Readers write for Nov. 26, 2010

Now you see it, now you don't. It was interesting that two Nov. 20 letters about the Lockheed Martin plant shutdown had exactly opposite views. One writer blamed the Republicans, one blamed the Democrats.

I bet it is nice to live in a world unencumbered by facts.

WAYNE SATHER, EAGAN

• • •

As disheartening as it is to see jobs leaving the state, what is really disappointing is the invective hurled at our elected officials in an attempt to assign blame.

I have met Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken as well as Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and I know how dedicated they are to a business climate conducive to maintaining employment and creating even more jobs.

Our elected officials are not in office to ensure that government programs (whatever their worth) exist to provide jobs to citizens. These programs, of course, are paid for with tax dollars (collected from the employed).

We have a free-market economy, and in such an economy, business mergers occur, resulting in job transfers and the loss of some jobs as others are created. Let's not confuse affordability in business strategy with dutiful and honest representation in government.

TIM GOSSFELD, CHANHASSEN

• • •

The results of the Knight Foundation-Gallup study about a community's "soul" comes just as a major technology company has announced that it is leaving Minnesota and taking nearly 1,000 jobs with it. The study presents results that your Nov. 20 editorial, "Seeking the soul of the Twin Cities," says should inform the ongoing debate about our economy by reminding us that quality of life in our communities is derived from social offerings, openness, aesthetics and other things that are not really debatable.

But the study leaves out the most important aspect of those qualities -- that those elements are in fact derived from a vibrant economy that depends on business, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to provide and sustain wealth. The underlying public policy of our state does not come close to providing a friendly environment for those elements to thrive, especially in comparison with other states and regions.

Thus, while Lockheed Martin is leaving for a variety of reasons independent of the state's business climate, that debilitating climate certainly did not provide this outstanding employer -- and others like it -- compelling reasons to remain. Minnesota has used public investment for a generation to build a remarkable quality of life; it is now time to invest in and incentivize the private sector to sustain it for the next generation.

CHIP LAINGEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEFENSE ALLIANCE, ST. PAUL

Speaking on behalf of 1,200 grocery stores and convenience stores in Minnesota, we are disappointed by your Nov. 12 editorial "In TCF vs. the Fed, Cooper fights back" for taking such a one-sided and premature view of a complicated issue.

The fee system attached to credit card transactions is broken. The changes passed by Congress are justified and important steps toward consumer protection and transparency.

Store owners have no choice but to offer the option of credit or debit card payment for any type of transaction, from a pack of gum to a cart full of groceries. Merchants are charged interchange fees each time a customer uses a credit or debit card, and ultimately these fees lead to higher prices for all consumers. Customers who pay cash end up subsidizing credit card users because the higher costs are built into the price of every gallon of gasoline, box of cereal or package of meat they buy.

The Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act, which applies only to debit cards, does three things:

1)It allows the Federal Reserve to examine whether debit card fees are "reasonable and proportional."

2)It allows the Fed to take the cost of fraud into account in determining what is a reasonable rate.

3)It allows the transparency needed for retailers to finally tell customers that one card has higher costs than another. It gives the Fed authority similar to what it has for paper checks and consumer credit card fees. This requirement will benefit consumers.

At a time when every penny counts, the Durbin Amendment takes appropriate action to allow consumers to spend their own money without hidden fees. Banks no longer have a blank check.

JAMIE L. PFUHL, PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA GROCERS ASSOCIATION

Which is more effective in creating jobs: Putting money into the personal savings accounts of business owners or putting money into the wallets of their customers?

If we were to increase aid to a million struggling families with dependent children by $50 per month, that $50 million would end up in the bank accounts of retailers, wholesalers and producers each month.

If we were to reduce taxes by $500 per month on 100,000 business owners, the $500 would increase their personal wealth by a small fraction of their annual income.

Which would create jobs?

American businesses need customers if they are to hire more employees.

JAY JOHNSON, CHANHASSEN

• • •

Standing this morning in the shower, where I dream impossible dreams, I pretended that the morning news led with a story that America's most profitable corporations had begun investing and hiring again simply for the good of the nation.

These companies had taken a look at the struggling economic recovery and all the pain it's creating in people's lives and had decided to move "civic good" from a public-relations strategy to a corporate strategy.

Crazy, huh?

PHILIP BOLINDER, Woodbury