Inbox

  • Saving the Euro
    The euro crisis is not surprising ["The Euro's Last Stand?" Dec. 5]. A common currency without common government can't work. Those who created the euro were perfectly aware of it, but they intended to force the peoples of Europe into a federation. The euro is an ideological construction, not an economic one. And unlike the U.S., Europe is not a nation. It would be better to go back to national currencies.
    Pierre Denis,
    Ecully, France

    Michael Schuman writes that "Europeans will have to make the fateful choice between national sovereignty and the euro's well-being." The choice is easy: sovereignty and democracy are far more important than saving the euro.
    Dennis Brinkeback,
    Stockholm

    I think many Germans would prefer to first check all other possible solutions to the E.U. debt crisis before giving away our influence to a central European government (which will ultimately happen if we create a central position deciding Europe's fiscal matters), whose power could be abused.
    Kevin Kurz,
    Berlin

    The E.U.'s economy is bigger than the U.S.'s, and the E.U. is less indebted than the U.S. So why do Americans and TIME predict the doom of the euro, fanning fear that the euro is "breaking apart" and its "survival" is threatened, etc.? This is an impossible idea. Of course the bankruptcy of Greece, like all bankruptcies, would mean losses for workers, companies, banks and governments, but the euro will survive and retain its purchasing power all over Europe — there is no other alternative for E.U. citizens, who have their incomes, assets and debts tied to the euro. So let bankruptcies and defaults take place. Don't waste good money trying to prevent the inevitable. The euro is not endangered — it is stronger than the dollar.
    Jukka Snall,
    Helsinki

    Rethinking Angst
    Your story brings an important issue to light, but for most people, modern anxiety is harmful ["The Two Faces of Anxiety," Dec. 5]. While the stressors faced by average citizens are nowhere near as physically threatening as the saber-toothed tigers our ancestors confronted, their frequency and lack of resolution generates chronic stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This hormonal dysfunction impacts health issues like heart disease, infertility and cancer. As a doctor of naturopathic medicine, I find most patients require hormonal-imbalance correction in order for cognitive behavioral therapy to be effective.
    Penny Kendall Reed, N.D.,
    Toronto

    As a clinical psychologist, I was impressed that TIME mentioned behavioral techniques used to treat everything from generalized anxiety to panic attacks. Such techniques often mitigate the need for drugs, which sometimes have paradoxical or addictive side effects.
    Herbert S. Cohen,
    Longboat Key, Fla., U.S.

    Thank you for your informative and intelligent article on that much misunderstood condition, anxiety. The fact that a renowned magazine has published such an essay will, I'm sure, comfort anxiety sufferers all over the world. It can be very de-stressing to know that the way you are feeling, even if unpleasant in the present moment, is understandable and treatable.
    Sophie Erskine,
    London

    Alongside cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis could also work as an effective way of approaching real and neurotic anxieties. Many of our anxieties have their roots in our childhood, but we are not aware of them. Our parents are partially to blame for the hidden anxieties and depressions in our later life.
    Nirmalya Mukherjee,
    Kolkata

    As a pharmacist for over 40 years, I have encountered many men and women looking for an antidote for work-induced stress. Many have been wives requesting vitamins to suit their husbands who come home in the evening only to slump in front of the television, often with an alcoholic drink. My response was always the same: don't buy vitamins, purchase a tracksuit and running shoes and go out immediately after work. This prescription is not new, but it will work for anyone who gives it a fair go.
    John G. Coll,
    Bangor, Northern Ireland

    A Voice of Reason
    Re "Jon Huntsman's Big Idea" [Dec. 5]: As a bleeding-heart liberal, I rarely vote Republican, but we are at the point where we need to look past special interests — whether corporate lobbyists, union leaders, gay-rights supporters or Tea Partyers — and do what is best for America. Jon Huntsman seems to be that kind of leader, and I would be hard-pressed to choose between him and President Obama in 2012. I hope the media start paying more attention to him.
    Nicholas G. Schmutte,
    Avon, Ind., U.S

