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USPS falls short
of their motto
There were three days in December when the local post office did not deliver mail to our senior retirement community of more than 200 residents.
I usually get dozens of pieces of mail each day — mostly from organizations asking for more money on top of what I already sent. Therefore, I was surprised when my mailbox was empty for three days.
Several residents called or wrote to the Post Office and to politicians who represent us. Short-staffed was the only reason given. So much for the Post Office’s motto: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” I don’t see short-staffed in that motto.
Suzanne Barba
Oakland
Voters chose fewer
deaths with their votes
Mike Heller can’t understand how voters could return Democrats to power after keeping kids out of school and the damage it did to academic performance (“COVID disaster architects returned to power,” Page A6, Dec. 21). Don’t worry Mike, I’m here to help.
First, it was a worldwide pandemic and no one knew what to do. Secondly, as could be expected, no one was going to get out of a pandemic unscathed. Inevitably there were going to be some downsides. Third, the teachers’ unions played a large role in keeping schools closed. Unions are not elected officials. Fourth, California had lower rates of infection, hospitalizations and deaths than most of the country.
It can be argued California had a choice between lower school performance standards and more severe illness and deaths of teachers, students and their families. The state chose lower illness and deaths, and the voters agreed.
Don Morgan
Concord
Increasing production
no inflation panacea
In his latest letter (“Lower interest rates to grow production,” Page A6, Dec. 23), Bruce Joffe commits a rookie error in economics by equating demand with household consumption.
“Demand” includes all consumption, including government, consumers and the businesses that Joffe wants the Fed to stimulate. Trying to lower inflation by reducing interest rates in the belief that supply excesses will control prices amounts to a dog chasing its tail. All that new supply increases demand (for inputs) before it gets to store shelves.
The problem is even worse if supply is constrained by external forces like factory closures in China. Lower interest rates boost consumer demand while supply is unable to react. [For the record, though, I think the Fed has now done more than enough.]
Greg Linden
Oakland
You can’t make
money from nothing
It is rather amusing, given today’s corrupted and manipulated financial system, privileged boy Sam Bankman-Fried, having secured a $250 million bail bond, is allowed to stay at home with mom and dad (both Stanford lawyers) in Palo Alto. (“Bankman Fried to stay in Palo Alto,” Dec. 23). One wonders how the thousands of investors, who were screwed out of their savings in FTX, will take to this type of privileged treatment.
On a positive note, one can hope that justice might be served, however unlikely. But for the future, maybe they’ve learned their lesson about the legitimacy of the latest and greatest way to “invest,” and create money out of thin air.
Chris Kniel
Orinda
To preserve freedom
of press, free Assange
Until recently, newspaper outlets and their journalists have been silent on their support of Julian Assange. The New York Times is the only U.S. publication that has publicly expressed support for the release of Assange.
The reason, I suspect, is that if Assange could be prosecuted for reporting the truth to the American people, then the New York Times’ journalists could very well face the same threat. This recognition was why President Obama refused to pursue a case against Assange: Doing so is a threat to a journalist’s First Amendment protection to publish what we, as Americans in a democracy, have the right to know.
Unfortunately, it appears that President Biden is following former President Trump’s desire: to make an example of Assange by setting precedent for future whistle-blowers. Publishing is not a crime. If we kill the messenger, we avoid the truth.
Laurel Griffith
San Leandro
Source: www.mercurynews.com