Greed is the enemy of strong economy
Regarding Vince Alescio’s June 20 letter (“Wealthy contribute to economic vitality”), the dictionary defines greed as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.”
Your greedy entrepreneurs contribute nothing to the greater welfare of society or the promotion of free enterprise as a viable economic system.
They are the ones that give capitalism a bad name. A true businessperson cares about the welfare of his employees, and the quality of his product.
Donald Trump was never a successful businessman. Bankrupt six times, he stiffed countless contractors and tradesmen who built his buildings. He skated out on his taxes and his obligation to serve his country. He’s a conman still promoting his “Big Lie.”
Every economic system has its advantages and disadvantages.
Capitalism gave us the opioid crisis and the financial collapse of 2008, with its subsequent bailout. Nobody had a problem with socialism then. Greed poisons the soul. It destroys families, businesses and those who indulge it.
Such people are never content.
Would you call Donald a happy person? Is this the kind of man you want your children to emulate? Amazon may employ 1.6 million people, but they have an employee turnover rate of 150%.
Those people don’t work for Jeff Bezos. They work for a computer algorithm, it’s dehumanizing. All work should have some respect and dignity associated with it, even the lowest most essential jobs.
As we have seen throughout this pandemic, essential workers are the backbone of a functioning economy.
Greed is the enemy of that.
Frank DeSantis
Gloversville
Progressive income tax needed in U.S.
I often hear conservatives asking if we have the money for the ambitious infrastructure programs Biden and progressive Democrats favor.
That is the wrong question.
We should be asking if we have the human capital and natural resources to meet the goals of hard infrastructure programs such as road, bridge and public water supply repairs and upgrades.
And do we have the resources to provide improvements in human infrastructure, such as publicly supported childcare and pre-school for working families?
We would be a lot closer to that goal if we had a real progressive income tax and eliminated the loopholes that allow men like Bezos, Buffet and Trump to get away with paying little or no federal income taxes.
The question I ask is: What is more important: safe bridges, roads, air and preventing physical and mental harm to our children, or enabling Bezos to control so much of our nation’s resources that he can rocket into outer space for a thrill ride?
Anthony J. Santo
Rotterdam
Barber shows his artistry in photos
Big fan of Gazette photographer Peter Barber here.
His June 23 photo (“From the oven”) of the Bountiful Bread worker removing bread from the oven is just flat-out delightful.
The movement of the worker, the position of his arms and the intensity of his gaze compose a beautiful bit of choreography, reminding me of “The Sower,” a painting by French painter Millet.
The Dutch master painters are here, too.
Think of similar movement in Brueghel’s paintings of peasants at work and play.
And sure enough, there is a window at the left, bathing bread and baker in Vermeer light.
Just gorgeous!
Sandra Flint
Scotia
Great job to all on Spa High graduation
I wish to publicly thank the Saratoga Springs High School and district staff along with the SPAC personnel for making the graduation on June 25 such a success.
SPAC looked phenomenal and ready for the summer. The ability for the district to make this ceremony a reality was a dream come true.
The audio and video complements in-house were appreciated by those in attendance. But the professional grade livestream and production was enjoyed by family and friends far and wide. I hope that this digital complement to the ceremony will be here to stay. It was an excellent use of resources enjoyed by all.
Great job SSHS. You won the day!
Darren Drabek
Wilton
Town of Niskayuna lacking in leadership
In his June 28 letter (“Major changes are needed in Niskayuna”) Stephen Benton pointed out there are too many issues in the town citing his concerns. I have for weeks stated that the lack of leadership is apparent with the mismanagement of personnel and budgetary issues.
The latest Wall fiasco is just another example.
The Gazette printed articles about Police Chief Fran Wall and an article regarding the hiring of a clerk for the department. This comes on the heels of Wall’s recent resignation letter citing the lack of a secretary as one reason for resigning.
A week after the resignation, the town hired a clerk for the department while the supervisor stated this was not a coincidence. Really?
