Letters to the Editor | April 30, 2023

Inquire readers on the reason behind inflation, troubling antisemitism, and the difference between guns and cars.

A consumer puts fuel in his vehicle in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Inflation’s grip on businesses loosened greatly in March, raising hopes that companies and consumers will suffer less from high prices as 2023 rolls on. The U.S. government said plunging energy prices pulled the producer price index down 0.5% in March from February.Read moreDavid Santiago / AP

by Letters to the Editor, For The Inquirer

Published April 30, 2023, 4:30 a.m. ET

There’s a difference

What’s the difference between owning a car and owning a gun? Both can kill, and both require an operator. However, the number of people killed by guns in the U.S. has overtaken motor vehicle fatalities. Children are now more likely to die in gun-related incidents than in a car crash. Why can an individual with the money obtain a variety of weapons at a gun show, through the internet, and from some gun dealers with no background check? Meanwhile, to receive a license to legally drive a car requires a test on safe driving rules, a learner’s permit, months of driving with a licensed driver, then a driving test with a state official. Why isn’t it more difficult to own and use a gun? When will the GOP-controlled House start worrying about human lives instead of the NRA and other gun lobby support?

Robert Turnbull, Hatboro, turnbullrb@aol.com

Corporate greed

Let’s blame inflation on the real culprit: corporate greed. It’s easy to spot if you look in the right places. For example, gasoline prices. When the price of gas went up to $4-plus per gallon, crude oil was trading at approximately $120 per barrel. Just check the Business section of the newspaper under Market Watch. Crude oil as of April 26 was trading at $77.07 per barrel. That’s an almost $43 per barrel drop in price, yet I just paid $3.75 per gallon of gas at Wawa. In 2022, oil and gas industry profits were up 300%. They must be looking to break a new record for 2023. Another example would be lumber prices. Several months ago, the price of lumber was $1,236 per 1,000 board feet. This drove the prices of all wood products, building products, home construction costs, and remodeling prices. Today, the price is $362.70 per 1,000 board feet, yet I haven’t noticed any drop in prices to the consumer. How about new home prices? Grocery prices are another thing.

Corporations are out of control, and apparently, price gouging is unregulated or unenforced. CEO’s salaries are 400 times that of the normal salaried employee. Corporate bonuses are outrageous. What is Congress doing about corporate greed? Perhaps a letter, email, or phone call to your representatives would be helpful. Ask them what they plan on doing to help us. Do they even have a plan? Or is it the old blame game?

Patrick Thompson, Media, pthompson612@gmail.com

Always vigilant

Earlier this month, Yom HaShoah commemorated the murders of six million Jews during the Holocaust. I don’t fear another Holocaust or large-scale pogrom. However, events over the last few decades have shown there will always be a need for Jews, in America and around the world, to maintain a watchful eye whenever they walk into a Jewish institution — be it a synagogue, school, Hillel house, restaurant, or Jewish center — even with armed guards conspicuously posted. What a far cry from my childhood, when I only saw police on Yom Kippur when they were directing traffic at a busy intersection near three synagogues.

Paul L. Newman, Merion Station

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