Letters: Tinkerbell and a modern pirate
This week our listeners wrote in about auto-worker benefits, the Great Depression and the darker side of Tinkerbell. Also, abut a pirate who's no Capt. Hook. Kai Ryssdal picks out a few.
Letters in a computer with red mailbox flag (iStockPhoto)
More on The Economy, Retirement - Saving, Auto Industry, Education, Entertainment, Politics, America's Financial Crisis
TEXT OF LETTERS SEGMENT
Kai Ryssdal: Time to have a look at what happens when listeners actually do go to our Web site and click on that link that says "contact."
Last week, we told you about a possible merger between Chrysler and General Motors. GM says it needs help from the government to the tune of $10 billion to make that deal happen and, GM says, save both companies. The White House has been equally clear that the money is just not coming.
A lot of you pointed out that while American car companies are pressured to provide pension and benefits to their employees and retirees, many of their foreign competitors get those benefits from their governments. Roger Anderson from Endwell, New York, says, "It's a wonder U.S. automakers have remained competitive and can even exist under these unfair conditions."
On the other hand, Michelle Saint-Germain from Long Beach, California, wants to remember the people on the receiving end of those benefits.
Michelle Saint-Germain: My friend's 80-year-old parents just lost the GM health care provided through their retirement. Who's going to provide health insurance to two 80 year olds?
There've been a lot of comparisons to the Great Depression thrown around out there and that has generated some comments. John Crawford from Livingston Manor, New York, offered some history.
John Crawford: Don't worry if we have another Great Depression, for it was the depression in the '30s that provided such wonderful education for those going to technical high school. You ask how? All those wonderful engineers and scientists who lost their jobs instead went into teaching at public schools because there were no jobs, at least not until World War II started to really kick in.
Speaking of jobs, a lot of you didn't like last week's installment of our series "Working." We gave you a profile of a pirate off the coast of Indonesia. A lot of you like Laurence Cruz from right here in Los Angeles.
Laurence Cruz: Ummm, piracy is not a job. It was a feat of access to find this pirate, but to listen to him was sickening, given the violence that some of these guys, and maybe this one, perpetrate.
And finally, Tinkerbell. We did a piece about Disney's new Fairy brand. There were some observations that Tinkerbell's reputation isn't all that pristine -- in fact, she plotted to kill Wendy in the classic story of Peter Pan. Amanda Haymaker from Rockford, Illinois, offered a better role model.
Amanda Haymaker: Girl Scouts have been empowering Brownies for almost 100 years with friendship and self-esteem building activities, and taking millions out of pockets, replacing cash not with pixie dust, but thin mints!
If you've got a comment about our coverage or magical pixie dust for the economy, go to our Web site, that's Marketplace.org and click on the link that says contact.
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