'A New Kind of Recession': Readers offered their own analyses of the plummeting consumer confidence that has weakened the U.S. economy. Coping with costly fuel, one reader said, "I'm driving my car only to and from work and trying to combine my errands." Some emphasized the need to buy American. Said one, "American consumers are a part of the problem with their insatiable desire for foreign goods." Another blamed the Iraq War for the sagging economy: "The economy is being dragged down by George Bush's war and the billions we are pouring into it."
Recession Panic
Fareed Zakaria laments that much of what government should do to improve Americans' future economic prospects "involves some short-term pain in exchange for long-term gain. But Washington has become incapable of that" ("How to Get Back to Growth," June 16). He's right. But he's wrong to suggest that this phenomenon is new, as this 1944 entry from the diary of the great Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter attests: "Politicians are like bad horsemen who are so preoccupied with keeping in the saddle that they can't bother about where they go."
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, Va.
We as a nation have been guilty of far too many excesses for too long. We waste more than most in the rest of the world. It is time we sucked it in and tightened our belts. Our families, our nation and the rest of the world will only be better off.
Prashanth Kumar
Centerville, Ohio
It's said that we'd better not look for solutions from the same people who created the problem, and I think this is the case with our current economic crisis. NEWSWEEK's Business Roundtable ("We Ask: When Will the Pain Go Away?") is composed of individuals who either helped make the problem or are benefiting from the economy the way it is. The economy of a nation should support society, but ours does the opposite: we all sacrifice to support the economy (those who control most of the capital). None of the Roundtable members can think outside their boxes or see that our economic set-up needs a major evolution or it will collapse. Americans are no longer citizens, we're consumers, mere units whose only function is to go out and buy stuff. We need a major citizen revolt against the consumer identity.
Patricia Black
Nevada City, Calif.
Hillary Steps Down
Perhaps Hillary Clinton can do for post-primary depression what Brooke Shields did for postpartum depression: make the public more accepting of the disease by writing a book about it ("Out and Down," June 16). By sharing her experiences and emotions, Senator Clinton could comfort a wide audience: the elementary-school child who spent every free moment practicing but still did not make the team; the high-school senior who, after 12 years of studying and achieving, did not receive an acceptance letter to the Ivy League school; all those Americans who continue to ride the carousel of life without ever grabbing onto the brass ring. While Clinton's "once upon a time" did not end "happily ever after" for her, her book could serve as a reminder that the depression will pass, allowing the dedication, determination and diligence to emerge victorious.
Ronna L. Edelstein
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Who Will Be Obama
'
s Veep?
I was pleased to see Jonathan Alter mention Brian Schweitzer, the Montana governor, as a possible vice presidential candidate for Barack Obama ("The Great Mentioner at Work," June 16). I have been wondering if anyone had thought of him for this position. Schweitzer would bring a number of assets to the ticket. He is down to earth and plain-spoken. He is, for lack of a better word, "folksy." He is also quietly brilliant. He has definitive ideas to solve our energy crisis with creative use of already known energy sources. With gasoline prices soaring to record highs every day, a running mate with these kinds of solutions would have much to bring to a ticket with Obama.
John Shine
Kingdom City, Mo.
Jonathan Alter, in his column discussing Barack Obama's potential choices for vice president, lists everyone but the most obvious (and best) candidate: Al Gore. Who could be more ready to take the position than someone who's already held it? The day after the election, President Obama could say, "Here are your two portfolios: energy and the environment. Run with them."
Milan J. Kralik Jr.
Spinnerstown, Pa.
Don
'
t Know Much About Biology
Kudos to Sally Hoskins for her essay on her important work as a biology teacher ("Lessons in Life [Science]," MY TURN, June 16). We wouldn't regard someone who was unfamiliar with Shakespeare or Mozart as well educated, but for some reason it is okay to not understand how a cell is put together or to express skepticism about evolution. Society urgently needs to confront a number of challenging issues including environmental change, emerging infections, poverty, energy and population growth. If we are to succeed, everyone will have to understand how the natural world works, not just scientists.
Ferric C. Fang
Seattle, Wash.
There has always been a percentage of the population that gives the "eww" reaction when presented with things biological, but today it is more pronounced because children are being raised with less contact with nature. Many children don't even play in their backyards anymore, but stay inside playing their videogames. No Child Left Behind has caused outdoor activities to be squeezed out of the curriculum. Fear of lawsuits causes even more restrictions to be made, which in turn makes people more reluctant to get into the countryside. Some are afraid of the ticks. The more ignorance there is, the more fear. The more fear, the more avoidance. The more avoidance, the more ignorance. Human beings need intimate contact to develop an appreciation of things. The attitudes of the students in Hoskins's class were formed long before they got there. Nature is losing its constituency because of this process. Unless we take action to turn all this around, it will become ever more difficult to bring us all into balance with nature.
Chaffee Monell
Central Valley, N.Y.
