Let's assume, strictly for the sake of argument, that we live in a perfect world where every ticket for a concert was made available at the same time to all people, and where only fans who wished to attend the show, no scalpers, received those tickets ("Stealing the show," July 3).

Adele performed two concerts this week before a total of around 30,000 fans. If 200,000 people had wanted to buy tickets to see her perform, but only 30,000 seats were available, that means 170,000 people would still be disappointed.

We live in a society of entitlement. Everyone feels they should obtain what they desire at a price only they believe is fair. When they don't, they feel cheated and seek to place blame for their disappointment. Scalpers, promoters and ticket companies are easy targets, but if those entities disappeared entirely, the problem of not enough supply and too much demand, at least in the case of Adele, would still exist. Without scalpers to blame, would the 170,000 disappointed fans instead blame the 30,000 happy fans for their misery?

Perhaps another British music star, Mick Jagger, put it best: "You can't always get what you want."

Jay Gabbert, Plymouth

The writer is the owner of Metro Tickets.

COMMUNITY ACTION CASE

Fuller accountability is needed but is not forthcoming

Congratulations to Jon Tevlin on his second "exposé" ("Nonprofit's dive didn't happen in a vacuum," June 3) on the misdeeds of Bill Davis, his son and possibly others affiliated with Community Action of Minneapolis (CAM). It is appalling that Davis' fraudulent behavior and abusive management style, even with multiple warnings registered by other administrative agency personnel to board members, went uninvestigated. From all accounts, board members did nothing except resign after charges were levied. Now it seems there were "perks" received by board members.

Interesting that "members" served by proxy for elected DFL politicians. These politicians plead no responsibility for financial obligations on the part of their proxies. Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines "proxy" as "authority or power to act for another." Yet, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison does not take any responsibility for his proxy's financial decision to take $8,870 of CAM funds for work on her home — even though the money taken was intended to help low-income folks. Apparently, Ellison sees his responsibility not to his low-income constituents but solely to continue to redistribute the income of others with no accountability for that redistribution. Taxpayers may wish to ask what outrage would have been exhibited by Ellison and other DFLers if Davis had been a Republican CEO of CAM with oversight by Republican proxy board members. Clearly, these foxes have abandoned their chicken coop.

William Bednarczyk, Edina
HOUSING FOR ELDERLY

The need is only growing. Be part of the discussion.

Helping my indomitable mother find a new home when our family house got to be too much to maintain, I can relate to my childhood friend state Rep. Roz Peterson's struggle finding a place for her dad ("Suburbs dropping out of 'drop home' law," July 5). The small "granny pods" available under the state's "drop home" law are a good way to keep our parents nearby while allowing them to stay independent, continue to be active participants in our families, and stay connected to their friends and activities. We need every available creative option in the run-up to 2020, the year when we'll have more people older than 65 than we do school age in Minnesota.

What does "home" mean to you? That's the question the Citizens League is asking this year. Follow the project and be part of the conversation by visiting citizensleague.org/calling-home.

Susan Hammel, Deephaven

The writer is a consultant and board chair of the Citizens League.

JOHN KUNDLA

A legend of basketball and of Zenith Avenue

I was fortunate enough to grow up across the street from John Kundla on Zenith Avenue in Robbinsdale, and I can attest that Pat Reusse's article about the basketball luminary has perfectly captured the decency of "Mr. Kundla" ("Kundla's underdog tale reaches century mark," July 3). There was a small army of kids on that Robbinsdale block, and we could often be found in the Kundla backyard playing whiffle ball, with the Lakers head coach pitching for both teams and providing a running commentary on a hitter's inability to make any kind of contact with his curve ball. In the fall, it was touch football in the front yard, and he became everlasting quarterback, creating such plays as "go out five steps, fall down, grab your ankle and yell like it's hurt, count three, then jump up and run for the end zone." That play only worked once, but once was enough. He was such a good man and fun neighbor that it never occurred to us he was famous. It was a great time and place to be a kid. I must disagree with Reusse on one thing, though — we didn't see the houses on Zenith as "small." We thought they were plenty big.

Bob Wicklund, Plymouth
BREXIT

A political party's butterflies flutter their wings, and …

In thinking about the ill-advised E.U. referendum in Britain put forth by David Cameron and the real possibility of the "leave" vote triggering a global recession, I'm wondering if, for the sake of politics within one party (in one nation), have we ever had so many (Scotland, Northern Ireland, much of England, most of Europe, much of Asia and the far east, anyone in the U.S. with a 401(k), etc., etc.,) so angry at so few over so much?

Larry Kallio, Minneapolis
HILLARY CLINTON'S E-MAILS

Don't look now, but maybe Trump just won the election

Finally, the FBI has concluded its investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails and has not found enough evidence to request an indictment. FBI Director James Comey purposely stated Clinton's actions were "extremely careless" instead of "negligent" in describing her handling of sensitive classified information. This hairsplitting is a necessary part of law enforcement investigations, and common in the judicial arena, but it is the stuff that drives voters stark raving mad.

If you can't trust your leaders to give you a straight answer, then why bother having them at all? This is exactly why voters will likely make Donald Trump our next president. Americans want their leaders to appear bold and decisive, even when they have feet of clay.

The wooing that goes on in political campaigns is often like a marriage elopement; marry in haste, regret in leisure.

Benjamin Cherryhomes, Hastings
CONSUMER ADVOCACY

But what happens when we don't have the weight behind us?

I like reading Christopher Elliott's syndicated column every weekend. Most of his advice is spot-on. However, when he "calls on behalf of a disgruntled customer" to [fill-in-the-blank travel company], it becomes senseless. Of course any company is going to give a refund (or whatever) to said complaining person when a nationally syndicated columnist calls them out on a mistake.

That doesn't help the rest of the customers who received the same poor service, and it does nothing to encourage the company to do better. It's just the signal to me to stop reading the column and turn the page.

Seth Mayotte, Brooklyn Park