Experience shows price caps help no one, hurt everyone

Experience shows price caps help no one, hurt everyone
EDITOR:
Many centuries ago, King Canute thought he was so powerful that he had his throne taken to the seashore so he could order the tide to cease coming in. Didn't work.
I was reminded of him recently by several U.S. senators who think they can control crude oil and gasoline prices by imposing "price caps" to eliminate "gouging." They never learn; price controls didn't work during the previous price rises. All that voters got was interminable lines waiting to get up to the gas pump, and often signs saying "No Gas" when they finally reached the service station. Supplies at artificially low prices are quickly exhausted as drivers rush to fill up their tanks.
Prompt increases in prices help ration short supplies, and people will curtail their driving to conserve gas, thus ensuring that there will be enough gas for essential needs, until prices eventually fall, as they always have.
With ideas like price caps, senators who propose them only prove how ignorant they are and how unqualified they are to hold high office. So the important question is when will voters give the entire Congress stupid representatives? Senators like those give the entire Congress a bad name, as their well-published proposals to help the "little guy" end up hurting everyone -- customers and retailers alike.
MILTON R. NORRIS
Canfield
The answers, my friend,are flowing from my pen
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to an Aug. 28 opinion piece by Cal Thomas, "Iraq critics are blowin' in the wind." Mr. Thomas suggests that those who seek a withdrawal of our military forces "are naive at best, and idiots at worst." Since at age 84 I would hardly consider myself naive, I must be an idiot. Thanks, Cal, for the compliment.
Mr. Thomas posed several questions and challenges. I know that I cannot compete with a man of his talents, but I will give it my best shot. In June of 1942 I graduated from Ohio University with a major in government and a minor in English. Sept. 7, 1942, I was drafted into the Army.
In March 1943 I was sent to Africa with the 95th Evacuation Hospital, a 450-bed hospital staffed by 40 doctors and 40 nurses and 200 enlisted personnel, entirely under tents, just like MASH only much larger. We were the first stop for the wounded and sick and were involved in three D-Day landings. I know what war is like. It isn't fun and games. Although it was available to him, the president for some unknown reason was denied the dubious honor of going to Viet Nam.
When the war ended I went to law school under the G.I. Bill and practiced law for 50 years, which qualifies me to do some "blowin' in the wind" of my own. Mr. Thomas asks, "What do you think would happen if we pulled out of Iraq now?" The war would be over. No more of our young soldiers would be killed or wounded. Loved ones at home would be relieved and happy. We could send the soldiers to New Orleans, where they are sorrowfully needed. We would be able to rebuild in our country and let the Iraqis rebuild theirs. To paraphrase the famous Persian poet Omar Khayyam, "... and the night will be filled with music / and the cares that infest the day / will fold their tents like Cindy Sheehan / and silently steal away."
Mr. Thomas also refers to our own war of revolution. If you were speaking on behalf of King George you might have written, "The terrorist colonists boarded one of His Majesty's ships and dumped a boatload of tea into Boston Harbor. Wasn't that horrible?" (It all depends on who's writing your checks.)
The next conflict Mr. Thomas takes on is the War between the States to save the Union and free the slaves. (I'm still not sure why we fought the Civil War.) When I went to college, sports were segregated. There were no black athletes on the football, basketball or baseball teams. When I went through the South in 1944 there were separate restrooms and separate water fountains for African-Americans. Now 60 years later, racism continues to be a problem and we seem to be no more able to sit down and resolve our differences.
Some 80 million Americans voted to put George Bush out of office -- I'm sorry I should have said "idiots." He got us into this mess by saying that Saddam Hussein was a terrorist who was partly responsible for the tragedy of 9/11, that he had hidden weapons of mass destruction and that he was coming to the U.S. to bury us. He has been the only president to learn that he was wrong on all counts.
Cal seems to say President Bush was right to invade Iraq, to kill Saddam's sons and then brag about it. Why did we put Saddam in prison for more than a year and not charge him with a crime? After all, in our democracy all criminals are entitled to a speedy trial and democracy is a very desirable form of government.
STANLEY J. POLANSKI
Mineral Ridge
It's time for some changes
EDITOR:
Iraq and Katrina style debacles are not going to leave us until we put an end to political greed and self service. We don't need $200,000 per year congressman or $125,000 per year mayors. We need elected leaders to start doing the right thing, not what will bring re-election. The Founding Fathers called this for the "greater good."
I would suggest that the compensation of elected officials reflect that of minimum wage and benefit levels of those at the bottom rungs of our social structures. And why not limit campaign contributions to $10, regardless of the source? Perhaps we could even get rid of the political stench by lengthening terms a bit while limiting them to one.
And while we're at it, why don't we start making people more responsible for themselves and less dependent on the government?
TIM RYAN
Newton Falls
In whom do you trust?
EDITOR:
After reading the Sept. 15 Vindicator, I have a question for all atheists who happen to live in this area and for U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karland.
This country was settled of people who were looking for religious freedom. If you object to "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, are you are still spending and saving all that U.S. currency, which has "In God We Trust" on every bill?
RUTH E MURPHY
Austintown