AFL-CIO's work against EPA hurts labor movement

As a labor activist for more than 30 years, I was disheartened to see the AFL-CIO join the Chamber of Commerce in a myopic perspective on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations for the electrical industry ("An uncertain future for power plants," Oct. 20).

As the Post-Dispatch pointed out in "Rush? What rush?" (Oct. 19), the protestations about EPA regulations to implement provisions of the Clean Air Act are long overdue and warranted. Labor's protest of a potential loss of jobs (an assertion for which no evidence is offered) fails to recognize that every regulation imposed implies a need for jobs to implement those regulations — perhaps even to vitalize a nascent industry.

Labor leaders who join short-sighted corporate objectives that are contrary to public good, supposedly to protect jobs, do the labor movement a disservice. It contributes to the perception of unions as self-serving and irrelevant to society. John F. Kennedy noted that the goals of labor are far broader and that labor always has been at the forefront of issues important to the whole of society.

Great unionist Samuel Gompers said, "What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails, more books and less arsenals, more learning and less vice, more constant work and less crime, more leisure and less greed, more justice and less revenge. In fact more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful and childhood more happy and bright."

Certainly consistent with that would be the protection of good health for all and clean air. Those are the objectives of the Clean Air Act and the EPA, and they are part and parcel to the broadest sentiments of what labor wants.

Donald L. Foley • Florissant

Dedicated to education

"Students should look at loan default rates to judge colleges" (Oct. 16) drew attention to a very important fact: College students must make sound, informed decisions about financial aid before they take on debt. This is true regardless of the student or the type of university he chooses to attend.

Unfortunately, the article missed the mark on a key point. While traditional schools — community colleges, state universities and the like — play an invaluable role in educating Americans, the truth is they can't do it alone. Non-traditional students — working adults who, more often than not, also are raising a family — constitute nearly 75 percent of all college students today. For these students, community colleges and traditional universities just don't work. Accredited, proprietary schools such as University of Phoenix offer working adults the flexibility they need in a rigorous academic environment that is held to the same standards as traditional universities.

Americans today need greater access to quality higher education. Traditional colleges and universities cannot do it alone. For more than three decades, University of Phoenix has been dedicated to educating working adults who want a college degree and are willing to work hard to earn one.

Adam Wright • St. Louis County

Campus Director, University of Phoenix, St. Louis Campus

Champion Cain

The editorial "The absurdity of 9-9-9" (Oct. 16), which dismissed Republican presidential contender Herman Cain and his policies as simplistic and absurd, was beneath even the Post-Dispatch.

Is the St. Louis public to think that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Sen. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and President Barack Obama are preferable choices to Mr. Cain? All we have gotten from them are over-regulation and the promise of higher tax liabilities. Mr. Dodd, who helped craft the Dodd-Frank legislation, retired from the Senate with his big taxpayer-funded pension and left the banking industry with one hand tied behind its back.

Mr. Cain, as I see it, speaks bluntly, is a self-made man and has not depended on the government for a handout. We should be applauding him instead of trying to tear down his image.

The newspaper should be pursuing the Solyndra scandal and the gun scandal in Mexico (two people may have lost their lives as a result of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's incompetence).

Deanna Heuermann • Hazelwood

Simplicity is good

I read with interest the editorial "The absurdity of 9-9-9" (Oct. 16), about Herman Cain's now-famous "9-9-9" tax plan. One of the editorial's stated concerns is the simplicity of the plan. In a day and age when our senior U.S. senator from Missouri — herself a former prosecutor and auditor — can't seem to figure out her tax obligations, maybe simplicity isn't a bad thing.

Al Johnson • Clayton

We should be horrified

Regarding "The born legacy" (Oct. 16): The pro-life movement does seem to stop as soon as the child is born. The tragic deaths of the infants in day care is only one example of lawmakers looking the other way. For example, the child abuse and neglect issues that horrify us when they hit the news. This could be avoided with programs that help children when their parents aren't capable. Some of these issues are caused by mental illness or drug abuse. Where are the programs to deal with them? Jail and prison are costly, and many of the people in prison were abused or neglected as children. Many programs that address issues related to child abuse, mental health, drug addiction, etc., are considered too expensive for lawmakers.

A child dying in day care should be unacceptable. All day care providers, including those run by religious entities, should be licensed. Who is being protecting: the providers or the children?

Our country must take care of all babies, older children and adults — even to the end of life. How can we expect to have a healthy society when folks in trouble have nowhere to turn? But legislators are interested in issues that make the press, not issues that save lives.

We should be horrified.

Carol Wagner • Crestwood

The next lap

In "The scapegoat strategy" (Oct. 16), Charles Krauthammer accuses President Barack Obama of planning an election strategy based on populism — that the rich and Republicans are really to blame for our economic situation. Is that not obvious at this point? Mr. Obama became president after 30 years of tax changes, deregulation and unenforced laws allowed the rapid transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top 1 percent. We now have 400 families in the United States that are worth more than the bottom 150 million. By some accounts, the top 1 percent own 80 percent of the country.

The Bush tax cuts added $1.5 trillion to our debt and created no jobs. Mr. Obama inherited the worst economic situation in a century. The damages directly caused by Wall Street are estimated to be nearly $7 trillion.

Mr. Obama met an openly hostile Republican Party, multinational corporations and a super rich class that was not going to help. The Democrats are going to run on populism against the very rich and the Republicans. Remember who gave Obama the lead baton to run the next lap.

Richard Mitchell • Columbia, Mo.

Defaulting is OK?

According to Charles Krauthammer in "The scapegoat strategy" (Oct. 16), only the poor and middle class can wage class warfare. Apparently, it's not class warfare to recommend that the government default on the $2.5 trillion Social Security trust fund because that would not disturb the financial markets. Taxing the rich is class warfare, but defaulting on Social Security or reducing the minimum wage is merely good economics.

Mr. Krauthammer's comments regarding responsibility for the national debt fail to mention that it nearly tripled under President Ronald Reagan. Moreover, deficits accumulated under Mr. Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, including interest, accounted for three-fourths of our national debt at the close of 2010, the year of stimulus spending.

Bill Moran • Innsbrook