ArticleIP_3828.txt

   
   
      
         
            

            

               Remembrance of Things Past
            

            Jodie T. Allen's criticisms
of tax credits in "Forgetting the Present" are too sweeping, and deserve a response.
She is correct to point out the flaws of un-targeted tax credits intended to
stimulate job hiring. These usually fail. Most businesses find that their
present employees already qualify for the credit. However, targeted credits
aimed specifically at job creation can work.

            Consider an empirical
example: In the 1960s, President Johnson instituted an "investment tax credit."
It gave the economy an immediate shot in the arm, helping businesses modernize
and stimulating jobs in the manufacturing sector, especially in the tool and
die-making industries. When the tax credit was repealed to help pay for the
Vietnam War, the private sector of the economy immediately began to suffer.

            A tax
credit aimed at encouraging job training for former welfare recipients would
achieve similar results. Without a tax credit, business have no incentive to
absorb the cost of hiring these people.

            
               --Michael
Solomon
            

            

               Glistening With Prozac
            

            In an otherwise thoughtful
article, "Teen-age
Midol Junkies," Wendy Kaminer says that "we ignore the damage wrought by
laws prohibiting selectively demonized drugs--notably marijuana, heroin, and
cocaine (while allowing use of tobacco, alcohol, and Prozac)." Her inclusion of
Prozac in the latter group is troublesome.

            While it is certainly true
that Prozac is overprescribed, and likely abused, it is also true that it is a
powerful, necessary therapy for the treatment of severe depression.
Furthermore, to include it in a list with the two single most destructive drugs
in contemporary society is irresponsible.

            For those
of us with lifelong, debilitating, severe, and chronic depression, Prozac is
literally a lifesaver. The growing popular perception of Prozac as some kind of
recreational drug, which Kaminer intentionally or unintentionally reinforces,
is terribly offensive.

            -- Keith
Ellis
            

            
               Hurrah!
Hurrah! for "Yadda Yadda Yadda"
            

            I enjoyed
Cullen
Murphy's brief chronicle of humankind's never-ending search for a way to
communicate the fact that much of what we try to communicate isn't really worth
communicating. If we're going to be upfront about the meaninglessness of our
messages, at least let's use the colorful "yadda yadda yadda " to replace
excess verbiage instead of the tepid "blah blah blah ." Just think of the
potential for the news media. They could cover twice as many stories if they
simply inserted "yadda yadda yadda " into their reports. "Our top story
tonight: As the presidential race nears the home stretch, Bob Dole and
President Bill Clinton yadda yadda yadda . In other news ..."

            -- Erich
Van Dussen
            

            
               You're
Killing Me
            

            This is a somewhat delicate
matter. I live in Israel, a country which is supposed to be a democracy. Our
prime minister was slain some months ago by a smiling ideological idiot.
Therefore, your continual use of "Kill him," as in, "When we told Bill Gates
the name of the person responsible for the mistake, he said, 'Have him killed,'
" takes on a sinister, real meaning.

            I suggest
that you try not to use this joke in the future.

            -- Daniel
M. Krauskopf