I favor building a stadium in the only sensible location – Arden Hills, but question the need to tax only Ramsey County inasmuch as the Vikings are a statewide asset – a huge one. It would be terribly embarrassing and costly to replace if they left Minnesota, as the North Stars did.
There seem to be two reasons the stadium can’t or won’t be built with gambling money, and owned by the state:
1. Bluenoses disapprove of gambling. Surely, that percentage of the population is miniscule.
2. Legislators are bought by or feel beholden to Indian interests. Indian fishing rights are a legitimate, legal obligation (Sorry, Bud Grant); but no such legal or moral obligation exists regarding gambling.
Richard Doyle, Forest Lake
They’re not all ‘kids’
“The rest of the world hardly even knows you are there” letter writer Walt Mills says of Occupy Minnesota (Oct. 21). Then he spends four heavy-handed and condescending paragraphs attempting to tell the protesters how juvenile and unimportant they are.
First, there is no such thing as “entry level” among activists, as the hierarchy Mills envisions is not there. If you show up, you are one of them. Second, they are not all “kids.” Kids get uncomfortable and bored staying out day after day, night after night, in the elements. Third, I know some of these people and I don’t think any of them are Wall-Street wannabees. People do change – I was a Republican when I was very young, before I saw what was really going on in America. Fourth, the “self-important protestors of 40 or so years back,” brought in a lot of needed change, change some risked their lives for.
A lot of people know you are there, “kids.”
Jane Thomson, St. Paul
Rallies
From what I can tell, “Wall Street Executives” are the left’s “Emmanuel Goldstein” from George Orwell’s book “1984,” and the rallies are their “Two Minutes of Hate”.
Gary Fischbach, St. Paul
No ‘purple parachute’
I guess that I should join a Tea Party, because I feel so strongly about being taxed for a new football stadium without having the chance to vote on it. I believe the governor, state representatives and especially our Ramsey County Board of Commissioners know full well that a public vote would never fly for this “money pit” of a stadium, particularly during our present economic situation.
So, what can be done? Voting them out of office would be a start, but that will be after the fact. First we need to make sure that they don’t have a “purple parachute” promised during secret meetings with the football industry for fat-cat jobs when they get thrown out of office next election. Then, legislators need to insert an addendum to this stadium bill stating: Any elected politician or commissioner voting for the use of state, county or city taxes to build a football stadium will be subject to a 10-year moratorium on seeking or accepting any form of paid salary, bonuses or financial incentives within the sports industry. That would include executive or consulting positions down to Tony Bennett driving the parking shuttle on game day.
Jeff Flynn, Vadnais Heights
Wishes he could believe Brooks
Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party aside, columnist David Brooks suggests that the rest of the country is “quietly and untelegenically trying to repair their economic values” (“Quietly, privately, a restoration of values,” Oct. 20). I wish I could believe him.
However, the polls he cites may only be reflecting the harsh reality of what people do when their incomes, savings, and hopes for the future have taken a big hit. They spend less because they have less to spend. They borrow less because they know they may not be able to pay it back, or worse yet they have lost their jobs and income and access to credit. Their desire to “see a balance between what you produce and what you are paid” could simply be their desire to have their old job back, which paid a living wage for doing productive work.
I’d really like to believe Brooks, but on this one I can’t.
Neil Fagerhaugh, Hugo
Gravity
While watching Libyans celebrate Qaddafi’s death by firing weapons into the air, I thought – those bullets come back down, don’t they?
Tom Mooney, St. Paul
Big Education
Joe Soucheray was right on the mark with “Protesters should go after Big Education” (Oct. 16).
Look to the housing market prior to the “financial meltdown.” Everyone who wanted a home got a loan to buy one. Basic economic theory dictates if demand is up, prices go up. They skyrocketed. At least in that scenario there was some equity in that home loan – the property for a partial recovery.
Four years ago, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) said, to save the student loan system, we have to take the loan process away from the banks and give it to the government, and they did.
What fueled the meteoric rise in college tuition? It was the availability of easy money through the student loan program. When universities raised tuition, students just borrowed more money. In the next collapse, there will be no equity. All the education loans are unsecured. There are billions of dollars in student loans in default that will never be repaid. Many student loans today are larger than home loans 20 years ago.
The solution is to stop the student loan program. Only those fortunate enough to possess the vast sums of money to pay tuition from $10,000 to $50,000 per year will attend. Enrollments will drop drastically and the price of tuition will drop dramatically, to a level capable of attracting enough students to fill the colleges and universities.
A little harsh, you say? Not as harsh as all those student loans defaulting, then we (the taxpayers) get stuck with the tab – again.
J.J. Feckey, Mendota Heights
