Goodman on Business

Ellen Goodman’s Oct. 31 column is another eloquent but misguided leftist treatise on the forces at work in a vibrant economy. Why is it she berates high-priced business executives without a word on the absurd wage scales of our supposedly socially conscious entertainment heroes? Why berate executives for driving costs down instead of the American public that overwhelmingly emphasizes lower prices above social factors in their purchases?

Why is it she berates industry for failing in its moral responsibility in upgrading worker skills and providing health care? I would have thought that the moral responsibility to upgrade worker skills would fall squarely on those who are capable of accomplishing this task; namely the workers themselves and their representatives.

And finally just because many companies offer tax-free health care insurance does not make it their moral obligation to do so. Why doesn’t she address the morally defunct tax codes and Congress that tax those costs when purchased by individuals and not by companies?

DAVID L. MOOTCHNIK

Huntington Beach