Bring back Glass-Steagall
Here is what could be done to address Americans’ hunger for jobs.
Bring back the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited commercial banks from engaging in investment business. After the repeal in 1999, it took the banks a mere nine years to bring the world to the edge of a meltdown the likes of which hadn’t been seen since 1933. We were saved by the government reducing interest on government bonds to about zero, and thus, among other things, impoverishing Mainers whose retirement savings had been thus “safely” invested.
Since the act was repealed in 1999, the U.S. has become a plutocracy once again while minimum wage for workers continues to lose its purchasing power. Bring back Glass-Steagall.
Karen Saum
Belfast
Love all our neighbors
Kevin Bushey in his Dec. 9 BDN letter to the editor criticized the University of Maine men’s basketball team protest earlier this month in support of the LGBTQ community in North Carolina. He cited Romans 1 for his reason, stating that the LGBTQ community was a tool of the devil.
I am a Christian, and I must ask him, and all others who share his anachronistic beliefs, what did Jesus say about homosexuals? He said absolutely nothing, not a single word nor commandment, but instead commanded us to love our neighbors.
Does Bushey follow Paul or Christ? In the case of UMaine’s compassionate act, he cannot have both. Love your neighbor or judge them as immoral.
But I ask: Who is immoral? The team that fights for equality or the man who discontinues donating — as Bushey said he would no longer donate to the university — to those who fight for equality?
James Rushmore
Franklin
Good gun control
Everyone seems to have an opinion on gun control lately, and since I have been hunting and target shooting a good deal of my 81 years, I would like to offer mine.
I am in favor of good gun control. If a person can can keep five out of six shots from a handgun in a 6-inch target at 10 yards, then that is good gun control.
Floyd McGlinchey
Calais
Collins must oppose Trump nominations
Donald Trump’s ascendency to the presidency is frightening to everyone who is concerned about human rights, especially minority rights.
I implore Sen. Susan Collins to oppose Trump’s appointment of racists and bigots to the cabinet and other high-level offices.
I am especially concerned about his nomination for attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a known racist.
I am hopeful Collins’ would want to be remembered in the same category as Maine’s courageous former Sen. Margaret Chase Smith instead of President-elect Trump and Gov. Paul LePage.
Bill Farthing
Bangor
Stand up for gender rights
I want to thank the BDN for two editorials printed in November. “Republicans’ Woman Problem,” the Other Voices column on Nov. 3, detailed the impossibility of women having equal rights as long as laws restrict or prevent altogether our control of our own bodies. “Speaking Out About Life After Rape,” the editorial on Nov. 7, called on us all to speak out, not leave it to the girls and women who suffer this crime to bear that burden alone.
Mary Johnston
Northport