Fuel costs, dumped steel hurting U.S. industry

Fuel costs, dumped steel hurting U.S. industry
EDITOR:
I don't understand the lack of knowledge on & quot;steel & quot; dumping in the United States. I read a recent letter that really took me by surprise. My family has been in the trucking industry for over 30 years. When one compares an imported car to steel dumping, I can't help but be in awe.
Does Toyota, Honda, Nissan or any other manufacturer bring their cars into the United States and sell them at less than it cost to produce them? No. That is what steel dumping is all about.
Overseas steel companies sell their steel in our market below their cost to produce it. Their point? To flood our market with their cheap steel to drive U.S. companies out of business. Then the overseas companies will raise their prices back up to or above normal pricing.
See how well it is working? There are now 13 major U.S. steel mills in bankruptcy court. Why? Because our government has allowed this to happen.
The government has also ignored the higher costs of diesel fuel and their impact on steel costs. Steel companies pay their trucking companies a set fuel surcharge. Most people aren't aware that a truck can only average 3-5 miles per gallon. With the national average for fuel at $1.64 a gallon, it's not hard to figure out that the additional cost to the trucking company must pass part of this cost back to the steel mill.
So steel mills have the additional cost of fuel to pay the trucking companies, and they also have to compete with the dumped steel flooding our market.
Only now, after the steel mills have been having trouble with dumped steel for more than two years does our government describe the steel industry as in & quot;critical & quot; shape.
I can name at least 10 trucking companies that have filed for bankruptcy in the last two weeks. Again, why? The diesel costs have put most of these companies under. With steel mills asking for cheaper shipping rates and lower fuel surcharge percentages to help offset their losses right now, the trucking companies can't survive and pay their drivers' wages.
What is going on in the steel and trucking industries right now will affect you in some way. The old saying holds so true: & quot;If you got it, a truck brought it. & quot; If it cost more to produce it and more to ship it, it will cost you more to buy it.
CYNDI STOUT
North Jackson
Landlords must answer for their choice of tenant
EDITOR:
Contrary to the letter from a landlord saying that crime is responsible for destroying homes and downgrading our city, it is greedy businessmen who buy the houses, make minimal repairs and rent them to people without checking their background who are destroying our city.
As a homeowner on the South Side for seven years I have seen this with my own eyes. This same landlord owns the house next to mine and has rented it to people of dubious character many times.
People who don't work, people who move other people in who don't belong there, people who let their dogs run around and mess up the backyard and street, people who let their children run wild and fight in the streets, people who litter the backyard and throw garbage in the street and driveway, people who play their music and start fights with their neighbors.
He doesn't live next to the houses he rents. We do.
Then when I offered to buy his broken-down house I received no answer but he rented it to people who later left in the dark of night. When I called his office, they weren't even aware that the tenants had left. The tenants said they left because the house was in a deplorable condition and the landlord did nothing to fix it.
LEO FEHER
Youngstown