If Deficits Aren’t Bad, Why Doesn’t Uncle Sam Just Abolish All Taxes? : Lives Outweigh Jobs

Congratulations on Harry Bernstein’s Dec. 31 column (“Greyhound Sale: Good News or Bad News for Workers?”).

The entire article was of interest to me, but it was the final part (regarding unions that have joined with tobacco companies in criticizing studies on the health effects of smoking) that most interested me.

I am a 78-year-old retired UAW aircraft worker and a recovered--I hope--smoker. I’ve been “clean” since 1960. Because of my own past health problems, I have become something of an activist against tobacco and other harmful substances, and I’ve brought my health problems under control through a revamped diet and food supplements.

But this is not my point, really.

It took a lot of guts for Bernstein to publicly say what he did. I commend and support that courage and candor.

He will probably get a lot of heat from many sources over this, and I wanted to extend the only thing I can offer: my moral support.

Bernstein is a credit to both the labor movement and the journalistic profession.

My family have been blue-collar workers for generations, and I’m sorry as I can be for those in the tobacco industry who are threatened by displacement.

But, as Bernstein has stated, saving lives is more critical than saving jobs.

ROBERT M. JOHNSTON

Torrance