Should gamblers pay students' tuition?
February 16, 2009 | The Morning Call
After reading the story about Gov. Rendell's plan to legalize poker machines to provide college tuition assistance, I wondered what the true role of government should be.
Gambling may be simply entertainment, but then why is it so strictly regulated? Pinball and trivia machines are free and can be accessed by anyone. It is the idea of "getting something for nothing" that is a very powerful drug. No one's problems can be solved by lucky, unearned money, and the state should not encourage it.
Those lavish casinos are not built from winners, but from the losers. Look at the lottery. Lotteries are "regressive" because citizens with less income tend to spend a greater proportion of their income on lottery products than do higher-income citizens. The state should not endorse this.
Will the college students who get this help understand the true source and cost? Pennsylvania is better than that, and the lawmakers should act accordingly.
Matt Connolly
Bethlehem Township
Blame for crisis has been wrongly placed
December 08, 2008 | The Morning Call
The Dec. 1 column by Richard Brunner says he used to be a capitalist, worked to save and enrich his life in his early years, and now, in his 80s, his stock portfolio is down. So, he blames politicians and appointees and is giving up on the system as a whole.
Perhaps he forgot some of the basic rules, such as "What goes up can come down," and, more importantly, that the stock market is no place for someone who is of the age where he can't comfortably ride out a downturn. There are far safer places your money should be.
What bothers me the most about the current group-think is that it says Bush and his pals have once again plunged a knife into the heart of the middle class to benefit a few at the top. Let's not forget what got us here. It was pressure put on banks, mainly during the previous administration, to give home loans to those who would not normally have gotten them.
In fact, the spirit of "The New Age Peasant's Revolt" can be directly linked to the current mess. After all, the capitalist system was subverted by idealistic do-gooders who tried to use the government to change the issues of nature and man, the most important one being, "You can't consume more than you produce."
On the surface, more people owning homes is the best thing a community can ask for. But they have to earn them and have a true stake in them. That is the only way that stability and value can make their way into the equation.
Matt Connolly
Bethlehem Township