Letter to the Editor

Your view: Disagreement

Friday, October 21, 2005

I have the immense pleasure of disagreeing with Michael Jensen's October 16 column regarding the pessimistic nature America has adopted. While I do agree with your assessment of the American outlook, this outlook is justified by our government's recent failings.

First of all, the information you used in your inflation example is flawed. I presume it was an oversight on your part, instead of another attempt to discredit the likes of Kennedy, Pelosi, and Clinton. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, wholesale prices rose 1.9 percent in September, with gasoline and food prices accounting for most of the jump. Excluding gasoline and food, the core rate of inflation still increased 0.3 percent. Maybe we shouldn't predict "doom and gloom" just yet, since August only showed a negligible increase, but it is still worthy of our pessimistic attention.

While inflation is a concern, Americans have various other reasons to be pessimistic. Let's not forget that our Congress has two majority leaders, Tom Delay and Bill Frist, who are currently indicted and under investigation, respectively. Let's not forget that the White House's top two advisors, Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby, were involved in leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative to discredit her husband's contention with faulty intelligence. Let's not forget the war in Iraq -- waged on the same faulty intelligence -- with all its mismanagement, prison abuse, and comparisons to Vietnam. Finally, let's not forget the government's planning and response to Hurricane Katrina, which was gross negligence at best.

I consider myself an optimist also, and I would like to share my optimism with the American pessimists--November 2006 and November 2008. Change is on the horizon -- or let's at least be optimistic that it is.

Kenny King