Letters to the editor March 23

School custodians make schools safe on snow days

This is in response to the letter on March 5 about the schools in Carson City being canceled on Feb. 18.

We, the custodians of the Carson City School District work our tails off trying to make sure that all the kids in the district make it to school on time and safe. Most of us work until 10 p.m. or later.

Most of us who get that call at

5 a.m. are there to make it safe for staff and students. We cannot help it if the other counties are not as ready as we are.

Robert A. Ligon

Carson City

Everyone must live within their means

I work for a local construction company. I have watched more than half of my co-workers get laid off, some taking jobs for half what they were making, some unable to find jobs. The ones that are left working, when there is work, have taken 10-percent pay cuts, two-thirds vacation time taken away, and the company can no longer afford to pay for our health insurance. This is what the company has had to do to stay in business. My income for 2010 was a third less than 2009. The house payment is still on time, money is still in the bank and I am still 20 pounds overweight. I have had to cut back on some things, but life is still good, so it can be done.

State workers are overpaid to begin with. Why should people who sit behind desks with fifth-grade computer skills, who are overpaid to begin with, deserve a pension on my dime?

Mr. Ewald writes that he has lost longevity pay, merit pay, overtime pay, and cost of living increases. The real world doesn't even know what these are. So quit your crying. I haven't seen overtime in over two years. Someone else wrote in that they would like to stimulate the economy by buying a new car and going to dinner more if she only had her raises. We would all like to be spending more money.

Please someone wake them up and let them know we are broke.

Victor Bruno III

Dayton

Person on cell phone disregarded traffic laws

Tuesday night coming home on Stewart Street around 8:30 p.m., while it was raining, a car pulled out in front of me from behind the Nugget. This silver Volvo hadn't stopped at the stop sign before pulling out onto Stewart Street. No cars were behind, me but this person had to go, and go now. I followed this vehicle that was traveling well below the speed limit and finally decided to go around and be on my way.

As I was passing, I saw the woman on her cell phone, and as I got to Fifth Street and Stewart, she was pulling into the parking garage of the Legislature. So, I have to wonder, if she has anything to do with the votes on the use of cell phones while driving, will this person make the right decision? Because she didn't make the right decision to be on her cell phone, running stop signs and pulling out in front of people and chatting on her phone while returning to the Legislature building.

Hopefully, she or someone who knows her, sees this letter and lets her know how reckless she drives while using her cell phone. Come on people, there is a time and place for everything.

Rhonda Glisson

Carson City

Government is in no danger of fading away

Sanford E. Deyo of Minden in a letter on March 13, posits that "should the private sector fail to exist, our government will fail to exist as there will be no income taxes or fees to operate it."

Last year, according to a Department of Commerce report, American businesses earned profits of approximately $1.659 trillion. That is the highest amount ever recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago. Revenue from corporate income taxes fell from between 5 and 6 percent of gross domestic product in the early 1950s to 2.1 percent in 2008 - less than half what they once paid as a proportion of GDP.

Corporate taxes paid for more than a quarter of federal outlays in the 1950s and a fifth in the 1960s. Now corporate taxes amount to a mere 5 percent of federal expenses. Succinctly stated, corporations are now paying the lowest level of taxes in the post-World War II era.

Mr. Deyo's opinion that "additional taxation may further decrease opportunities for the free enterprises system" is demonstrably without merit. It also should be noted that during the Clinton administration, we experienced one of the most prosperous periods of economic expansion in our history, and he left office with a substantial surplus.

His successor pushed through tax cuts for corporations and the top 2 percent of individuals in 2002-03, which ultimately contributed to the worst financial meltdown since the Depression, an economic crisis from which we are still suffering.

Jeffrey L. Russell

Minden