Stories should reflect real economic woes

Saturday morning, reading your newspaper and listening to CNN, there are four separate issues to address.

In Fence Post, Pete Petran of Mount Prospect writes about buying American cars. Weren't those CEOs of the big three that went to Washington on their corporate jets, begging for our tax dollars so they could keep their jets?

Also in Fence Post, Barbara Wroblewski talks about embryonic stem cell vis a vis adult stem cell. Is she a scientist or a medical researcher that she can say which is the better method?

Third, the business section has a story about applications from desperate job seekers. You present one woman from Huntley who owns two homes and another couple that is financially secure but they want to work. Does anyone realize there are people out there with no income, who are losing their one and only home because of it?

Lastly, CNN interviewed three mayors from different areas of the country. One of the interviewees was just asked why he had given a man in his office a $15,000 raise from $110,000 to $125,000, and the mayor replied that he had laid off a number of people, so this guy had to take on more responsibilities. Why didn't the talking head ask, with unemployment going into the stratosphere, and every city in America laying off people, where would the guy go to get even another job paying $110,000, let alone $125,000? Isn't this the same old saw we keep hearing about why those bonuses and high salaries have to be paid to the people who made all those bad decisions at the banks and investment companies? Out of the millions of people without jobs, there is no one available to take that "must have" person's job and do it just as well, at a lower salary?

Rosemary Colbert

Schaumburg