A moving speech

Re "President vows: 'We will recover' " (Page A1, Feb. 25): Perhaps I'm getting more sentimental with age, but I found myself teary-eyed throughout most of President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night. Striking the perfect balance between harsh reality and optimism, Obama hit it out of the park, that we Americans are resourceful, innovative, charitable and a tough bunch who won't be down for long. We will come back. Yes, we can, and, yes, we will.

– Maxine Sunada, Loomis

Spending cuts start here

My wife and I have been fortunate to have been successful. We make about $300,000 a year. We have a housekeeper and a gardener, buy new cars every few years and go on vacation two or three times a year.

As a result of the slumping economy, we have changed our lifestyle of late. We are not buying new cars this go-round, we are laying off our gardener and housekeeper, and we are forgoing vacations this year. We are also not eating out as often and spending probably half as much money as we used to.

We have a president, a Congress and state officials who want to tax the rich and redistribute the wealth more. Well, our wealth is definitely being redistributed. Several lower-income people will directly lose jobs as a result of our decreased spending. Grocery stores, clothing stores and car dealerships will do a little less business as well. Combine our situation with hundreds and thousands of people like us and any intelligent person can see the results. If you punish the people with money, those making less suffer even more. Tax us more and we'll spend even less. Let us distribute our money.

– Moses Marcioni, Granite Bay

Tax cuts protect the wealthy

It is unfortunate that the Republicans are still trying to protect and increase the wealth of party members rather than doing what is best for the country in these difficult economic times. They are calling for more tax cuts for the wealthy. Tax cuts for the wealthy will do nothing but allow them to increase their fortunes and estates. No significant spending increase, which is the essence of stimulation, would occur.

On the other hand, the president's proposal to give a tax break to those earning less than $250,000 will cause increased spending and act as a stimulus, as will the expenditures proposed by the president. It's time for the GOP to act in the interests of the country rather than promoting the special interests of their heavy contributors.

– Victor M. Corbett, Chico

The mayor and the hare

Re "Council OKs forming panel of residents to study strong-mayor idea" (Our Region, Feb. 18): Watching Mayor Kevin Johnson's frenetic approach to the mayor's job reminds me of one of Aesop's fables: "The Tortoise and the Hare." The hare (Johnson) is all flash and dash, zipping from one idea to the next (strong mayor, education) without focusing on the task at hand (building consensus, dialogue). The hare ridicules the tortoise (City Council) for moving at such a slow pace.

Frustrated by the hare's ridicule, the tortoise challenges the hare to a race. The hare is all laughs because he makes the assumption that he can win the race without even trying. While the tortoise plods along with his slow and steady pace, the hare zips all over the place saying, "Look at me, look at me!"

The hare gets so tired from all of his showing off, he takes a nap – confident he'll win the race with no problem. Just as the hare awakens from his nap, the tortoise crosses the finish line. As a result of his overconfidence, the hare loses the race. The moral of the story is, slow and steady wins the race. Mr. Johnson, democracy is a slow and steady process. It may not be flashy and instant, but it's what works.

– Susie Shields, Sacramento

Across-the-board cuts fairer

Re "City may cut 429 jobs to patch budget" (Our Region, Feb. 21): We are in the most serious recession of the baby boomer generation, and the answer is right in front of the decision makers. The math is wrong. Freezing labor contracts to forgo cost-of-living and step increases only protects employees who have seniority to maintain their jobs.