Capitalism taught in Guatemala

Re “Leftist thinking left off the syllabus,” Column One, June 6

Bravo for an enlightening story on Guatemala’s Francisco Marroquin University.

I’m particularly glad that The Times allowed the university’s founder, Manuel Francisco Ayau Cordon, to rebut the socialist canard that teaching free-market economic analysis is a way of perpetuating the wealth and power of the business class.

The consistent laissez-faire policy he advocates would benefit poor people greatly and would be detrimental to those who obtain their wealth through government subsidies, monopoly grants and so on.

That’s just as true in the U.S. as in Guatemala, by the way.

George Leef

Raleigh, N.C.

The writer is director of research at the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

When I saw the headline, I was hoping that maybe the ruling class at one of our politically correct universities had come to its senses. No such luck. The good fortune belongs to Guatemala.

Well, more power to them. I expect we’ll soon be buying our goods from them, just as we have from so many other countries that have belatedly discovered the capitalism our country is rapidly forgetting. “Economic justice,” anyone?

Sylvia Alloway

Granada Hills

A pregnant 17-year-old girl, denied water while working in the sweltering grape fields of California’s Central Valley, died of heat exhaustion -- the beauty of corporate capitalism.

It makes me wonder if The Times gave a single thought to the true meaning of governmental regulation and control when writing this cutely titled article.

Gerry Morrow

Palm Desert