Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

April 30, 2012

Letters to the Editor: 04/30/3012

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Continue forward

Members of the library board have proposed closing or reducing the services of the library for the blind. As ordinary people it is impossible for them to understand the importance of keeping this service. It is the only way blind patrons can read books and magazines, and often we need help just to do that. No matter what anyone says, ordering library materials by mail would not be an equal substitute for the excellent services we are receiving today.

I am very proud of our library. It is, in my opinion, one of the best in Michigan. I am surprised the board would consider closing any section. Would they consider closing the main circulation section, send all of the books to the state library and require local patrons to order books by mail? This is ridiculous but it makes as much sense as the present proposal. It is the same idea, just a different group of patrons.

Our library has great potential and will be more and more important in this technological age. We must continue finding new ways to expand its services not eliminate them and continue going forward, not backward.

Paul Hazelton

Traverse City

Keep Open Space open

There's a reason we named it the "Open Space" and not the "Festival Space." After years of being hidden by the power plant, West Grand Traverse Bay is finally visible and accessible — and beautiful, all by itself. Commercial enterprises do not enhance it.

If we want tourists to visit and residents to live in downtown Traverse City, we must protect the quality of life that makes such a decision desirable. Please keep the Open Space open — for recreation and renewal, not just another place to make noise and buy things.

Karen Anderson

Traverse City

All of us will pay

I am so disappointed in the recent change in the helmet law. Gov. Snyder always says he wants to do the right thing. Rarely has there been an issue that so clearly had a right and wrong side. I do not understand how a governor who espouses "relentless positive action" could make this decision.

All of us will pay for this in the long run.

Nancy Dockter

Traverse City

Remove free riders risk

Sometimes the force of self-interest leads to social benefits as Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, famously argued in his classic book "The Wealth of Nations." But there is a dark side of the force, where self-interest leads to negative outcomes. It is the latter that is often ignored by some of our political leaders.

Economists have utilized game theory to illustrate how the pursuit of self-interest doesn't lead to a winner and a loser, but instead puts all parties in a worse situation.

An example of the dark side is health insurance, due to the phenomena of the free rider. Individuals who are low health risks tend to avoid buying health insurance, which leads to the remaining pool with higher risk raising the premiums for those who have insurance. The rising cost creates more free riders, which leads to even higher risks, which increase insurance premiums. The insurance companies respond by protecting themselves from high-risk individuals by excluding such individuals with pre-existing conditions.

To remove the free rider, either implement universal health care or have the free riders waive their right to health care for five years.

Ronald C. Marshall

Petoskey

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