Drexel’s Bankruptcy

Call me a communist, but I’ve never understood why the workers of a once healthy company should pay for the debt incurred in a takeover when the lion’s share of the money goes to firms like Drexel and their cowboy clients.

I’ve been in the airline industry for 17 years and though deregulation has certainly played a part in the decline of working conditions, the major culprit in my estimation has been junk bonds. Without them, Frank Lorenzo would never have been able to control the two airlines which he is now piloting into the ground. His slave wages gave the entire industry a chance to gain major concessions due to the unnatural competition.

In another travesty, junk bonds helped finance the takeover of Pacific Lumber Co. which has doubled its tree cutting and now plans to harvest some of the oldest virgin sequoias in the world to reduce its debt.

Now Drexel’s house of cards is crumbling and it is my fervent hope that the government won’t aid Drexel in any way. They made their bed--after stripping ours--they can lie in it.

JEANNE C. DAVIS

Santa Monica