Letters to the editor

Being in Cardiff during this time of U.S. economic crisis is fascinating. U.K. articles (on the House failing the proposed bailout) wag fingers at the U.S. government for not saving the rest of the world from recession. After reading numerous articles on CNN, Fox, and other news Websites and after heatedly talking with interns and Welsh coworkers (who had varying opinions), I concluded that the bailout in its present form would have been a very bad idea.

Responding to several articles in Welsh newspapers criticising the bailout's failure, I sent letters to the editor (called Viewpoints, here) of both the Daily Post (North Wales) and the South Wales Echo.

The Echo won't come out until 2 p.m. here.

The Daily Post (which had a shorter limit than the the Echo) published my letter:


Why US bailout is wrong answer
THE US must do something about this economic crisis, but the $700 billion bailout won’t work.

In its current form, the bailout will slam high taxes on working class, elderly, and deprived Americans - people facing the same problems as you: mortgage problems and job losses included.

But if the government didn’t encourage banks to engage in high-risk lending and other volatile behaviour, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

Bailing out these banks will encourage them to continue gambling on taxpayers’ livelihoods, while the banks’ heads, the comfortably rich, and the politicians trying to pass it won’t be affected.

Can a plan scraped together in one week fix a problem brewing for years?

Citizens of the world have to face this fearful time of economic crisis.

Do we weather it out humanely, supporting each other, or do we frantically clamber to make it out on top, forgetting those we crush?

Dianne Selden, an American student living in Cardiff Bay

(Daily Post, 02-10-08, p. 14, your letters)