LETTERS

...Lalli’s utter failure to appreciate that distinction is stark evidence of Money’s moral poverty...

...There is no way you can possibly know who all those newsstand purchasers might be-I’d guess the rather uninformed dabblers in TV money advice or readers of best sellers on how to get rich by starting your own business, or maybe those who see the other Peters on PBS...

...They invested and borrowed wisely under the law...

...Gray, it did conclude that I was not that source...

...Lalli is the managing editor of Money...

...would automatically receive a raise...

...In the Who’s Who column of the July/August issue, The Washington Monthly states that “a lie detector test revealed that two of the culprits [of the Bill Gray leak] were Thomburgh’s two closest aides, Robert Ross and David Runkel...

...He works because the net pay is satisfactory or, at least, acceptable...

...This is incorrect...

...LETTERS Fevered Cleavers Now the S&L crisis is Beaver Cleaver’s fault...

...They found no evidence whatever that I placed information concerning Congressman Gray in the hands of CBS News...

...Classified Your use of the term “rednecks” [“Tilting at Windmills,” September] is a bit off-putting...

...This statement is incorrect...

...To refute this, let us assume that you are the Boss with a bunch of flippers around you who are willing to work for, say, $175 a week...

...Is it your thesis that borrowers should have deliberately sought out more expensive loans and savers should have ignored advantageous rates...

...Of course he received good interest, interest the banks clamored to pay, in many cases because of foolish, venal, or sometimes downright criminal decisions made by those who were entrusted with the savings of “average families...

...Second, it is generally assumed that if the Social Security tax were to be lowered or even removed, our H.F...

...They didn’t deregulate banking nor loot S&L safes...

...The editor replies: I’m descended on both sides from Southern farmers who definitely were not part of the plantation set, so I agree with the sentiments expressed by Lloyd McAulay...

...It is like the term “yellow belly...

...These poor guys got red necks from working in the sun at a latitude farther south than what they were genetically built for...

...It may be a bit accurate from a descriptive point of view, but it is an unfair putdown...

...MIRIAM ARNOLD St...

...This conclusion has been reviewed and accepted by the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Solicitor General, all of which have undertaken independent reviews...

...Such being the case, the amount of Social Security tax is irrelevant...

...Money’s dubious distinction is that it enthusiastically promoted investments in thrifts and banks it knew would probably fail, urging its readers to cash in while they still could at their fellow taxpayers’ expense...

...The fact is that some Americans over 40 have benefitted from a far greater proportion of the bailout cost than the crooks did-thanks to the cheap mortgages and money markets that precipitated the crisis and from the high-interest rates thrifts paid then to try to stay alive...

...Clearly, no one who took out a mortgage in the sixties did so with evil intent, although some who bought outrageous CDs in the eighties realized the thrifts were committing suicide...

...Are they on to something that nobody else knows about...

...Why should wealthy New Yorkers and Californians be able to influence an election in Tennessee...

...What makes them think that any increase in tax income will reduce budget deficits...

...Which would you do...

...While the FBI investigation into the leak did not discover the original source of information about Rep...

...With all due respect to your unusually acute skills of political observation, the vast majority of Tennesseans made up their minds years ago about Senator Gore and “wealthy New Yorkers and Californians” had not a damn thing to do with it...

...Let me discuss, rather, the plight of the Hamburger Flipper in regard to the crushing burden of Social Security taxes...

...I never wrote that this was illegal...

...There seems to be a number of factors that are consistently ignored...

...That’s silly...

...The first and most important one is that he does not work for gross pay...

...Or, being the big-hearted Capitalist that you are, you could pass on this unsought and unasked-for bonanza to your help...

...Now a reduction in taxes makes it possible for you to reduce your expenses, namely the gross pay, yet provide your help with the same money as before...

...FRANK LALLI New York, New York Mr...

...As for Money magazine as a source of reliable informationI think you’re leaning on a weak reed...

...It’s almost funny, placing the “blame” on the average saver, who put his money in an S&L because he couldn’t take a chance on stocks or bonds, who took a mortgage to buy a house-or even put some money in CDs, another safe investment...

...Burger beef I have a question for the authors of “How to Fix the Budget Without Hurting the Country” [Nathan Emerson and Afshin Molavi, September...

...DORRIE LADNER Washington, D.C...

...LLOYD MCAULAY New York, New York Please tell this 48-year-old black native Mississippian who has been subjected to the cruelest forms of racial injustice which category or categories you fit in: rednecks, moderates, elitist liberals, or country club Republicans...

...I wrote that it was wrong...

...Washington, D.C...

...As a longtime supporter and fan of Senator Gore and as a native Tennessean, the most amusing aspect of the alleged source of Senator Gore’s funding is that so many New Yorkers and Californians could be convinced to contribute to a virtually uncontested Tennessee senatorial race...

...But it is a shame to promote the term that represents the group to a metaphor for boorish behavior, where that behavior is found in only a portion of that group...

...You went on to ask, “Does this make any sense at all...

...Money’s readers are rational creatures, who with our advice behave in financially rational ways...

...Petersburg, Florida The author replies: My thesis is that many of the people who are now selfrighteously blaming Texans, congressmen, and S&L executives for the disaster should stop whining and start paying for the cleanup, since they in fact were the major beneficiaries of the thrift scandal...

...Do you really read that thing and believe it...

...LUCIA T. PERA Memphis, Tennessee...

...ROBERT S. ROSS, IR...

...The Criminal Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a thorough investigation of this matter...

...Like most exploited people, a subset will react grossly...

...JOHN R. CARTER Earlysville, Virginia Gore details In your “Tilting at Windmills” column in the July/August issue, you noted that 96 percent of Senator AI Gore’s campaign funds come from outside Tennessee...

...If I understand your September cover story correctly [“How the Cleaver Family Destroyed Our S&Ls,” James Bennet], the American middle class, egged on by Money magazine, brought about the destruction of the nation’s S&Ls by taking advantage of low-cost mortgages and high savings yields...

...It can’t hurt him for the simple reason that he never gets it to spend...

...DAVID RUNKEL Washington, D.C...

...The spin doctors sure seem to have gotten to you-or are you they...

...Twin leaks In the Who’s Who column of the July/August issue, The Washington Monthly states that “a lie detector test revealed that two of the culprits [of the Bill Gray leak] were Thomburgh’s two closest aides, Robert Ross and David Runkel...

...Of course (as I wrote) the wicked S&L presidents should go to jail, but the “spin doctors” have overemphasized those crooks’ contribution to the crisis...

...I leave the job of skewering the numerous mathematical fantasies to other, more knowledgeable individuals...