Angry Young Men From One Town

Are We Saving Enough?
Americans make much of the high taxes paid by other developed nations o fund their universal health care and college-tuition programs. Yet, as Robert J. Samuelson reveals, we have not been duly saving our nontaxed income but have instead been spending it on plasma TV screens and $4 lattes ("The Great Shopping Spree," April 28). I think many of us are beginning to wonder if our consumer-driven nation has been well served by priorities such as these.
Lynne Monds
Santa Barbara, Calif.

Hillary and Big Government
Harold Ickes, a strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton, expresses disbelief about how and why Rupert Murdoch accuses Clinton of desiring "big government" ("Murdoch, Ink.," April 28). One could look just a few pages earlier to Gov. Ed Rendell's endorsement of Clinton ("What It Takes to Win"). In his editorial essay, Rendell describes three of her key initiatives that could easily be labeled "big government" projects—in health care ("give all Americans access to affordable care"), the economy and budget ("increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by 50 percent in five years and 100 percent in 10 years") and education (by directing young girls to technology related fields).
Joey Espinosa
Simpsonville, S.C.

Cloaking Harry Potter ' s Rights
The fact that J. K. Rowling and her publisher defended their copyrighted material from someone else's ability to make a profit from it does not indicate that Rowling is "greedy and mean" ("J.K. Gives a Harry Eyeball," NEWSMAKERS, April 28). Rowling supported school librarian Steven Vander Ark's distillation of her work on his Web site until he tried to profit from it. Further, Rowling has stated that she may produce similar work in the future for charity.
Kevin Horan-Bussey
Chicago, Ill.

© 2008