Readers Write for Friday, May 15

We know Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants to continue to shift the tax burden to those least able to afford it and to shield the wealthy from assuming their fair share of the tax burden. However, there are two tax proposals that even he should be able to find acceptable.

As the Star Tribune's May 13 editorial correctly points out, an increase in the liquor tax would not be an onerous burden.

The second tax would be on credit card companies that charge outrageous rates. They thumb their noses at Minnesota usury laws by setting up shop in states that have no interest limits, like South Dakota.

Minnesota's usury limit is 18 percent, but the interest and fees these companies charge can go as high as 30 percent. It's a form of highway robbery and they should be made to pay for it.

GEORGE A. FARR, PLYMOUTH

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If the legislators and governor were in kindergarten, they would be spending a lot of the day in "Time Out" because of their constant sniping at each other. It's time they act like the adults they pretended to be when they ran for office.

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I have been working in long-term care for 20 years and can't believe what I am hearing. Cut funding to seniors?

Many nursing homes are already dealing with a deficit. When funding is cut even more and we have to cut staff, everyone will lose. Residents will have to wait even longer for help. Staff will go on unemployment insurance. We currently lose $23 to $25 a day per resident on medical assistance and private pay. If there are cuts, many nursing homes will have to close their doors.

I implore our governor to listen when we say that our older adults matter to us. These are the people who carved the way and allowed him the opportunity to serve them in government; they deserve our respect and a shred of security in their time of medical necessity. Seniors have had enough to worry about. Don't take away their homes, too.

DIANE PUCHTEL, ACTIVITY DIRECTOR AND VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, BENEDICTINE HEALTH CENTER AT INNSBRUCK, NEW BRIGHTON

The recount has been a fiasco. There was evidence of duplicate ballot counting and diverse standards for counting votes. How can anyone accept the results of the recount unless it's done fairly?

PAT NOKLEBY, PAYNESVILLE, MINN.

The May 11 front-page story about the health care industry's pledge to President Obama to save trillions in costs over 10 years is a true head-shaker. Promising to come in 1.5 percent less in projected increases in prices is not saving anything. It is merely saying they will charge less more than expected! Worse, this is only a promise, their word on it.

Health care prices are driving people out of their homes, while businesses are failing, and many people do not get the health care they need. The president and the Senate should put single-payer health care advocates at the table too, and learn how to save real money.

PAUL ROZYCKI, MINNEAPOLIS

The headline and subhead on the Social Security/Medicare story (May 13) are, to be polite, misleading. Look at what the story actually says about Social Security: If you retire today at 67, in 2037 when you are 95, you will get $75 where you had previously gotten $100. This is not a crisis but a problem easily solvable by any combination of a half-dozen tweaks.

Medicare is in crisis, but it is part of the general national health care crisis, and the problem is not economic. The United States spends about $7,000 per capita on health care. Every advanced industrial democracy spends less, sometimes a good deal less, and gets better results. There is plenty of money to fix the health care system, including Medicare, but it goes into the wrong pockets.

JOHN SHERMAN, MOORHEAD, MINN.

Steve Sack's cartoon of May 12 equating former Vice President Dick Cheney to some of the most heinous regimes in history shows Sack's lack of common sense or appreciation of history. While one can reasonably debate the interrogation methods used, Sack's kindergarten level of logic only serves to marginalize those who disagree with these methods.

BILL KRUEGER, BURNSVILLE

Is waterboarding our enemies acceptable? A simple test: Would it be OK for our enemies to waterboard captive American soldiers? The "rules of war" should not completely override the Golden Rule.