LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Column nailed U.S. problems

Regarding Bruce Bowers of the Progressive Responses group's column in the May 2 Commentary section: I have not read an article in the newspaper that articulated the problems of the United States so well. Bowers said what needs to be said. My only concern is that it may be falling on deaf ears.

GARY KRETT

Florence

Wal-Mart hurts jobless workers

Recent letters to the editor suggest that Wal-Mart is a good place to shop because in these hard times, people need to stretch their dollars. I want to question that assertion and propose instead that shopping at Wal-Mart makes hard times harder.

We all know that there isn't enough work. Few of the available jobs are adequate to support a family, and even fewer offer benefits. Where did the jobs go?

We all know that American businesses are outsourcing. Lower labor costs mean lower prices and higher profits. Investors love it. It's good for your pension plan, if you have one. Lower prices are great unless it was your job that got shipped overseas.

When jobless people stretch their dollars at Wal-Mart, they increase the profits of the companies who made them jobless. When working people without benefits stretch their dollars at Wal-Mart, they boost someone else's retirement plan but not theirs.

The current local question is if Wal-Mart can add a grocery store to its big box in Eugene. Wal-Mart pays its workers significantly less than other groceries. If they cut deep enough into the local market, they can force layoffs and delay pay increases at the other stores. So the savings you get at Wal-Mart really come out of the pockets of your neighbors. It's kind of like asking them to pay part of your monthly grocery bill.

A rising tide may lift all boats, but it is small comfort to the boatless.

BROOK ADAMS

Eugene

Vote for the environment first

When it comes to choosing a candidate for whom to vote, our first criterion for consideration is the propensity of each candidate to support protection of the environment. While business, the economy, jobs and international matters are all issues in judging a candidate's worth for elective office, these are all short-term issues and none has the long-term significance of the environment. Without a healthy environment that supports biodiversity by providing the life-giving contributors of a beneficial ecology, nothing else will ultimately matter. We will doom our civilization to extinction.

There will be no consumers of the products and services of business, no jobs to be filled, no economy to sustain. Because our society tends to favor short-term gain over long-term survival, we overlook the ultimate effect our greed to satisfy our thirst today has on our ability to satisfy our hunger tomorrow. The adage, "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; if you teach him to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime" applies to the long-term survival of our species and our planet just as much as it does to one individual.

So, when choosing a candidate to represent you in any elective office, please consider how that candidate will support sustaining our environment so there will be an economy that generates business and creates jobs, not only for the day, but for a lifetime of days to come.

DAVID BERG 

JUDY BERG 

Eugene

Nathanson is ready for the job

Nancy Nathanson's opponent is proposing that the city of Eugene invest in more surveys, more advisory groups and more special committees before getting to down to business. Enough!

We've been there, done that ad nauseam. Now is the time for action.

Nathanson has the experience, the qualifications and is ready for the job now. Vote for Nancy Nathanson.

ALEX BROKAW

Eugene