Inbox

Monday, May 23, 2011

    • The TIME 100
    I am not usually a fan of top-100 lists, but I read every entry of the TIME 100, perhaps because of the equally interesting people asked to write about those on the list — Germaine Greer on Julian Assange, April Capone on Mark Zuckerberg [May 2]. Too often such pairings seem formulaic, but I found myself anticipating discovering the writer as much as the next list member.
    Lisa Muir,
    Boone, N.C., U.S.

    TIME's disappointingly short blurb in the TIME 100 on the South Korean entertainer Rain hardly does him justice. While it may be true that his "main claim to Western fame" is a role in Ninja Assassin , Rain's influence is strongest in the East. He is the poster child not only for the booming and already widespread Korean entertainment industry but for the growing, economically powerful pop-culture scene throughout Asia.
    Wyatt Petty,
    Salt Lake City

    I greatly enjoyed the TIME 100 issue, but had trouble reading some of the contributions. Please give thought to aging readers lacking 20/20 vision in less-than-ideal lighting when designing future issues.
    David Bullock,
    Birmingham, England

    Justin Bieber, the "prince of pop," and Amy Chua, the "tiger mom," have double-page photo layouts. Barack Obama has a small write-up toward the end of the list, printed in a tiny font, with a small picture apparently taken in the dark. This discrepancy is an insult not just to the President but to the presidency.
    Dorothy Thatch,
    Kansas City, Mo., U.S.

    Once again, over half of TIME's 100 most influential people are almost totally unknown over here in Europe. Please remember, Americans constitute a small proportion of the people on our planet.
    Gianfranco Porcelli,
    Milan

    For such a prestigious publication as yours not to find a single Hispanic worthy of mention — with the exception of a soccer player — on your list is ludicrous. People going to jail in Cuba, Honduras and Guatemala for defending human rights; brave Mexican police officers fighting a losing battle with drug lords — these people are worthy of recognition.
    Nelson Alba,
    North Miami Beach

    Solving the Deficit
    It is interesting that Joe Klein refers to "the tax-allergic Republicans, especially the Tea Party caucus in the House" ["The Gang of Six Ain't Talking," May 2]. It would seem to me all of your readers would be more informed about taxes if you would provide in-depth information on statistics like the one elsewhere in the issue showing that 45% of Americans pay no taxes. Couple that with a company like General Electric making $14 billion in profits and paying no taxes, and you soon realize that all Americans should be a little tax-allergic.
    Richard Holt,
    Williams, Ind., U.S.

    In Transparency We Trust
    Bill Saporito correctly says consumers are at a disadvantage in health care ["The Market Can't Cure Medicare," Time.com, May 2]. Unlike in the cases of cars and cereals, the consumer almost never knows the real price of a treatment or pill offered. Yet markets function most efficiently when prices are transparent to all buyers and sellers. If Congressman Paul Ryan wants to provide real price competition, he must find a way to make prices visible in our health care system.
    Glen Bowler,
    West Chester, Ohio, U.S.

    Factory Line
    Your article "The China Effect" does not accurately portray our Malaysia facility, our products or my discussion with your reporter [April 25]. Our factory is an extremely modern facility providing one of the best manufacturing working environments in Malaysia. We are not focused on the manufacture of low-tech products; our range is broad and includes sophisticated bar-code scanners.

    Our factory compound provides our 1,000 workers with excellent recreational facilities, including a swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts and an employee gymnasium. The wire- and cable-assembly building, which is one of only a few parts of our facility not air-conditioned, passes regular government review because it is a purposely built, seven-story structure designed to facilitate heat and noise dissipation. Cost, which would not only be prohibitive but also a total waste of energy resources, is not the overriding factor in meeting employee safety and heat and noise regulations. The process of melting and fabricating metal wire would not be viable if this facility, which is the size of an airplane hangar, were air-conditioned.

    Never did I make reference to Foxconn International in discussing PIE worker salaries or our plans to expand our workforce in Malaysia. The only involvement that Foxconn has in our operations is that of a shareholder and as one of our many customers. The salary figure and the growth forecasts in your article refer to PIE.
    Alvin Mui, Managing Director, PIE Industrial Berhad,
    Penang, Malaysia