Paul M. Wortman

East Setauket, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2008

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To the Editor:

Re “Fed in an $85 Billion Rescue of an Insurer Near Failure” (front page, Sept. 17):

Why is it that when the wizards of Wall Street are making billions, they get to keep the money, making some of them fabulously wealthy? But when they are utterly incompetent and their enterprises collapse, the taxpayers pick up the tab? Where is the justice?

Christine Ridout

Wayland, Mass., Sept.

17, 2008

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To the Editor:

Re “McCain Laboring to Hit Right Note on the Economy” (front page, Sept. 17):

John McCain claims to understand American workers’ distress and denounces “greed” on Wall Street. His understanding must be tissue-thin, however, given his historic association with the Republican economic agenda.

Consider, for example, what might have happened in the current financial crisis if Mr. McCain and his party had won the battle to privatize Social Security.

Those distressed workers, having invested part of their wages in private pension plans, would now face retirement with precious little return on their investments. They’d also be dipping into pension savings just to pay the mortgage or the heating bill.

Not for them the luxury of the golden parachute or the government bailout. Just hard times.

Judy Salzman

Watertown, Mass., Sept. 17, 2008

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To the Editor:

The media and the Obama campaign have jumped all over Senator John McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy are “strong.” This proves, they say, that he is out of touch.

Maybe his instincts are not so wrong. Everyone knows that the economy has been hit hard, but psychology plays a huge part in bringing about a recovery. The drumbeat of woe and doom makes things only worse, as people stop spending and investing.

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Having politically correct politicians and the media scream that we are headed for a depression makes their predictions self-fulfilling.

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John McCain’s natural instinct was to be optimistic, not to panic.

Things will get better if we act now with speed and compassion, but we need to believe that the fundamentals are strong.

As a Democratic president once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

John McCain’s first instinct was to address that fear. He should not be criticized for doing so.

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Robert J. Brudno

Washington, Sept. 18, 2008

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To the Editor:

“Wall Street Is Down, and So Are They” (news article, Sept. 18):

Every day we read more stories about the woes of Wall Street, which inevitably will affect us all. While it is undeniably necessary to determine how we got to this place so as to avoid winding up here again in the future, I am struck by the runaway train of blame that seems to be running amok.

Everyone from the top down seems to need to find someone else to point the finger at. We each need to look ourselves squarely in the eye, in the mirror and honestly ask ourselves a question: Did I in any way contribute to this mess?

Until we remember that we are all an “I,” before a “they,” we will never solve any of our problems, and continue to depend on others to save us from ourselves.

Leslie Ruth Hunter

Atlanta, Sept. 18, 2008

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To the Editor:

Re “Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required” (column, Sept. 18):

Cheers to Nicholas D. Kristof for hitting the C.E.O. salary nail on the head. But there’s yet another nail to be driven home: the practice of passing rising costs on to the consumer to maintain sufficient corporate profitability.

The effects of this abuse resonate all the way down the line, from shareholders to those shopping at Wal-Mart, the gas station and the local supermarket. People are hurting, and they are finally shouting “Enough!”

Martha D. Trowbridge

New York, Sept.

18, 2008

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To the Editor:

Nicholas D. Kristof doesn’t go far enough when he suggests that overpaid American C.E.O.’s “should learn from Britain and Australia.” I would like to see some masters of the universe line up, bow deeply and apologize to their employees and shareholders — in the fashion of Japanese managers.

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And then give back the money they didn’t earn.

Sharon Bermon

New York, Sept. 18, 2008

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To the Editor:

Re “For Wall Street, Greed Wasn’t Good Enough” (Op-Ed, Sept. 18):

Paul Wilmott correctly contends that the cause of the current fiscal crisis emanates from the free-rider mentality that spurred Wall Street: bankers will continue “taking risks with other people’s money” so long as they “do not suffer equally on the downside.”

Unfortunately, this free-rider mentality has infected not only Wall Street bankers, but also our collective American psyche. Witness the huge government debt that we have incurred, undoubtedly a form of risk-taking that we, for the most part, will not pay for, but our children will.

Matthew L. Cantor

Chappaqua, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2008

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To the Editor:

Many blame predatory lending practices for the recent bank failures. I blame the inability of lenders to calculate the effect of a variable interest rate on their monthly mortgage payments.

In a culture in which people chuckle at how bad they were in math during their school years, the cost of mathematical illiteracy to this nation is now measured in the tens of billions.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

New York, Sept.

17, 2008

The writer, an astrophysicist, is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

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To the Editor:

Dear Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson:

My student loans are too big and it is hurting the economy. Can I have a bailout, please? I need $92,000.

Thanks.

Nathan Kottke

St. Paul, Sept.

17, 2008