Money Talks
The reason that the Occupy Wall Street movement is doomed to failure is actually hidden in your article about the Occupy Santa Rosa event (“Here to Stay,”
Oct. 19). Leilani Clark interviewed local politician Susan Gorin who was quoted as saying, “[W]e want to see some serious fixes in our banking and economic systems.” Notice how Councilperson Gorin conveniently forgot to mention any serious fixes to our political system, which is the entity that controls our banking and economic systems. I haven’t yet met any Democrat or any Republican at any level of government who is a hardcore advocate for 100 percent publicly financed campaigns at all levels, which is the only real way to fix these problems. I actually wrote Lynn Woolsey a letter a few years back advising her that we need 100 percent publicly financed campaigns. She replied that she is for “campaign finance reform,” yet she has no problem taking money from lobbyists like the ones at Infineon Raceway.
Unfortunately, next year most of the 99 %-ers are going to vote for the guy who now says he needs $1 billion to get reelected as president. In the last election, Obama took in about $700,000 in campaign donations, about half of that coming from corporations. The fact that he needs $1 billion this time means that he will be even more indebted to corporate America than he was in 2008. Truth diminishes as campaign contributions rise. Recently, independent Vermont representative Bernie Sanders created a list of America’s top 10 corporate tax cheaters. This list included Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, all of the corporations that the Occupy Wall Street movement is rallying against. I decided to do a little digging, and as it turns out, President Obama took almost three times as much money from this top 10 list of corporate tax cheaters as McCain did in the last election. That is what happens when you turn down publicly financed campaigns at the national level.
The 99 %-ers need to realize one other basic thing about the economy and jobs, and that is that some of our economic problems are now happening as a result of overpopulation. We have allowed our population to rise to the point where the laws of supply and demand are starting to have a major effect on our economy, especially those at the lower end of the economic scale. Some people think that we can create an unlimited number of jobs for an unlimited number of people. As the population rises, so will the gap between the rich and the poor because of those same laws. But don’t worry, I am sure that our illustrious leaders will find all of us jobs working at the local unobtanium processing plants.
Duclo Haymaker
Santa Rosa
Rock the Vote
Herman Cain may be a horse’s ass, but horseshit can help flowers grow. If a person fails, it is not always his or her fault, but if a giant movement fails, it might be because crying and moaning is not enough. If the Occupy movement was registering voters, the incumbents would have to take notice; registered voters put Obama in power. For all we wish he had done, he is still probably better for the country than John McCain and Sarah Palin. I have not seen one “Register and Vote” sign among all the Occupy news stories. I think that would guarantee safety of the occupiers, since there are laws that protect the right to organize voters.
David Weinstock
Fairfax
Jive Joy
RE: “Stolen Grief” by Angela Lam Turpin (“Stolen Jive,” Oct. 19)—wow! I think I said that to myself several times when I read this story. And again, as I reread it. Can’t imagine I singly hold this response and hope that Ms. Turpin receives the accolades.
Aren
Via email
Dept. of Egads
Last week’s news story (“Hospital Heartbeat,” Oct. 26) erroneously identified a Sutter Santa Rosa RN as Laura Hittenfeld. The correct spelling of her name is Laura Hinerfeld.
In addition, the letter “Walkable Locale” was incorrectly attributed to Gerry Benway. The credit should be given to John Eder of Sebastopol. We regret the errors.
the eds.
