Anyone who has ever worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will remember Sir James Goldsmith, the corporate raider (takeover artist), attempted to ruin Goodyear in the 1980s. Goldsmith purchased a big chunk of Goodyear stock and walked away with $94 million in his pocket. I believe he caught Goodyear at a weak moment and heavy in debt.
Both Goodyear Aerospace and the Goodyear Rim Plant had to be sold due to the stock manipulation and attempted takeover. Look where Aerospace and the Rim Plant were over 20 years ago before Goldsmith made his unethical stock transaction. Then look where they are today. They are nowhere near the number of employees before the attempted takeover.
Goodyear has bounced back twofold, but had to get rid of these two very good money-making businesses, causing many job losses and unemployed workers.
Today we are hearing the facts concerning Mitt Romney, that he also has practiced corporate-raiding tactics on his ladder to success, fame, and fortune, shutting down manufacturing plants and watching hundreds of middle-class workers head for the unemployment line.
In his average takeover, he walked away with $92 million in his pockets, only thinking of himself, a true Republican in action.
Both Romney and Paul Ryan are talking also about screwing up Medicare for seniors and future retirees. Obama’s Medicare plan is to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse.
Is Romney the kind of president we want to help run this great country? He is a man who thinks it’s OK to make millions upon millions of dollars crippling excellent companies and putting numerous middle-class workers out of work.
So what happened when the jobs that Romney helped disappear are shipped to China and Mexico? We then borrow 40 cents for every federal dollar we spend, which is due to massive job shortages that deplete the Treasury Department.
The federal debt of $16 trillion will continue to grow unless the job situation improves, along with an equitable tax base. Good-paying American jobs and very low unemployment will definitely help to improve the staggering, out-of-control deficit.
We definitely have to stop foreign imports and buy American products. This is the only sensible solution.
Fred C. Pall
Norton
Time mismanagement
The Middle East is exploding, the economy is in the tank, and the president doesn’t have time to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He seems to have time for an appearance on David Letterman’s show. What a sad commentary for the United States.
Joseph C. Gardner
Akron
Joint effort in deception
The Sept. 13 article about InfoCision was a real eye-opener (“Telemarketer takes big cut of donations”). I think it’s important to note that it was an eye-opener for the employees, as well.
Many of the employees, who have minimum-wage jobs, are trying hard to care for their families. Some make long bus trips with several transfers and spend many hours each week getting to and from work. They read a script provided by InfoCision; they have no idea that what they tell the people they call is actually incorrect.
Large percentages of the donations to nonprofit organizations do not go to the charities but are kept by InfoCision.
Let’s please remember that the deceptive practices by InfoCision are profitable to the company because the nonprofits enable InfoCision to continue to mislead donors.
Jean Fleming
Canton
Follow the lead of the bishops
In her letter (“On the side of Catholic bishops,” Sept. 7) Sister Kathy McIntyre failed to mention that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is also on the side of Republicans.
The bishops are against abortion, euthanasia, same-sex “marriage” and contraception, among other things.
I hope, as does Sister McIntyre, that all Catholics will follow the bishops’ leadership in these matters.
Richard Baird
Stow
Donations devoted to the cause
I read with interest the Sept. 13 article concerning paid charitable solicitors who take 80 percent of the funds raised, with only 20 percent going to the intended charity.
I represent Good Neighbors, which is a volunteer organization that has given groceries and clothing to the needy of the Akron area since 1957. Good Neighbors has no fundraising expenses except postage stamps.
We are a volunteer group with one part-time paid employee who works for all seven Good Neighbors locations in Summit County. Volunteers do our fundraising.
The Good Neighbors Food Center in Goodyear Heights is open five days a week. This food pantry gives groceries to over 800 families each month. In 2011, all of the Good Neighbors locations combined gave groceries to over 50,000 individuals in our community.
Support our local charities, which support the people of our community. Contributions given to Good Neighbors stay in the Akron community and do not go to fundraisers.
George Camilletti
Akron
Responsible for getting bin Laden
This letter is to the 15 percent of Ohio Republicans who indicated to a pollster that they believe Mitt Romney was “more responsible” for the death of Osama bin Laden.
Barack Obama has been president and commander in chief since January 2009. Obama is the one who told the armed forces to go into Pakistan and raid Osama bin Laden’s hide-away. Obama is the one who sat in the operations room of the White House and sweated out the raid he had ordered — the raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, the man who planned and ordered the attacks on 9/11.
Mitt Romney had nothing whatsoever to do with it. As a matter of fact, Romney has said it wasn’t worthwhile to go after bin Laden. And Romney only wants to be president and commander in chief; he isn’t president and commander in chief.
So what makes people think Romney was responsible?
Janet Daily
Doylestown
Tortured logic on death row
After reading the Sept. 18 article about Ronald Post, the convicted killer of a hotel clerk about 30 years ago and due for the death penalty, it made me furious (“Ohio inmate claims his obesity may make execution ‘torturous’ ”). His counsel objecting to this because this execution would be “torturous” is ridiculous.
First, as taxpayers, we have been paying for his incarceration for those 30 years at an approximate cost of $45,000 a year.
Second, how did he get that obese in prison? Why should we show pity to him.? Did he show pity to the hotel clerk?
The punishment should fit the crime. He surely didn’t think twice about murdering an innocent person and the effect it had on the victim’s family. Our justice system must be updated, and some of these objections must be stopped immediately.
Dick Dennis
Stow
A country tired of war
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is out of line. Our country is tired of war. We do not want to attack Iran unless it is necessary. Our president will make his own decisions and not be bullied by Netanyahu.
Let Israelis use their own troops and attack, if they want war so badly.
We give Israel millions of dollars each year, and settlers keep building on Palestinian land instead of wanting peace with them. Republicans and Democrats I have talked to just want the troops to come home.
Arl McGrath
Canal Fulton
Fair compensation for homeowners
Regarding the Sept. 17 editorial, “Overhang of trouble,” I own my home, and it was paid for when the bubble burst. I took the brunt of the loss. I lost value, just as people with mortgages lost value.
If people with mortgages higher than the value of their homes should be compensated for their loss by having their mortgages adjusted downward, as is your opinion, then I think that I should be compensated for my loss of value as well.
We all lost value, and having a mortgage shouldn’t be the deciding factor in who, if anyone, gets help.
I would like my housing value to be adjusted to what it was before and what it might be today had there not been a financial crisis. Then, maybe I would spend more and thus stimulate the economy. This seems fair, but I’m not placing any large orders for goods and services based on a desire for fairness.
Stephen K. McClarnon
Akron
