Opinion: In today’s pages
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Postage stamp prices are rising today to 41 cents. The editorial board explains why:
So why do we keep having to dig deeper into our wallets for stamps?Partly it’s because the price of gas keeps going up, adding to transportation costs. But mostly it’s because the Postal Service is very generous to its unions.As first-class mail declines, so does the revenue it generates. Most businesses react to declining revenue by laying off workers, especially because the decline means there’s less work to do. But layoffs are forbidden at the Postal Service under contracts with its four major unions.... Government monopolies plus vigorous unions tend to equal a bad deal for consumers.
The board also explains the ethnic politics at work behind the race to fill late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald’s congressional seat, and why the Vatican thought it best to backpedal after Pope Benedict XVI suggested that pro-choice Mexican legislators should be excommunicated.
On the op-ed page, Trinity University President Patricia McGuire tells why her school will protest the college ranking game and why others should opt out as well. Columnist Gregory Rodriguez considers when protest -- in this case, for immigration reform -- stops being effective. Columnist Niall Ferguson explores whether New York City, like Venice before it, will go from metropolis to museum as globalization shifts commerce to other places. Oilwatchdog.org co-founders Judy Dugan and Jamie Court present their findings on how Big Oil funds Sacramento.
Readers respond to the Column One on rats. Sherman Oaks’ James Cannon notes that the piece didn’t mention the brutality of glue traps, while Jack Bierman of La Cañada Flintridge reveals the best bait.