Quotes of the Day
From the beginning of the recent Mumbai massacre, Indians in India and abroad never doubted Pakistan's hand in the ghastly attacks [Dec. 15]. President Nixon's famous "tilt" toward Pakistan, decades of U.S. support for Pakistan's military dictators and America's turning a blind eye to Pakistan's involvement in a series of terrorist activities against India have borne their fruit in the past decade. These dreadful attacks will continue unless international pressure is brought to bear on Pakistan's elected government to bring its military under control.
Chuncha Mel Ramakrishna, CHERRY HILL, N.J., U.S.
Bailing Out the Big Three
With regard to Bill Saporito's story, I have no sympathy for the Big Three automakers [Dec. 15]. For decades, Ford, GM and Chrysler fiercely opposed restructuring and green technology while egregiously mismanaging their businesses. The only reason they've gotten religion is that they're on the verge of bankruptcy.
Mark Stuart Ellison, BROOKLYN, N.Y., U.S.
While U.S. automobile companies have some responsibility for their current predicament, for many of the reasons you cite, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have unclean hands as well. Each of the car companies had adequate capital entering the fall, but when Treasury and the Fed "brought down the house" by letting Lehman Brothers fail, worldwide credit markets froze, preventing Americans from buying cars. Financial markets and the lack of available consumer credit — not a lack of appealing car designs — are the reasons for this crisis, and piling the blame on Detroit is simply not balanced.
Steven M. Friedman, NEW YORK CITY
I was amazed that Saporito made no mention of the Big Three's most obvious and most easily remedied failure: clueless marketing. Consider that GM, arguably the world's biggest car company, is worth far less today than Harley-Davidson, the world's fourth largest motorcycle maker.
Dexter Ford, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF., U.S.
I Want My 401(k)!
I read Justin Fox's article with horror [Dec. 15]. The basic premise: a government-run pension is more secure than my 401(k). Curiously, I saw no mention of a current government program called Social Security — one the government has handled so expertly I probably will never get to collect from it. Now those same people think they can do better with retirement funds? It is easy to make decisions when the rules don't apply to you. No members of government will have to worry about their pension or medical care. The market works; government does not.
Charles van Ravenswaay, HOUSTON
Neither Borrower Nor Lender Be
I enjoyed Michael Kinsley's essay [Dec. 15]. We have borrowed, and not from fellow Americans but from China, Japan and other countries. We may have more clout in the world militarily but do others have more clout economically? I have read that what really brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression was World War II. Could it be that what brought the U.S. out of the Depression of the 1930s was the savings and the controlled spending of the people — along with the borrowing that took place during the war?
Bill Brouwers, MIDDLEBURY, IND., U.S.
Automobiles "R" Still Us
As someone who has chosen to return to Detroit after living in New York City and San Francisco, I am offended by the media stereotype of Rust Belt workers left behind in a city of gloom [Dec. 15]. It seems easy to rationalize abandoning the car companies that helped build America's industrial legacy. What's harder is to recognize the significance of these companies as building blocks of the American story and the importance of preserving and reinventing them. The spirit that built Detroit is still alive, and those of us who live here are fully invested in the hard work of shedding decades of bad press and telling the real story of who we are, what we do and why we matter.
Molly Shor, BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH., U.S.
- Bailing Out the Big Three; I Want My 401(k)!; Neither Borrower Nor Lender Be; Automobiles "R" Still Us