Employment program won’t help

Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post must be kidding to argue in his column published Thursday in the Trib [“Obama’s economic legacy”] that what President Barack Obama should now implement is a massive public employment program. Obama’s 2009 stimulus was a massive public employment program, growing the cost of the federal government by 25 percent and increasing federal government employment by 165,000 while avoiding layoffs of federal, state and local government employees and public school teachers for 30 months with block grants.

Surely this was a quid pro quo for the $200 million in donations to Obama’s campaign in 2008 by teacher and public employee unions. Meyerson’s suggestion is all the more ridiculous when we are already borrowing 40 percent of the dollars we are spending — providing economic slavery for our children and grandchildren.

Also on Thursday in the Trib, the president of the Texas State Teachers’ Association, Rita Haecker, bemoaned the Legislature’s “bankrupt commitment to public education in Texas,” even as public education’s share of the budget this year increased from 57 to 60 percent. Where is her commitment to teachers sharing the economic pain with the rest of us? She can’t imagine having to increase class sizes from 22 to 24, despite most studies that indicate the quality of the teacher is far more important than class size. Why not consider slightly larger class sizes and merit pay?

If the president wants to get the economy going, he should lift the many stifling regulations his administration has imposed, such as: prohibiting drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf and Alaska; getting rid of the crony capitalism that provides subsidies and tax credits to many major corporations; and allowing him to reduce the marginal corporate and personal tax rates as former presidents did to provide a strong stimulus for job-creating economic growth.

Walter Bradley, Woodway

Veterans columns appreciated

I’m so happy that Robert Gamboa will be sharing stories of our heroes and veterans in the Tribune-Herald every other Sunday in his column, “Voices of Valor — Honoring our men and women in uniform.” 

Robert has been one of the hardest working veterans in Waco. I’ve watched him from a distance at several veterans functions. 

A special thanks to him for writing his first column about Manny Sustaita. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Manny on a few projects. There is no better man. I had to literally run to keep up with him.

Thanks to Manny and Robert and the many who work hard to make sure we never forget those who have fought and died so that we live free. God bless you all. 

Lola Hopper, Waco

Reduce toy packaging materials

When purchasing toys for birthday parties think about the packaging also. Most toys, like action figures and remote-controlled cars, are over-packed with twist ties, tape, cardboard and plastic coverings. Once the toy is removed, the packaging goes straight to the landfill and takes hundreds of thousands of years to decompose.

To avoid this, buy items without much packaging, like used items. And if you do get packaging, recycle the material.

Evan Strot, Boy Scout Troop 308, Waco