    The Not-So-Good Old Days
    I found Bill Powell's "Aching for the '80s" to be an informative article with pros and cons presented fairly [Dec. 5]. Evoking the memories of consumers is a great business strategy in China nowadays; I would certainly purchase a shirt that reminds me of the fun times I had in school. On the other hand, as my parents can attest, nostalgia evokes for the older generation only memories of a tough childhood in the midst of the Cultural Revolution.
    Yinyang Fang,
    Singapore

    Godspeed, Voyagers
    Jeffrey Kluger's article on the journey of Voyagers 1 and 2 was fascinating but felt incomplete ["Infinity and Beyond," Dec. 5]. He should have concluded it with the probable final destination of the spacecraft. After their journey, provided they are not hit by comets or meteors or swallowed by the gravity of a star, the spacecraft could land on an inhabited planet with a civilization that could read and interpret their golden records. And what will earth be by then?
    Arun Bewoor,
    Mumbai

    I was 15 when the rocket with the golden greetings from earth was fired into infinity. Grounded by the gravity of this world, I felt liberated by the little spacecraft that could. Quietly, unhurriedly and productive beyond our wildest imaginations, they speak of thoughtful planning. Now the Voyagers will exit the pull of the sun and embark on a new journey. This may be Jimmy Carter's most enduring legacy, and we should thank the American people for their foresight in representing all of mankind despite the tumultuous difficulties of that time.
    Vishnu Naidu,
    Merebank, South Africa

    Fashion Statement
    Re "The 50 Best Inventions" [Nov. 28]: Clothes made from milk are "green fashion that's gentle on the environment"? It seems you have no idea of the environmental impact of dairy farming!
    Tracy Phua,
    Dinsdale, New Zealand

    Real Democracy
    I disagree with Michael Schuman on one point of his clear analysis of the desperate economic and political situation we are currently facing in Italy ["New Faces, Old Problems," Nov. 28]. Mario Monti is not the unelected new Italian Prime Minister, but the new one, legitimately nominated by our President of the Republic. In Italy, we elect our representatives in the Parliament. On the basis of the majority resulting from the elections, the President of the Republic nominates the Prime Minister, who then chooses the ministers of the government. If the government falls, as it happened to Silvio Berlusconi's, the President of the Republic may nominate a new Prime Minister, after verifying that he or she can be supported by the majority of the Parliament still in charge. That's exactly what happened recently in our country. Thus, Monti's new government does not represent a "suspension of democracy" (as stated by our ex-Minister of Defense, quoted in Schuman's article), but rather the highest expression of our democracy. The real suspension of Italian democracy has been the 20 years we lived under the amazing conflicts of interest represented by Berlusconi. I hope this has now ended.
    Yuri Bozzi,
    Trento, Italy

    I marvel at the hypocrisy of the E.U., which finances and canvasses democracy in Africa and the developing world, but finds it difficult to uphold its tenets within its own borders. The ultimate solution to the economic woes of the E.U. lies in the legitimacy and proactivity of governments.
    Omotoso Darlington,
    Abuja, Nigeria

    Teaching Skills
    I was disappointed in the simplistic way Fareed Zakaria portrayed U.S. public schools ["Why Can't the U.S. Learn?" Nov. 14]. Comparing the U.S. with South Korea and Finland, which have such different student populations from ours, is like comparing apples and oranges. Yes, we need higher salaries to attract quality teachers. But the biggest predictor of test scores is socioeconomic status. Public schools are a microcosm of society; as poverty increases, schools are forced to provide expensive academic intervention. We have to fix our whole system, not point fingers at hardworking educators and students.
    Angie Nelson,
    Austin

    Zakaria is right that the way to improve education is to hire the best teachers and motivate students to work harder. However, he does not focus at all on how to do that or why the best and brightest no longer go into education. Teaching has lost its prestige in this nation, and teachers are perennial scapegoats, the focus of both media criticism and funding cuts. I am a high school Spanish and French teacher in a district where modest measures to maintain current funding at both the state and local levels were voted down recently by landslides. National funding cuts continue to loom on the horizon. Why would any top university graduate go into education?
    John Park,
    Loveland, Colo., U.S.