Friday, March 23, 2012
Seeking pension justice at Delphi
Vice President Biden spoke at a UAW hall in Toledo recently about the $85 billion auto bailout and said the administration wants to “strengthen middle-class security” in this country “where hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”
That’s insulting and “a slap-in-the-face” to every GM-Delphi salaried retiree whose pension was cut 30-70 percent by the Obama administration in the GM bankruptcy while the pensions of our unionized counterparts were made completely whole.
The Obama administration needs to stop talking and do the right thing: immediately provide pension justice.
Edward Seidel, Mineral Ridge
Rolling Stone’s riff on fracking
Before the people North eastern Ohio become bedazzled, thunderstruck and overwhelmed by recent news that the Chesapeake Energy Corp. and its unnamed partners will soon erect a $900 million dollar gas separating facility in Columbiania, I strongly suggest that all of N.E. Ohio and western Pennsylvania’s’ elected officials — city, township, county, state and federal — drop whatever they are doing and run out to the nearest store to buy the March 15 edition of the Rolling Stone magazine.
Pages 48 to 55 carry a stunning account regarding the drilling and fracking of thousands of deep gas wells across the entire nation. The article by Jeff Goodell pulls no punches in explaining what is actually going on behind he scenes in natural-gas production.
The article further explains how the owner of Chesapeake Energy Corp., Aubrey McClendon, has built a drilling empire that looks more like Enron than Exxon. One investigating analyst commented: “There is a lot in common with the sub-prime mortgage market — just before it melted down.”
David Metzler, North Jackson