Letters to the editor for Saturday, Dec. 13

That Senate Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted against the bailout for the auto industry should not come as a surprise. Their antiunion view should have been a warning. Many of their states are home for the foreign auto companies -- Honda, Kia, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota and Hyundai (the foreign six or F6), all located in antiunion states.

The media have lifted the veil on how poorly those workers are treated in comparison with the American industry standard. The F6 Senate Republicans have shown their true colors in calling for the UAW to give back wages and benefits to keep the F6 employees from demanding equal pay.

ROBERT A. SWART, MANKATO

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Republican senators claim the UAW needs to be more in line with its Japanese counterparts. But as GM points out, "the average UAW laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota says it pays about $30 per hour. But the unionized factories have far higher benefit costs."

So where is the difference? Pensions and health care. So why the difference in pensions and health care? The answer -- there are far fewer pensioners being supported by the Japanese automakers.

So what, in the face of such simple math, do the Republicans really want? It is clear-- to deny unions and workers the right to a fair wage for a fair day's work. Republicans see this auto bailout as an opportunity to weaken unions and worker rights, plain and simple.

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It appears that wearing a blue collar to work disqualifies you from receiving federal bailout money. There were no stipulations like the kind being attached to the auto industry bailout on the $700 million that went to the white collars on Wall Street. Once again it shows where the Republicans stand when it comes to looking out for the well-being of our country.

If cutting wages is the answer to getting the Big Three out of debt, then it only follows that cutting all government employee wages will get the government out of debt. Now that's an idea that most people would happily support.

T. PATRICK O'BRIEN, MINNEAPOLIS

Phil Krinke accused Dane Smith of playing "statistical games" by doing so himself. He asks if it's fair that the top 5 percent of earners should pay 43.7 percent of the taxes.

Now that I know that, I guess it does seem unfair -- just not the way Phil's cherry-picked, deceptive percentages would have you believe. It's funny how the few people out there who are ultrarich sympathizers usually have their own syndicated column or radio show to spread their misinformation.

STEVE MILLERBERND, ST. CLOUD

Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat's Dec. 7 commentary ("When someone offers help, accept") might have some value had he not previously forced the residents of Hennepin County to pay for a Twins stadium and a botched land deal rather than needed civic improvements, aka "real needs," which he now admits are being neglected.

RAY ROSSBERG, EDEN PRAIRIE

Damn! I was only $5,000 short of becoming a U.S. senator from Illinois.

The Dec. 7 "'Our Hungry Planet' / The real issue is the growing population" failed in a monumental way. It did not explain how to address the problem humanely. Simply put:

• Universal education of all 6.7 billion of us that we are depleting vital resources faster than the sustainable rate. Therefore, it is important to lower birth rates to reach a balance with our resources.

• Universal availability of family planning (not abortion) so couples have only as many children as they want.

Briefly, those are the humane measures needed. Are there inhumane measures? You bet! And here they are: decreasing supplies of food and water leading to more famines, droughts, diseases, plagues, suffering, misery and starvation; more disputes over borders and resources leading to more wars, genocides, destruction and death.

We have spoken before thousands of Minnesotans about the world population growth catastrophe and the need to humanely stabilize our numbers. We have yet to find a single person who thinks that the inhumane course would be better than the humane one. And we doubt we ever will.