Netlets for Tuesday, Feb. 3

Kids in car could mean no smoking I am very happy to hear that the government is thinking about making it illegal for adults to smoke in a car with kids ("Want to smoke? Bill says kids can't be in the car," Jan. 30).

I am 11 years old and I have asthma. When I grow up I want to join the Army, so I have to stay as healthy as possible.

When I visit my dad adults sometimes smoke around me and there is nothing I can do about it. I want to keep seeing my dad but I am tired of getting ill from the smoke every time I do.

I deserve to be protected from secondhand smoke just like adults are at work.

JOE CHLEBECK, COON RAPIDS

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Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, proposes making it illegal to enjoy a cigarette in a car if there's a minor in the vehicle.

DAN ROMIG, MINNEAPOLIS

Loan forgiveness? Why not tuition reimbursement? So Wy Spano thinks the government should pay off all federal student loans (Opinion Exchange, Jan. 29)? Well, that sounds very generous.

Why not reimburse all parents and students who worked two or three jobs and took six years to graduate because they had to work to finance their schooling instead of taking out loan? When other families were spending their money on vacations or new cars, some of us put our money aside for our children's education. What about the students who used credit cards to finance their schooling? Are you going to have the government reimburse them?

I saved, took out home equity loans, worked weekends and sacrificed a lot so I could send my child to college. My father saved and worked 80 hours a week so that his granddaughter could go to college. Are you going to reimburse us? Let me know, I'll be checking my mailbox.

DEBRA BAKKEN, MILACA, MINN.

LINDA BAUMANN, MAPLE GROVE

There isn't any accountability My husband and I are in our 40s and admittedly frugal. We have stood by and watched while our friends and family have bought big new vehicles, remodeled their homes, took vacations, put movie theaters in their homes and purchased snowmobiles, boats and other expensive material items. All the while, they commented negatively and poked fun of our vehicles, older and paid for, while touting their new goods.

We laughed along knowing we neither wanted nor could afford the five- or seven-year loan for a vehicle. We have never re-financed and are saving for our children's college fund. Our biggest purchase in the last couple of years has been a used camper

Now, these same friends are filing for bankruptcy or in fear of being foreclosed upon (and this is many of our friends, not just one or two couples) and telling us how they "were lied to and deceived" when refinancing their homes. I am pretty-sure they were refinancing initially because they couldn't afford what they already had, all the while continuing their shopping sprees, credit-card use and the like, living up to the life they were used to before the refinancing. These people have not lost their jobs.

Now we are seeing the same thing in the financial industry -- remodeling of offices and the outlay of big bonuses even during this, our big financial crisis. Now the whole overspending population wants the government's help from foreclosure and the like. What about those of us who are actually living within our means? Our society just keeps saying "go for it" and never holds anyone accountable. When Grandma and Grandpa were broke they sold eggs, patched their clothing and ate what they had in the cupboard. What happened to learning a lesson, hard work and most of all, living within our means?

It all began with Reaganomics Can we please stop listening to Republicans? Tax cuts is their response to everything.

We have to remember that the long march to today's disaster began with the tax cuts, deregulation and trickle-down economics of Ronald Reagan, the ideological father of today's chaos and pain, skewing American society so the distribution of wealth resembles a banana republic more than a democracy. Why don't they desist in the face of overwhelming evidence their policies are worthless? I think it's because they only know how to do two things -- feed their faces and pander to their rich patrons.