‘Letter to the Editor’ Archives
Frank Reflections – Rental housing supply and demand: gratitude or greed?
by Frank Erickson More than 42,000 renter households in Minneapolis, even though employed full-time, pay more for housing than they can afford. Without these 42,000 rental households, there wouldn”'t be the high demand for rental housing; there would be supply glut. Are there 42,000 potential renters on waiting lists who can afford the units with high rents? How can tens of thousands of renters who cannot afford their rents, be the foundation for raising all rents? These 42,000 households, who cannot afford their rent, are the core of “supply and demand.” The landlords have nothing without renters. Capitalism is wicked. Renters have no choice. Renters have to pay their rents. Ironically, they drive up their rent by paying rents they cannot afford. All “supply and demand” sees is rent paid. It doesn”'t see nor does it care if the renter went without food to pay the rent. All capitalism needs to justify raising rent is that [...]
Letter to the Editor: Stop demonizing Ilhan and let it be a lesson learned
by Dean Zimmerman South Africa had a policy of Apartheid. Lots of people boycotted, marched and protested what was going on in South Africa. South African Officials were chosen in a democracy ”“ well, a democracy for whites, not Colored, Blacks or Indians. Nobody ever said you are anti-South African for protesting this. Mississippi had a policy of Jim Crow. Lots of people boycotted, marched and protested what was going on in Mississippi. Mississippi officials were chosen in a democracy ”“ well a democracy for whites, not Blacks. Nobody ever said you are anti-Mississippian for protesting this.  Israel is a country which embraces, for lack of a better word, apartheid; it is even complete with a wall. But to point this out, to boycott or protest is somehow anti-Semitic. America is so racist that to protest racism, such as not standing for the National Anthem, is equated with protesting against America itself. And it seems, that to protest against [...]
Letter to the Editor: Frank reflections
by Frank Erickson The Letter to the Editor, “Omissions and distortions abound in libraries, too,” by Berman Sanford in The Alley Newspaper February 2019 is an admirable undertaking; to have things listed at libraries under a heading that truly represents what they were. Berman, who is a member of the American Library Association, uses the example of trying to search any library catalog under the subject of “Native American Genocide” and you will be unsuccessful. Yet, he falls into his own trap when he brings up “World War II” and he does not use quotation marks when referencing the “war.” Just as Berman states, “history is euphemistically masked, hidden, under subjects like Choctaw Indians””Relocation,” but so is the case with “war.” Murder is masked and hidden under the title of “war.” Now in libraries and schools all over the Western world, people are reading about the 2003 attack on [...]
