Bailouts seem to favor the rich

Re “With markets on edge, Fed takes urgent action to calm investors,” March 17

The Federal Reserve is now shoring up those who have been devastated by their own poor business decisions. A better choice for this largesse would be the millions who invested conservatively and have been hard hit by the double whammy of inflation and lowered interest rates.

Phyllis Gottlieb

Los Angeles

Re “Wall Street giant gets Fed bailout,” March 15

The Bush administration’s and the Republican Party’s bias against the working class and favor for the investor class has been writ large once again with President Bush’s immediate bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. Bush previously compelled Congress (it didn’t need much prodding) to rush to the aid of the hedge fund industry, and in the 1980s, Bush’s own brother, Neil, was at the heart of the savings and loan scandal that cost the taxpayers hundreds of billions.

The working class gets condescending lectures about making bad deals and only limited help. Bush and the Republicans then dismissively counsel that they shouldn’t use opportunistic payday loans and check-cashing stores that charge huge fees, yet they fight legislation to rein in these predators. No one should pay heed to a single word from Bush, his administration or the Republican Party on any issue related to working people because they don’t care about them, pure and simple.

Jeff Softley

Los Angeles

I can understand why it is important to bail out Bear Stearns. However, it is time to recognize that the decisions that got it in trouble were made by its highly compensated executives. It is time for all of these executives to suffer for bad decisions. In all bailouts and bankruptcies, the top executives should receive the Lee Iacocca compensation package, $1 plus stock a year until they get the companies back on track. There should be no executive bonuses for employee cuts, and any employees taking cuts should be given stock equal to the pay cuts.

Larry Severson

Fountain Valley