Readers Write (Feb. 12): The moose population; jobs, start-ups and automation; diversity in the funny pages

Surprise! The moose population is booming on Isle Royale now that Mother Nature has selected the wolves in that particular environ for extermination ("The thick and thin of it," Feb. 5). With the proposal to pluck healthy wolves from a stable environment and reintroduce them to an apparently non-wolf-friendly island, the never-ending, (taxpayer funded?) wolf study/camping trip continues. Dare we fathom a guess as to what fate looms for the moose? Let's just say they'd better sleep with one eye open. Nature will deal with the moose if the island can't sustain them. Some random winter, the lake will experience another total freeze, the wolves will cross to the island and the eternal moose/wolf dynamic will play out, as it has for thousands of years.

Let it happen.

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Ron Schara shares his opinion in his Feb. 5 commentary "The thick and thin of it" by comparing the relationship between wolves and moose in Minnesota and Isle Royale. He wants the reader to accept the premise that wolves appear to be a major cause in the decline of the moose population in Minnesota. He states: "While Minnesota's case is more complex, the state's moose are prey to a historically high wolf population. In one Minnesota wolf study area, the number of wolves roaming the north is the highest it's been in 40 years."

I would ask Mr. Schara to dig a bit deeper into the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) statistics on the historic wolf and moose populations. These reports are readily available and easily found.

The DNR wolf population survey clearly indicates the Minnesota wolf population peaked in 2003-04 at 3,020 wolves. Yet in 2006, the moose population peaked at 8,840. This would not support his point.

In addition, DNR statistics show, the wolf population has dropped nearly 27 percent since the peak. This fact places in doubt Schara's statement saying that "the number of wolves roaming the north is the highest it's been in 40 years."

The answer to that question is that, no, the wolf population is already down 27 percent from its peak, and the moose continues to be at risk. Thinning out or killing a few more wolves will not bring back the moose. Stop wasting time blaming the wolf and concentrate your efforts on a real solution.

The Feb. 5 commentary "A reasonable path for GOP toward universal coverage" ignored some key points. Our common goal is high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. That's quite a bit different from insurance coverage or access to insurance coverage. Remember that insurance companies operate in the free market. They seek a large number of subscribers, betting that most subscribers will make few or inexpensive claims for medical services. That provides enough money to pay for the large claims coming from a hopefully small number of subscribers for chronic illness or end-of-life care.

If the number of subscribers gets smaller, if the number of expensive claims increases and/or if the costs of medical services increase, the insurance companies don't have enough income to cover the claims. Companies can and do respond in several ways. Being in a free market, they may stop offering health insurance altogether. They can raise premiums. They can reduce coverage and increase copays and deductibles. All of these responses are happening today in Minnesota.

The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) attempted to address these problems by making insurance mandatory (or be penalized) but still relying on private insurance companies to provide health care. (Mandatory insurance is not new; everyone in Minnesota who owns a car must have auto insurance.) Premiums went up anyway, forcing people to pay the penalty for insurance they couldn't afford.

It is ironic that much of the rest of the world has universal health care for all citizens, including places like Thailand, Rwanda and Bangladesh, that is affordable or free and of high-quality.

The Feb. 5 story "Start-up accelerator scene heating up" claimed the number of start-ups in the Twin Cities has been "exploding" amid the ubiquity of the tech economy. However, this popular myth masks for readers a much more discouraging reality that threatens economic dynamism, innovation and jobs.

Since 1977, start-up companies in the Twin Cities metro have created a net majority of new jobs, but the rate of new businesses during that time has declined nearly 60 percent. This decline has coincided with a slow consolidation of the Twin Cities economy. The share of jobs in the metro at companies with 10,000 or more workers has increased over 11 percent; creating a dynamic where the firms most responsible for job loss over the long term control an increased share of our local economy.

More accelerators in the Twin Cities is a positive sign for the region's start-up ecosystem, but it should not distract readers or policymakers from the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in an economy where the playing field has been tilted to large corporate incumbents.

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Lee Schafer's Feb. 5 column ("Jobs are plentiful, at least for machines") is a reminder that automation is gradually eliminating the blue-collar middle class. Automation in the form of computers is likewise eliminating the white-collar middle class. The pace is accelerating, with the result that there will be a huge number of permanently unemployed workers.

Everybody who wants to work should have the opportunity. Some of the profits from automation should be taxed to offset the cost of paying a living wage to displaced white- and blue-collar workers. Everybody will benefit from the repairs and additions to the nation's infrastructure.

A Feb. 5 letter writer was upset that were no minority comics in the Star Tribune. I would like to point out that the paper has published comics by minorities in the past.

They included "The Boondocks," "The Knight Life" and "La Cucaracha." (Another comic called "Prickly City" also featured a minority character, but this was a political strip written by a white conservative commentator, so I feel the character was a political statement more than anything else.)

However, these comics either retired or were not very popular and were dropped. The Star Tribune still publishes "Jump Start" on the weekdays.

There are other minority strips like "Baldo" and "Curtis," but room would have to be made by cutting another strip.