Even if this was not a coincidence, the optics are very bad. The town hired a secretary for the comptroller. The supervisor has a secretary and a deputy supervisor, but the first WOMAN police chief does not have one despite that the other chiefs had secretaries.
Her resignation letter was called incendiary to deflect from a workplace violence investigation.
Another town investigation was conducted, but no beneficial town policies. The supervisor was surprised by Wall’s letter. How could this be? They are both housed on the same floor.
Why is the police department being decimated? Don’t the residents deserve better? Didn’t Fran Wall, who served our town as a police officer for 30-plus years, deserve better? Why all the town drama?
My answer is a lack of leadership in town government.
Linda Rizzo
Niskayuna
End foreign aid, put U.S. interests first
If your child is playing in the park with another child and both fall and get hurt badly, who do you run to first?
In the 60’s, the civil rights problem was horrific. Rather than try to help with that problem, we’re in Vietnnam fighting a war for some strangers. No wonder there was much protest at home. The civil rights problem is still as bad this year.
On top of that we’re dealing with the immigrant situation, gun violence and homelessness. It’ll be costly to attempt to remedy.
Instead of using all our resources here at home, we continue to send billions overseas to once again help strangers. The funny part is most of those people still hate us.
All foreign aid has to stop. It’s unfortunate about their problems but why must we continue to be our “brothers’ keepers.” We can also increase our nuclear weapons warehouse. Any country should know that we have the capability to wipe them from the face of the Earth if necessary. It’s important to get our house in order before we should attempt to aid another house. Civil unrest isn’t out of the question.
Great civilizations crumble from within. We’re headed that way.
Pete Pidgeon
Scotia
Congress needs to get control over NSA
A whistleblower has come forward employed by NSA to reveal the NSA is spying on Tucker Carlson, FOX. This is not unique. This is the same NSA that did not see 9/11 coming.
In 1980, Solidarity was formed in Poland, the tip of the spear for Polish freedom from Soviet domination. America (NSA) was pro-Solidarity.
I was a frequent ‘flyer’ in Polish-American newspapers with an English edition. I was appreciated in a particular paper located in America’s heartland for my defense of Solidarity.
I received a letter from a book dealer in Alexandria, Va., commending me for an upcoming article. This was pre-internet for me. I always appreciate a compliment, but wonder how he knew of this sense the paper had not gone into print yet. I wrote to the man and asked him how he knew. The answer, “My wife works at the NSA.”
With 17 intelligence agencies in existence in the United States, imagine the spying going on in the United States. The spying on us is not benign.
I don’t know if the man’s wife was a custodial engineer at the NSA or sitting at the right hand of the president. “What difference does it make?”
Fear is a gateway to wisdom. Fear the government. Hate the sin and not the sinner.
Only Congress can correct miscreant behavior of the NSA. Don’t hold your breath.
Edmond Day
Rotterdam
Left, media ignoring American prosperity
Listen to the left and you’d think we are all poor. Bernie Sanders talks endlessly about the “crisis for the working families.” For AOC, it’s so bad, she wants emergency cash payments forever.
If you so much as hint that most Americans are in fact doing quite well, you’re just a callous elitist. You’re out of touch. No, it’s the left that’s out of touch. They deliberately ignore our widespread prosperity.
If things are so bad for so many, how come so many young people are using their emergency pay to gamble on stocks? Where is the “crisis for working families” in those 26 states which have rejected those emergency payments? They wouldn’t turn down money if the people in those states were really hard-up.
Where is the crisis when we are saving more than at any time since World War II?
There’s over $2 trillion in bank accounts, and we’ve paid off ton of credit card debt. And then there is the gigantic wealth creation machine known as the stock market — $44 trillion worth of stock market wealth has been spread out to 100 million American investors. Just because it’s not equally spread out, doesn’t make it bad. The left constantly repeated its poverty and crisis claims.
And of course, the media has played along. It’s a grim picture but it’s not accurate of the country as a whole. American is flush with cash, your 401k’s are well.
Celebrate the financial truth. Ignore the left’s propaganda.
Sherrill Smith
Voorheesville
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