Is the Fourth of July just another party?
I completely agree with JoAnne Kosey’s comment that more patriotism is needed in Riverside on July 3 and 4 (“Hey guttermouths, you’re free to stop speaking,” JoAnne Kosey, July 13).
I’ve stopped going to the July 3 concert because it doesn’t have any any patriotic music any more. I also was disappointed with the parade for the same reason, and because there were no soldiers at all.
Has July 4 become just another party?
Betty Nelson
Riverside
Bring back excess profit tax
During WWII the government added a special tax to prevent suppliers of war materials from profiting from war contracts. It was called an excess profit tax. It saved millions of dollars. I believe the time has come to renew that tax.
Recently we have witnessed the greed of executives who are given incredible “golden parachutes.” For instance, the CEO of the NY Stock Exchange received $140 million! Another CEO received a “golden parachute” of $114 million. The list goes on, rewarding non-performance.
The typical CEO fills his boards with cronies who vote for any actions the CEO wants, including the CEO’s pay scale, bonuses and separation pay.
The easy way out for executives who cannot compete in the United States is to ship their manufacturing facilities overseas. The next step is to sell the company and get the incredible bonuses mentioned above.
That brings up another topic. The companies that manage the new factories overseas have a managerial staff of possibly three levels of managers. The American way is to have as many as 10 layers of managers who usually stay on the payroll even when the product is managed overseas. The government should have an approval process for exporting plants. One requirement would be to check the overhead in the existing plant.
Remember, [former Chrysler Chairman Lee] Iacocca terminated 13,000 middle managers at Chrysler to rescue the company. Such housecleaning should take place before any plants are exported.
Here is one recipe for making America competitive once more:
1) Renew the excess profit taxes?”especially on parachutes.
2) Cut the managerial staffs down to four levels of managers.
3) Remove the “golden parachute” options.
We must do something. Today’s environment is intolerable.
Frank Drazan
Brookfield
