Letters Of The Day

This is my opinion to David Hampton (mailbag on lack of outrage on port deal).

We Americans are the dumbest people in the world. All those so-called free trade agreements are a failure. Our government is borrowing $2 billion a day from China and Japan because of our debt. Our America is disappearing and is up for sale.

I do not shop around here because I refuse to buy crap from China. I buy items made in the U.S. People who buy this junk from China are helping them to build up their military, and where do you think they will be pointing those guns at? At us.

The working class in this country has no representation. We aren’t even a democracy; the rich and corporate America run this country.

I am angry and frustrated because of our citizens’ ignorance and apathy.

Shame on all of us.

--LORY SHIPPY, Clear Lake

and

Gov. Tom Vilsack’s firing of the director and deputy director of the Iowa Workforce Development agency on April 5 for not effectively monitoring spending was a refreshing counterpoint to what I find is a sad condition in the nation today — government officials screwing up without any discernible consequences.

The worst examples of this were provided by the 9/11 attacks. Although our country spends tens of billions of dollars each year to provide the FBI, CIA and other agencies with the means to protect us, they were too choked by self-serving bureaucracies to do so. And yet, not a single individual lost his or her job because of their failure to stop the attacks which killed almost 3,000 people.

The same goes for commanders of the New York police and fire departments whose personnel refused to communicate with each other even as they tried to rescue people in the stairwells of the Trade Centers. As they had for decades, these departments were more concerned with protecting turf than sharing critical information that could have saved more lives. Rather than being held accountable, they were treated like heroes.

And then we have the U.S. Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, who have since the departure of the Clinton administration tripled the national debt to almost $9 trillion by never saying no to anyone, especially the well-heeled lobbyists who provide the money for them to get re-elected.

Fortunately, we can fire these people ourselves, and we need to do so the next time they come up for re-election.

--DICK SCHINNOW, Rock Falls

attribution