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The private sector is no cornucopia

Paul Gessing (in "Upside of lab cuts," Insight & Opinion, Oct. 31) makes the statement that the private sector - not the government - creates wealth in New Mexico and the economy as a whole.

That is: When the scientists and engineers at the national labs develop and create new processes and concepts that result in new products or ideas that can be adopted by the business community - i.e., the private sector - and the information is provided to the private sector at no cost, the labs "do not create wealth." But the private sector takes that same idea and does create wealth.

How loudly would Gessing and the private sector howl if the labs kept the information to themselves and went into business to create wealth for themselves?

When the labs develop nuclear weapons, which provide security for the United States, does he consider this to be fleecing the taxpayers of other states and only for the benefit of New Mexico?

His condemnation of government as not producing wealth is baseless.

Wealth is not measured only in terms of money or profit - a concept he seems to use as his measuring stick. When government - Albuquerque Public Schools, the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, etc. - educates people, it creates wealth in the form of knowledge.

When government protects our forests, develops museums, establishes zoos and parks, etc., it creates wealth in the form of natural beauty, recreation and, again, knowledge and information.

When government creates infrastructure, such as highways, it creates wealth in the form of efficient and fast transportation.

These are only a few of the ways in which government creates wealth - but, of course, not profit or money, which Gessing seems to equate with wealth.

As for fleecing taxpayers in other states: New Mexicans receive the same retirement benefits, Social Security and Medicare as people in other states. We have military bases - some because other states use the NIMBY rule, and some because our large land area and low population give them the space they need to train. They are here to provide national security - not to fleece others for our benefit.

Perhaps Gessing should ask some of the Din‚ who live in hogans without running water or electricity how they are fleecing other taxpayers.

Yes, there are some welfare cheats who fleece others. But what about the businesspeople who create wealth for themselves by exploiting out national resources and forest lands by paying 19th-century prices for 21st-century resources? Aren't they fleecing the taxpayers?

What about the business lobbyists who get Congress to give them money for useless projects? Aren't they fleecing the taxpayers? No, because they create wealth - for themselves - with the fleecing.

Perhaps Gessing should take a look at himself and his article, which seems to have little "wealth." What kind of wealth or profit does his private-sector organization produce? Perhaps as much as the thousands of private businesses on the stock exchanges, which provide no wealth in the form of dividends for their stockholders.

No, the private sector and free market aren't always the wealth producers he would have us believe. Just ask the many who have lost millions when the markets crashed.

David L. Jackson

Albuquerque

Questions about Marines' ray gun

In the Oct. 27 Trib, it was stated in the article "Marines want ray guns in Iraq" that the beam would not penetrate thicker materials such as wood, metal and concrete - but it was not stated what was meant by "thicker."

Will any thickness of metal do? The rays might scatter innocent people who aren't intentionally protecting themselves. But could any combatant just wrap himself in foil, or use a thin, plywood shield. or even a metal garbage can or garbage-can lid to shield himself?

If so, we've got a problem.

What if combatants are holding hostages and holed up inside a house with closed wood shutters on windows?

This weapon would be good in some instances, but unless a substantial thickness of wood or metal is required to block the rays so that a shield or body armor would be too heavy to be used, it won't take long for enemy combatants in Iraq to work around it.

Is this new, fancy weapon really useful, or just another very expensive gadget of very limited use that the taxpayer is going to have to pay for?

Maybe good combat armor for our troops and developing a better strategy to get out of Iraq would be a better use of our money.

Susan Palmer

Albuquerque

Why such a rush to kill the trees?

Thank you for your editorial "Regents must weigh real value of golf site" in the Oct. 20 Tribune.

Several times over the last 10 months there have been mixed messages from Jamie Koch, president of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents, former UNM President David Harris and even the current UNM president, David Schmidley.

A request for information came out in February indicating that the university was seeking to enhance its commercial real estate and to increase opportunities that included co-ownership - public-private partnerships? - of future development.

In September, the University Coalition of Neighborhood Associations learned the newly created Lobo Development Corp. would not have to follow the same open-meeting requirements as UNM and that plans show a retirement and health facility located on the fairways of the North Golf Course.

Yet face-to-face meetings with the Regents and president have been met with soothing platitudes that they have no plans to develop the golf course.

Why is UNM in such a rush to deliberately destroy the last green space to counter carbon-dioxide created by traffic at the Big I? What happens to wildlife when the trees are gone?

This especially is a conundrum, when UNM owns other undeveloped properties surrounding its main campus. So why destroy trees for a heat-island of concrete and glass?

Such a loss would be felt by all Albuquerqueans.

Judith Binder

Albuquerque

Why we've been loyal subscribers

My family and I are writing to make a general thank-you to The Trib.

We've been long-standing readers of The Albuquerque Tribune. . . . We've stayed on as loyal subscribers, because The Trib has made visible efforts to provide more than one perspective and has shown us the respect of allowing us as readers to form our own opinions based on information rather than regurgitated press releases.

So thank you. I hope you find a buyer. My personal first response when I heard The Trib was up for sale was to think, "Hey, I want to buy that!" Well. I'm busy working for a living and barely scraping by, just like the rest of America.

Teresa Phillips

Albuquerque