to alcoholalert.com, more than 9,000 people have died this year alone from drunken driving. The Star Tribune should be ashamed to publish on the front page an article that makes Sandra Brown sound like a victim. What about the fatal car accident she and her husband could have caused?
Golden Valley should be ashamed for paying off the couple instead of jailing them and revoking their licenses, and the Browns should be ashamed of their reckless behavior. As an emergency medicine physician, I can assure you that Tasers are not the cause of nearly as much grief and heartache as drunken driving and guns. Should the police have used a gun in order to subdue her?
PAUL BOCK, MINNEAPOLIS
HEALTH CARE REFORM
In Minnesota, it'd be called PawlentyCare
Gov. Tim Pawlenty said recently that he was considering seeking use of the 10th Amendment to block health care reform from coming to Minnesota.
Pawlenty's budget cuts to health and human services in Minnesota over the past eight years have been devastating to many people. I am an individual who has Type 2 diabetes and I am on insulin. Fortunately, for the moment, I am on MinnesotaCare. However, when seeking employment as I am now, I have to find a job that will give me medical coverage so that when my income goes up and I can no longer be on MinnesotaCare, I will be able to care for my diabetes. This is why I support President Obama's health care reform 100 percent.
However, I am deeply troubled that our governor is even considering stopping that good health care from coming to Minnesota just to make a political statement.
PHILIP LOWE JR., RICHFIELD
Reimbursement rates
Where's reform for docs losing money?
Something has gotten lost in this year's health care reform debate.
At the end of last year, Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians were set to decrease by 10 percent. Many physicians were already treating Medicare and Medicaid patients at break-even or a loss. Congress did a quick "fix."
However, now physicians are facing an expected 20 to 21.5 percent cut at the start of next year. Could this be the "savings" that the president referred to, to help pay for the new health care bill? I have heard no mention from any of our senators or representatives about "fixing" this problem.
ROBERT GJERTSON, FRIDLEY; PHYSICIAN
Troops in Afghanistan
Commander in chief is unclear of strategy
President Obama campaigned hard on the notion that the war in Afghanistan was the "right one to fight." Now he questions the judgment of his commander on the ground about the need for additional forces and a new strategy. I really want Obama and the administration to succeed, but he is beginning to appear out of his depth.
REED SAUNDERS, ROCHESTER
Wall street checks
It's time to change the way bankers are paid
I seldom agree with economist Paul Krugman, but his Sept. 22 column hit the nail on the head. Wall Street bankers' compensation must be restrained by the Federal Reserve, because they have proven they cannot police themselves. Retired Fed chairman Alan Greenspan recently stated the obvious, that human nature being what it is there will always be bankers prone to excess.
JACK MCHugh, Edina
•••
While I agree with Paul Krugman that "It's not wise to let banks off the hook," I think there is a better way to rein in risky behavior by banks than to try to regulate compensation, which would be tricky at best to get the hoped-for economic response.
If banks were required to hold a meaningful portion of the loans that they originate in their portfolios rather than securitize and sell off to third party (or fourth or fifth) investors, they would naturally moderate risk. It would have the added benefit of checking the problem of being too big too fail, since banks are required to keep sufficient capital reserves to support their loan portfolios.
LINDA HOFMEISTER, CHANHASSEN
TCF stadium
A football field fit for
a Big Ten university
After living in Minnesota nearly 20 years, I made an amazing discovery last weekend. Over the years, I have attended numerous Gopher games, often against my alma mater Purdue. I attended the Gophers game Saturday at TCF Stadium. I was astounded to discover that the U is not a junior college. It's a full-on university! All kidding aside, to the stadium committee, well done.
LAWRENCE DEVORE, EDINA
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