Letters to the Editor: Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2024

Published 4:00 am Saturday, August 31, 2024

Erasing history

As usual, the City of Tyler chooses to put the city’s history on the back burner. This historically means tearing it down, put up a historical marker and build a parking lot in its place, even though city officials empathetically say they won’t tear down the old Carnegie Library building.

Look what’s happened to the entire east side of the square — gone.

I’m sure Shorty the Squirrel is happy cars won’t be parking on top of his monument!

“It could be a huge destination and historical asset for us,” a deputy city manager told the Tyler Morning Telegraph (Aug. 26) of the Carnegie building, which has been occupied by the Smith County Historical Society for 40-plus years.

What could be more historical than the city’s past already in a secure location? The library building isn’t exactly located in the center of the cultural district.

The problem I’ve had with the location is finding the facility open at convenient times.

I’m fairly certain there are still some folks out there who would like to see the current city administration start thinking more about history preservation than destruction.

Stanley Waghalter

Tyler native

Price gouging?

Kamala Harris has stated she plans to pass a federal law making “price gouging” a crime. Now, price gouging is a mythical term used as a forerunner to federal price controls and unnecessary intervention in private businesses. Price controls are currently being promoted because large companies make large profits. Confusing large dollars profits with a percentage of revenue is prime example of financial ignorance.

One Democratic candidate for Congress was outraged at Kroger which made $4 billion in 2022. Elizabeth Warren added her ignorance to the topic. The only problem is, Kroger’s revenue in 2022 was almost 170 billion, and profit was slightly over 2%. Hardly excessive profits!

The primary cause of high prices is inflation generated by the government printing more money. Thus, food prices, the stock market and other consumer goods increase the price to offset the loss of value in the dollar.

When ignorant or malicious fools like Harris try to fix high prices, they always make things worse. The results of such action are shortages or black-market sales of product and even higher prices. The attempt in the 1970s to fix the price of gasoline was a disaster with long lines and shortages.

When government assumes it can make better decisions than the owner of the business, we are destined for disaster. Capitalism works and socialism hurts.

Dennis Bosch

Arp