Metro lost riders precisely because it raised fares Re: “Proposed Metro budget calls for naming rights, more subsidies,” Jan. 14-15
One sentence in this article caught my eye: “[Metro] is expecting to make $20.5 million less in fare revenues, despite major fare increases enacted last year.” Evidently someone flunked 11th grade economics.
The sentence should have read: “[Metro] is expecting to make $20.5 million less in fare revenues,
because of major fare increases enacted last year.”
One of the most basic principles of economics is that the surest way to lose customers is to raise prices while cutting service, which is exactly what Metro has been doing for the last five years or so. If they want to increase income, the way to do it is to improve service and cut fares. Instead, they keep whining about it being an “aging system.”
London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna all built their subway systems between 1890 and 1900. Though I can’t speak for the Paris system, I can assure you that the other three have managed to keep up to date and running smoothly without the constant inconveniences suffered by those of us unfortunate enough to be dependent on the Washington subway.
J.G. Huckenp?hler
Washington
Tucson memorial was turned into political pep rally
Re: “Obama showed grace and wisdom in Tucson,” editorial, Jan. 14-15
According to The Examiner, President Obama showed “wisdom” during his exploitation of the tragic shooting in Tucson.
After a four-day silence, while false accusations were being made by his party and his administration, the president’s memorial speech in a stadium filled with political supporters wearing special T-shirts only demonstrated that he had been taught well by foreign and domestic radicals.
His cynical pep rally featured narcissistic self-congratulations and lecturing of the American people. The speeches by the president and Sheriff Clarence Dupnik were highly inappropriate, and dishonored the victims. The whole show underlined the fact that the shooter was a crazy white person, and would not have been conducted if he had been a member of a minority group.
The noisy stadium rekindled some of the herd mentality of the 2008 presidential election, regardless of a $14 trillion national debt, a disastrous foreign policy and the economic ruin of our country.
Lt. Col. Dominik G. Nargele, USMC (Ret.)
Arlington
History textbooks haven’t been telling the whole story
Re: “Inaccurate textbooks reflect dumbed-down curriculum,” local editorial, Jan. 7
Contrary to popular belief as traditionally taught, assigning the status of “three fifths of a man” to African slaves until the end of the Civil War was not a gratuitous Southern racist assault upon the human dignity of blacks.
Then as now, congressional representation in the House was based upon population. During the 19th century, the population of the North was about three times that of the South, even with the slave population thrown in. The Southerners wanted to count the slaves as a whole person in order to increase their seats in Congress. The Northern states wanted to count slaves as half a man in order to continue their clear majority. After much divisive debate, they compromised at three-fifths.
Regional conflict was extremely severe during the early decades of American history. The South’s inability to have its interests represented in Congress because of frequent Northern overrides was a major factor in its final decision to secede from the Union.
Lawrence K. Marsh
Gaithersburg
