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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2009

Local transportation

Trains? What makes anyone think we can have an efficient train system when the bus system and trolley are inadequate?

I have used the bus a few times in the last few years, and there are some positives. The bus was on time within a few minutes. That's good. The problem is there are no sidewalks. You have to walk in the mud on Adamo Drive and Sligh Avenue between Anderson and Benjamin. These are major Tampa industrial areas that could use an efficient transportation system.

The Tampa trolley is such a political boondoggle. Rarely have I seen more than two riders at a time. If the city and county want to save money, close it now. I doubt they even collect enough fare to pay for the conductor, let alone the overhead.

Get HART transportation efficient, then think about a train. CSX blocks enough traffic during rush hour as it stands presently.

Who will pay?

KENNETH BARRY

Tampa

Who will pay?

Regarding "Saving on health care," (Letters, Oct 25):

Writer Tim Williams offers no explanation as to who will pay for universal health care if neither the employer nor the employee is required to contribute.

He goes on to claim the employer will have the money to grow his business even after he puts the equivalent amount of health insurance premiums into employee paychecks. Also, according to Williams, employees will benefit by having access to the money that has been taken out for insurance. Shouldn't employees be required to buy health insurance with the extra money? He doesn't speak to that.

There aren't enough rich people to cover the health insurance bill for every working American.

DAVE ROSE

Valrico

Liberty at stake

Medicare, which is broke and unsustainable, is one of the templates for Corneilous Kiernan's version of heath care overhaul ("No free market," Letter of the Day, Oct. 25). Then there is its power of (price) negotiation, which has driven many physicians to not accept Medicare patients because it does not even pay the cost.

I can understand the support for socialized medicine from the bread and circus crowd, albeit liberty is at stake.

I recently stumbled on a quote by Thomas Jefferson: "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

D. JACOB

Tampa

D.C. Ponzi scheme

Nancy Pelosi says that we need a government-run public option health plan to keep the insurance companies honest. I ask, then, are they dishonest?

The House speaker and her fellow politicians are the ones that need to be kept honest! They all are a party to the biggest Ponzi scheme ever. That is the "pay as you go" funding for Social Security and Medicare while pretending they have trust funds. Both are underfunded in the trillions and are headed for disaster. Our elected representatives make Bernie Madoff look like a choir boy. We should trust them with a new entitlement program?

Also, in their inimitable political fashion, they chose to make the insurance companies the "bad guys" for rising health care costs. The fact is the insurance companies are just middlemen. Medical costs go up when providers raise prices. The doctors, hospitals, drug companies and medical equipment providers are where the big price increases emanate. Did we blame the car dealers when car prices were rising every year?

The political sound bites are just that: talk. The profit margins for the insurance providers are about half of what all the S&P companies earn. So I ask you, who are the real bad guys? I don't like insurance companies any more than anyone else, but let us be honest with ourselves.

THOMAS DVORCHAK

Zephyrhills

Chinese wallboard

Re: the toxic wallboard from China and all the homeowners left swinging in the wind: What about the ill effects on all those workers who sawed, sanded and taped all that wallboard - and inhaled all that toxic dust?

Has anyone questioned/studied that?

MARIE BURG

Sun City Center

Tampa's homeless

Elizabeth Peters of Zephyrhills states that Tampa residents are cruel because they object to a homeless shelter at the Floriland Mall ("Pity the homeless," Letters, Oct. 25). Interestingly, Peters does not offer to provide a shelter or tent for the homeless in her neighborhood.

JOHN ADDAR

Tampa

That sinking feeling

The other day, President Obama made a speech in which he compared the United States to an ocean liner. For once, I would agree with him, because he and all his allies are currently at the helm of the Titanic, and they are steering us straight for an economic iceberg. Maybe this is why I've had a "sinking" feeling since he got elected.

ERICK WESTLY

Brandon

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