Geeks in Skirts
I must have been one of the nerdettes without knowing it ("Revenge of the Nerdette," June 16). After I graduated from college with a B.A. in mathematics (back in 1953), the next six years found me teaching high-school math courses in Illinois districts. It was my brother's suggestion that math is a boys' subject that had made me decide that it could also be a females' subject. While my college roommate continued to teach high-school math courses for more than 30 years, I retired to raise four daughters. My granddaughter just graduated from high school and garnered half her school's math award. (She and a male achieved the same grades in math throughout high school: that is either half the award or just plain "sharing.") Congratulations to the current nerdettes.
Patricia D. Herrmann
Arlington Heights, Ill.
I am a 1950 graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering. There were many other coeds in the fields of architecture, electrical engineering, aeronautical engineering, chemical engineering, biology, chemistry, physics and metallurgy during my time there. We did not think of ourselves as nerds or nerdettes. We were science and engineering students just as much as the men were. We got professional jobs upon graduation and made commercial, industrial and academic contributions. There was no feeling of being a misfit in a field that we thought was as suited to us as to males. Fortunately there are now even more opportunities for women who are interested and good in math and science.
Irma S. Cohen
Hempstead, N.Y.
While it's nice to see attention paid to young women excelling in math and science, it's unfortunate that you still feel compelled to discuss these women's clothes and physical appearance. An article on the technological achievements of male students would never put so much emphasis on how "sexy" they look. Until the media can discuss the achievements of women without reassuring people that they are still "hot," young women have a long way to go to gain acceptance and equality. As a third-year student at UCLA, I recently created a short documentary on the lives of female "geeks" at my university. Almost all the students I interviewed, including the males, voiced their concern with the pressure on women to be stereotypically feminine and good looking as well as intelligent. Your article sends a strong message to young women that unless they fit these stereotypes, their knowledge and achievements will be valued less.
Stacey Capoot
Los Angeles, Calif.
By emphasizing the nerd girls' appearances over their scholastic accomplishments, Jessica Bennett and Jennie Yabroff, who attempt to disprove the stereotype that smart girls are unattractive girls, miss the point entirely. Women in professional or academic settings should not be characterized by their level of sex appeal at all—it shouldn't matter. Of course a pair of pink pumps doesn't instantly diminish a Nerd Girl's interest and abilities in science and math, but why do we focus at all on her choice of footwear when she is engineering the technology of the future? Bennett and Yabroff's piece is only one example of the media's preoccupation with women's appearances in the midst of outstanding academic or professional achievement.
Sarah Turrin
Haddonfield, N.J.
In "Revenge of the Nerdette," Jessica Bennett and Jennie Yabroff imply that it's good to be intelligent, as long as you are also very sexy. What about girls who weren't born with supermodel looks or who just don't fit in with the rest of the crowd? The term "nerd" has a lot of meanings: that you don't conform to a stereotype; that you like to watch the new "Battlestar Galactica" instead of "Gossip Girl," or that you are creative, imaginative and not always obsessed with your looks. We already know that it's OK for women to be smart. How about sending out the message that it's also OK for us to look different as well?
Johanna Miller
Watsonville, Calif.
Why Men Don
'
t Like
'
Sex
'
Ramin Setoodeh's dismissal of gender stereotyping while simultaneously suggesting that the "Sex and the City" bashers "aren't just poor sports, though they probably like to watch them on TV" is ludicrous ("Sexism and 'Sex and the City'," June 16). Is it beyond his understanding of feminism (which I will admit sometimes falls into the right places) to accept disparagement of a film that unabashedly embraces a cosmopolitan consumer caricature of women, an antiquated and demeaning ideal of romance and sexual personalities that are reminiscent of Hemingway's Brett Ashley? Perhaps the critics are coming down on this movie not because of their jealousy of sisterhood (which we can only guess that men despise, typical pigs that they are, because they lack the emotional depth to understand it) but rather because of its reflection of a grown-up fluff culture of princess dreams and pouting, one that they hoped we had moved far beyond.
Owen Alldritt
Washburn, Wis.
First I'm a sexist for supporting an African-American male instead of a white woman for president; now I'm sexist because I hate a show that features superficial, gossipy, materialistic, whiny women. Ramin Setoodeh plays the gender card instead of considering whether shows like "Sex and the City" perpetuate stereotypes that actually fuel sexism.
Eric Kumbier
Ann Arbor, Mich.
A Relationship That Rocks
I pretty much disagree with every aspect of George Will's assessment of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ("As the Oceans Rise," June 16), but when he brings up a commentator's comparison to the Everly Brothers, I pause. Will's intention is to mock the two Democrats as one and the same, but the fact is that Don and Phil Everly had had a simmering feud that finally blew up publicly at a concert in 1973. They did not record together for the next 10 years. Furthermore, the Beach Boys feuded, the Beatles feuded, the Eagles feuded, and yet they all managed to create soaring, wonderful harmonies. Barack and Hillary have their differences, but if they can get together and meld them into that same kind of harmony, what a glorious song for America that would be.
Jeffrey S. Ganeles
Utica, N.Y.
Correction
In "Why It's Worse Than You Think," we transposed the last and middle names of the former CEO of Wachovia. His correct name is G. Kennedy Thompson. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.