Inbox

(2 of 2)

When Pawlenty took office, Minnesota was prosperous and comfortable. It is now broke and angry. It's not true that he "cut taxes and reined in spending." He just created a massive tax shift from income taxes to property taxes, while spending down every savings account and rainy-day fund the state had. Pawlenty couldn't get elected dogcatcher here. Please don't wish him on our country.

Peter Hill, MINNETONKA, MINN.

Pawlenty may think he defies the "Republican stereotype," but when it comes to extending rights to our gay and lesbian citizens he fits it rather perfectly. In my estimation, any man who seeks to promote discrimination is not a "nice guy."

Jim Carpenter, GAINESVILLE, FLA.

Revenue Drivers

Fareed Zakaria's "A Flight Plan for the American Economy" was right on as far as it went [May 30]. But he glossed over the best potential driver for tax-revenue growth. He describes the billions of dollars in cash that large U.S. companies have on their balance sheets but ignores the fact that much of it is held offshore because of U.S. tax policy. We are the only industrialized nation to tax foreign earnings that have already been taxed in another country. If companies were encouraged to repatriate that money and put it to work, just imagine what billions of dollars could do for our economy.

Larry Hutchins, MECHANICSBURG, PA.

I am appalled that Zakaria thinks we need a department of tourism. It would be nothing more than another black hole into which our money would disappear. Evidently he hasn't spent time at Disneyland. A good look around should convince him that this would be a terrible waste of tax dollars.

Alison Yamauchi, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.

Skirting the Issue

I was astonished to read the description of the female engineer in Bill Saporito's article "How to Build a Job Engine" [May 30]. Katherine Knapp Carney is described as "attractive ... dressed in a just-long-enough navy blue skirt." I would have expected--and winced at--such a description when I was a young engineer in the early 1970s, but it's 2011. I'm sure Saporito would never think of describing a male engineer as "handsome" or mention that his trousers just reached his shoes.

Ann M. Tomalavage, POTTSTOWN, PA.

The Great Unknown

Re Verbatim [May 30]: Stephen Hawking may be an authority on physics, but he shows a lack of understanding when he dismisses the idea of heaven as "a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." Many millions of human beings with many great minds among them have observed the same universe he inhabits and reached a different conclusion.

Zane Sturm, WYNNE, ARK.

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling