“Leash the Hounds” (Gary, Buiso, PostScript, Nov. 27) speaks to the complete lack of reason and compassion when it comes to protecting adults and particularly children in this city.
In New York, you can spend up to five years in jail for carrying an unlicensed gun, yet walking the streets with an animal who can maim and kill is no problem.
Mario Merlino of the Health Department’s veterinary and pest control states, “It’s a matter of training.” Perhaps the victims or their next of kin should sue the city for improper oversight in training these dogs.
I applaud Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. for taking a stand to protect human life. End this madness. Ban the pit bull.
C. Adago, Washington Heights
Super-committed?
If President Obama was absent from the super-committee’s deliberations, as Peggy Noonan points out, it’s probably because he was asked by the Republicans not to get involved, lest he be a distraction or an undue influence (“Out To Lunch,” PostScript, Nov. 27).
That the super-committee couldn’t come up with an answer is not the president’s fault, but it does become his (and our) problem.
Noonan hopes that the electorate will come up with a clear answer to our financial problems, but it’s unlikely that Congress would even listen.
R. Rainey, Floral Park
Electric shock
Kudos for your editorial, “Albany Con Job,” (Nov. 29) about the massive and hidden taxes Albany is imposing in electric bills.
The 500 percent from two years ago is only the beginning. If opponents of Indian Point get their way and shut the plant, NYC consumers will pay between $2 billion and $3 billion in higher energy costs, a study issued by the city found. The study also notes there will be massive public subsidies to promote replacement projects.
Enough is enough. New York needs economical sources of power like Indian Point — and a rollback in energy taxes.
Jerry Kremer, Chairman, New York Affordable Alliance, Manhattan
Taxes and jobs
There is no evidence that raising taxes on the rich kills job creation (“Andrew’s Moving Lips,” Editorial, Dec. 1).
Employment boomed during the 1950s, when our top income-tax rate was 91%.
More recently, wages, economic output and job creation all grew after President Clinton pushed through a tax increase on the richest Americans. The unemployment rate in 1995 was 5.4%.
The Bush tax cuts (and two wars) turned Clinton’s surplus into today’s record-setting deficit and debt, and the unemployment rate is 9.3%. The idea that raising the taxes on a few thousand New Yorkers will kill jobs is nothing more than right-wing ideological tripe.
Richard Kravesh, Nyack
Why it’s called luck
Has this country reached a point where a person cannot purchase a lottery ticket if their salary is more than a certain amount (“They’re Rich and Richer,” Nov. 29)?
Why is it more believable when money is found in a taxi or in the street or when a large lottery is won by a first-time ticket purchaser than when the lottery is won by those who make more money than most?
The lottery is open to all — regardless of race, creed, party affiliation or salary.
B. Shea, Gaithersburg, Md.