The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Inequality Assurance

3.13.07 @ 12:01AM

TWO AMERICAS
Re: Ben Stein's Terribly Exciting:

I'm a Ben Stein fan. But he is incorrect about lower American wages and 40 million uninsured. It is true that the wage statistics time series show them lower than 1972. But that series is not an accurate reflection just as the negative savings rate statistic does not reflect the real savings rate. Americans have more personal wealth than ever before in history.

As for 40 million uninsured, many argue that this figure is 10 million too high. Also many uninsured are young and choose not to buy insurance. Finally our health system allows anyone to get treatment that needs it. And even that emergency room route is better than universal government pay systems where people can and do die waiting in line for care.
-- Howard Lohmuller
Seabrook, Texas

The thought occurs to me: Ben Stein is supposed to be a really smart chap, an economist, lawyer, etc, etc. Wonder if he has ever read the famous educator, Dale Carnegie, who once said "any fool can criticize, and most do." Ben should spend some time reading the Constitution rather than complain about the unfortunate situation of the populace. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the only rights granted by the Constitution. Only a socialist can see into the penumbras. Why doesn't Ben propose a National GOYA month for people who expect someone else to take care of them? There is an idea he could develop into something effective.
-- Paul Bunker
La Moille, Illinois

What the hell happened to Ben Stein? Was he kidnapped and brain washed by Paul Krugman and Lou Dobbs?
-- Anthony Mastroserio
Skillman, New Jersey

Ben, like so many others, is incorrect with that 40 million uninsured figure. When you back out the in-transit job figures the amount goes down to about 10-15 million. Take out the young people who choose not to have insurance and the figure is somewhere under 10 million. And don't forget the homeless. However, everyone is covered for emergency hospital care. Just asked the illegals in this country and people who worked for insurance companies like I did.
-- Joseph D'Ambrosia

I don't get Ben's point in "Terribly Exciting." Has he joined the chorus of the left singing dirges about income inequality?
-- Roger D. McKinney
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

It is too bad, and certainly sad, that Ben Stein is still apparently embarrassed by his success, if not his riches. Even though he is not as regular on TAS anymore I no longer look forward to reading him. Perhaps it is just me but that is the way it is.

William Tucker, THANK YOU.
-- Roger Ross
Tomahawk, Wisconsin

MATCH MADE IN DETROIT
Re: Eric Peters's A Big Divorce -- and a Splashy Wedding?:

I have always appreciated the humor the writers bring along with their ideas on the Spectator pages. But Eric Peters's proposal of a GM and Chrysler merger is probably one of the biggest pants-wetters of all time. I especially laughed at Chrysler bringing economies of scale. Yeah, let's loose money on more cars! The Borg wouldn't assimilate any American car company. Eat it and spit it out perhaps, but not assimilate. Cadillac is hip? Again? It was never hip (except for the gangsta rappers who drive the Escalade). A catchy Led Zeppelin song clip in their commercials does not make for hip. Cadillac is only popular with the repair mechanics for which it provides jobs.

Eric's "simple logic" is undone by his own words. Why would GM, struggling to ramp down its American production capacity and dealerships, want to take on more liabilities and capacity except to spend more money bribing people into retirement? Why would a company want another carcass when it's looking pretty gaunt itself? American auto manufacturers are in a death spiral because their management is ossified. Yeah, let's bring in Ford too! We can design a new catch phrase for the new car company: Generally Made for Repairs Daily. We can bring in generations of the same people who screw up car designs but in a totally different way! American car quality is better than in the past but has not kept up. Take any American car that competes with the Accord or Camry and you find it doesn't. They still have recalls for components that have long ago been design matured. You have generations upon generations of the same people making the same decisions. Eric somehow thinks it matters that the existence of an American automaker makes a difference. It doesn't. Corporations move capital around the world without regard to where it happens to park its corporate seat.

A merger of the incredible shrinking big three would have one benefit: it would make it easier to avoid one brand and not three. I wonder what make vehicle Eric drives? Is it made from one of the manufacturers whose cars you love to hate? Many foreign car brands are American made with a lot of American content and their employees at least do not subsidize the Democrat Party. And we don't hate their cars or trucks.
-- Diamon Sforza

I would like to see you comment on what I think is the main reason the American cars, especially Chrysler's exciting ones, are not selling...poor advertising. Compared to the TV and radio ads for Lexus, Honda, and Toyota, the American car ads don't speak to quality at all compared to the others.
-- John P.
Elmhurst, Illinois

If there was just some way for GM, Ford, and Chrysler to get out from under the death spell of the union, they might turn things around. Of course they need to honor the commitments to retirees, but let the union strike and hire other workers and get out from under the yoke. Move to a RIGHT TO WORK state. Unions are what is sending jobs overseas.

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