BUSINESS LETTERS
Re: “Infiniti M56: Nipped, tucked and powered up,” May13:
I can only shake my head and wonder when I read pieces like your recent car review that celebrates the testosterone rush of “a burly 5.6-liter V-8” while hundreds of thousands of Americans have served and died and untold hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in the longest running war in our history, fought as a result of our dependence on Middle East oil. Do you really think at that price we should “ignore that number on the bathroom stall, turn the switch to Sport and turn off the traction control”?
Richard Landers
Pacific Palisades
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Workers strike at Boeing plant,” May 12:
I wonder if the union knows that the Defense Department and the Air Force didn’t want [and] didn’t ask for those planes they’re holding up by striking. They better hope the Air Force doesn’t tell ‘em to forget ‘em, and save my tax money.
Dick Ettington
Palos Verdes
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: David Lazarus’ business column “What transit needs is riders,” May 11:
When are we going to abandon this old tired idea of expanding mass transit and subways in Los Angeles? Maybe after enough people read Mr. Lazarus’ column.
In his well-researched column he reports that mass transit in Los Angeles doesn’t have enough people using it, it’s not cost effective and it’s losing money it never had. That said, maybe we shouldn’t spend billions of dollars on a “hole in the ground to the sea,” among other mass transit endeavors.
.
Manny Rodriguez
West Hollywood
::
I work in the film business and change work locations every three to six months. My enthusiasm for mass transit causes me to try out at least once during a show the mass-transit options to get to and from work. Invariably I have found that my commute time at least doubles.
The only real time saver out there is the subways or the light rails and those are never the only leg I have to take to get to work. You cannot entice people like me to leave our cars at home for a commute that takes twice as long and involves standing at noisy, sooty bus stops waiting for the next bus to come by. The light rail lines, subways and dedicated busways are the only way to go.
Scott Herbertson
Burbank
::
My wife and I live in the Valley and both work on the Westside. A few times a month we like to have one car at the end of the day. I take the bus to West Hollywood and meet her in Culver City.
My last trip from Sherman Oaks to West Hollywood took over two hours and two thirds of the way I had to stand. In my car that’s a 15-mile trip that takes me 30 minutes without traffic and 45 minutes with traffic.
I do have an idea on how to improve the system and get more riders.
Make it mandatory for all City Council members and the County Board of Supervisors to ride the bus to and from work one week per month.
Brian Higgins
Sherman Oaks
::
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Flavored baby formula a sour choice, critics say,” May 11:
Introducing Enfagrow Premium, another sweetened beverage, into the toddler’s world is criminal. Early childhood is the most vulnerable of times, when good and bad habits develop. Nutrition literature abounds with proof that sweetened foods promote habituation through brain chemistry. Similar mechanisms pertain to salt-added foods. Both are tools of the trade to promote public acceptance of a product by increasing content. For Mead Johnson to state that “the product is no sweeter than chocolate milk or orange juice” is aiding and abetting the obesity crisis in our country.
Jerome P. Helman, M.D.
Venice
(
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “WellPoint, Obama rift escalates,” May 10:
It may be true that insurance companies did not treat their customers fairly in many cases as well as not selling coverage to high-risk patients, but the companies still have their right to drop customers who use fraud. WellPoint has made the right decision in saying that the government must work with insurance companies to make the new law effective.
Josue Ramos
Lynwood
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Who made what in the media stratosphere,” May 9:
Women may have come “a long way baby” in some areas but not in the area of CEOs in media.
In looking at the article on the recent pay of the CEOs in U.S. media companies,
I think it’s outrageous and fairly stupid that no women run any of those companies, especially considering women consume over half of all media in America.
Steve Paskay
Los Angeles
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Building a better bulb,” May 9:
Thank you for your piece entitled, “How I Made It: Pervaiz Lodhie.”
It truly captured the essence of one individual’s struggle as a Pakistani American to chase the American dream and the ability for it to be obtained through persistence and hard work.
In this time of Faisal Shahzad, and the Times Square [attempted bombing] incident, these kinds of profiles and positive portrayals of Pakistani Americans to serve as a counter-narrative to what most Americans see in the news about Pakistan and Pakistani Americans is invaluable.
Taha Gaya
Washington
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Anthem’s inadvertent rate hike flaws,” May 6:
I see that a large health insurance company indicates that it made “inadvertent errors” in its filing for rate increases. Suppose a health insurance company decided I made an “errror” in my application. What do you think the outcome would be? Would I get a second chance to correct the “errors” so my policy would remain in effect? Seems unlikely.
Perhaps once a flawed rate increase request is denied there should be at least a year waiting period before the insurance company is allowed to make a new request for an increase. If the penalty for the policyholder is immediate loss of benefits, shouldn’t there be some type of penalty when the company does not tell the truth on its application for a rate increase?
Robert Bloomgarden, M.D.
Del Mar
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: “Freeze, it’s the iPolice!” May 5:
The Times’ article on the ties between the REACT unit and private industry performs a valuable service by pointing out the larger issues and dangers of corporate influence within a police organization. Police units have been given their extreme powers based upon a mandate to address the security of the general public, not to serve the interests of private corporations.
To place such power in the hands of businesses that are internally structured as top-down hierarchies of control threatens our civil liberties at the same time it diverts law enforcement from its legitimate public functions.
This is exactly the kind of issue that publications such as The Times should be bringing to the attention of their readers.
Carl Gunther
West Hollywood
HEADLINE HERE:
Re: Michael Hiltzik’s business column, “Bankers’ broken record grates,” May 5:
I wish I could make this column required reading for every American of voting age. How any congressman or senator can fight legislation to try and avoid another economic disaster like the one is beyond me — even considering all the money that Wall Street throws into lobbying for less restrictive measures.
Goldman-Sachs’ greed doesn’t surprise me. At least they were smart enough to figure out the economy was heading for free fall — and make money in the process. It’s the other guys that worry me. They never saw it coming. They’ve been called the Masters of the Universe and it appears they didn’t have enough sense to head indoors when the first sprinkle started to fall.
Dan Witt
North Hollywood
Business welcomes your letters. Write to Letters to the Business Editor, Los Angeles Times, CA 90012, or bizletters@latimes.com. Please keep your letters brief and include your address, telephone number, and the title and date of the article you are referring to.
