LETTERS: Bank fees, immigrants and more
Proposed bank fees will hit consumers
Who doesn't think the fees banks will have to pay under a proposal by the Obama administration won't boomerang back to "we the people" ["Obama to set fees for banks to recoup bailouts," Business, Jan. 14]? President Barack Obama must realize that the banks will simply pass those fees on to their customers - us!
And why no bank fees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the lending institutions that many would argue were responsible for the bulk of the bad loans that caused the meltdown to begin with?
Diana Erbio
St. JamesConcept of charity trumps 'illegals' issue
Putting aside the controversy about illegal immigration, aren't we a country that prides itself as being a spiritual nation with deep beliefs in the Judeo/Christian/Muslim concepts of charity and helping the poor? No matter what your belief is concerning illegal immigration ["Migrants' tent village is razed," News, Jan. 12], are we to let these people freeze because they are not here legally?
Where is the humanity when the state, county and local governments refuse responsibility to house these people? Those politicians and citizens who don't want to help these people find shelter have truly lost their humanity and spiritualism.
David Forman
WantaghHealth care
sticker shock
Imagine my surprise when I received a 40 percent increase in my health insurance policy! In this so-called year of zero inflation and talk of health insurance reform, my insurer - and probably many other health insurance companies - has the audacity to pull this off, and no one is minding the store.
I wish, once and for all, the United States would adopt a national health insurance plan for everyone, and wipe these unscrupulous profit-mongers and their brokers off the face of the map.
Harry Katz
SoutholdWatch lists
trample rights
Gun owners, in general, certainly do not want potential terrorists to have easy access to firearms ["Gun owners and NRA," Editorial, Jan. 12]. The problem is with the watch lists - a throwback to both McCarthyism and Nazism, where you may be denied your civil rights at the whim of a bureaucrat, without recourse, and without being charged with or convicted of a crime.
Further, where is it enumerated exactly what behavior can earn you a place on a terrorist watch list? Is merely owning a gun enough? May I own a gun and also protest the loss of my baggage or lousy airline food without being considered a potential terrorist?
Paul Caparatta
Oceanside
SARRA SOUNDS OFF: Wrestling, North Babylon hoops and more! Will Grayson Meak faceoff against Devin Downes in counties? Meanwhile North Babylon's Jasmine McKay hoops it up and there's history on the mat in Nassau County in Episode 2 of "Sarra Sounds Off."