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Readers' comments on business news

 
Published March 22, 2013

New creativity for saving the world March 17

Subsidies block energy gains

The "analysis" presented by Justin Gillis in the New York Times and reprinted by the Tampa Bay Times is at its weakest when relying on unnamed "smart people" and "energy analysts" who clearly have not "crunched" the same "numbers" as other unnamed researchers.

However, his call for a "national climate policy anchored by a stiff price on carbon dioxide emissions" is commendable, as is his acknowledgment that the new nuclear approaches he advocates will take decades to develop and deploy. Energy-efficiency technologies and renewable energy (including proven storage technologies) are ready for deployment now. At the very least, they could serve as a bridge to the nuclear-powered future envisioned by Mr. Gillis.

But "the full creative power of American capitalism" will not be "unleashed on the climate problem" unless voters insist on the elimination of all forms of subsidies for all forms of energy, coupled with requiring polluters to bear the full cost of eliminating pollution.

Thomas Eppes, Thonotosassa

Fed sticking with stimulus policies | March 21

Recovery burdens retirees

Here we go again. Keeping interest rates at zero is wonderful for the stock market, the housing industry and the federal government's debt service, but miserable for retirees trying to live on a fixed income. How long must retired people bear the burden of the economic recovery?

James E. Lashbrook, Largo