Letters to the editor for Wednesday, April 2

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's recent proposal to regulate investment banks, coupled with the preceding several-hundred-billion-dollar bailouts, are further proof that Republican economic policies have failed again.

History has proven time and time again that ineffective oversight leads to rampant corruption and ludicrous overreaching during hollow boom periods, which are followed by bust periods that are devastating, economically and socially, to the entire country.

The genius of capitalism has always been to harness the power of greed, not to condone greed itself.

ROBERT ROEDL, MINNEAPOLIS

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, got one thing right in his commentary --the April Fools' Day joke is on the taxpayers.

The former Republican majority created a culture of taxpayers who think they can have good government and services without paying for them. "April Fools!"

The lower-taxes culture put the new Democratic majority in the position where it has to raise taxes. If Minnesota's fiscal and bonding needs had been adequately funded during the Republican majority, we wouldn't have a crumbling transportation infrastructure and wouldn't be playing "catch-up" on higher-education spending.

Don't blame the DFL Rep. Emmer's commentary reminded me how we desperately need a change in the tone of politics. He would have us believe that DFLers have frittered away our budget surplus through overspending. But, as Emmer knows, the economic downturn and implosion of the housing market are the culprits behind the current state deficit.

Furthermore, Emmer claims that DFLers have abandoned middle-of-the-road policy in raising taxes, yet the most significant tax hikes were endorsed by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Has that also become a raging liberal organization? It was not the Democrats who had to cleanse politically impure legislators from their party.

The people of this state and nation are tired of the political squabbling that takes place in a parallel universe while we are stuck dealing with the problems here in reality.

THEO KOZEL, MINNEAPOLIS

Once again we have Rep. Phyllis Kahn wasting the state's time and money -- or more accurately the taxpayers' time and money -- by proposal to lower the drinking age in the state to 18 (Star Tribune, March 29).

GREG HAGFORS, MINNEAPOLIS

In response to the March 28 article "Some legislators want the drinking age lowered to 18," I believe those legislators have good intentions but are misdirected. If seniors in high school could legally buy alcohol, it would be much easier for underage high school kids to get alcohol. The incidents of drinking would only increase from their already high numbers among high school students.

JENNY MOHN, EDEN PRAIRIE

I am dismayed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar's decision to endorse Barack Obama (Star Tribune, April 1). It seems premature and unnecessary, as well hurtful to those Minnesotans who prefer Hillary Clinton as the nominee but were unable to attend their caucuses.

It's time that Minnesota abandons the caucus system and goes to a primary. We do not have "retail politics" at the presidential level in Minnesota. Candidates do not spend time here doing the "meet and greet." We do not get candidate forums.

GLENNA CASE, MINNEAPOLIS

Rep. Michele Bachmann would do well to actually read the legislation that she has attacked with her fatuous "Light Bulb Freedom" bill (Star Tribune, March 26).

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 does not eliminate incandescent bulbs in 2012; it requires that all general-purpose bulbs sold in the United States produce at least 45 lumens per watt by the year 2020.

General Electric has already announced that it will have incandescent bulbs on the market that exceed that standard, well in advance of the deadline. If Bachmann spent more of her time getting information from reputable sources instead of extreme far-right propaganda mills, she might be less inclined to introduce embarrassingly misinformed legislation and make public denunciations of settled science. If not, the voters of her district may want to consider electing someone this fall who lives in the real world.

JOHN ROACH, MINNEAPOLIS