Reader suggests next Missouri State president focus on increasing salaries

Next Missouri State leader should focus on teaching, not sports

You recently published a letter from a graduate student of MSU urging selection of the next president who would prioritize football and basketball prowess.

I strongly disagree. MSU was created by the legislature to provide teachers for the people of southwest Missouri. That mission is still unfulfilled. The school children of today in our area schools are performing at below grade level. That is especially true in southern and southwest Missouri.

I believe that the incoming president of MSU should commit to raising the intellectual level of students and MSU faculty by increasing salaries of the university’s faculty and its graduates.

The new president should initiate a speaking tour of area schools urging local boards of education to work toward raising the salaries of its teachers to the highest level in the state.

Such a campaign would produce the best and the brightest (teachers and students) in our southwest Missouri schools. It is absolutely true — you only get what you pay for. Our children deserve the best.

Fred L. Hall, Springfield

Critique of auto workers strike overlooks corporate greed

Steve Parsons, Ph.D, submitted an opinion last week suggesting the USMCA has encouraged the auto workers’ strike, and that the ultimate losers will be the car buyers and lower wage auto workers themselves. By requiring higher wages for these workers and more North American materials in cars, he argues, we will pay more for cars and fewer Americans will be able to afford them.

This is a loss for our economy and consumers, he says.

There is always a winner and a loser when these protectionist policies are enacted, Dr. Parson tells us, and correctly so. But his analysis stops short, I believe.

Wages in this country have been suppressed for decades, mirroring lagging union membership, as executives and shareholders have reaped the benefits of higher corporate profits. We are reaping this whirlwind in many ways, including declining home ownership numbers, more reliance on Medicaid, even a drug crisis and runaway immigration.

Dr. Parson, perhaps naively, simply ignores the greed factor. Greed (not always a bad thing, maybe, but often the ruin of good businesses) drives American capitalism and always will. The only ways to offset this greed are government regulation, which Parson dislikes, and stronger bargaining positions for workers.

Darren Morrison, Greenfield

Council should not condone "bait and switch" on pension tax

I am pleased that the City Council is seriously reviewing the sales tax for the Police and Firemen Retirement Fund bailout (TAX). The purpose of the TAX is almost accomplished (13% unfunded) although unfunded public pension liability never seems to die. But Mr. Gage, who was not here when the tax was sold to us, now can’t seem to live without the funds.

The TAX originated to address a catastrophe and to support our essential services. It was sold under those premises and we voted to renew the TAX until the taxpayers fulfilled our obligations to those who risk their lives to keep us safe. That is a far cry from beautification of our city and other unknown projects. Infrastructure maintenance and improvement should already be factored into our tax structure. If not, then let’s address those issues separately as part of our daily budget requirements as monitored and approved by the City Council.

I hope the council is not a body that will condone bait and switch. Maybe we, as taxpayers, need to have a better accounting of the various special sales taxes and how they are used. Springfield is a big city and to provide key essential services is expensive. To accept the responsibility as a councilperson to provide those key services is also accepting the fiduciary obligation to do so in a trustworthy fashion. And as to relying significantly on surveys, I would be cautious. I really am concerned with these surveys that you get what you ask for and not necessarily what is needed to provide taxpayers a city with the infrastructure that makes Springfield a safe and affordable place to live.

Art Farris, Springfield

RE: Andy Fischer's Sept. 24 letter on climate change

Give it up Andy, you are not convincing anyone that pollution from auto exhaust fumes is not a problem. The American people know that pollution is killing this planet. It causes health issues in humans and is a contributing factor in animal illnesses and death. The human race is dumping plastic into the ocean and destroying marine life. We are making nuclear weapons to destroy each other. They dump that waste into the earth. Biden’s initiatives are a good start.

Although, your article about the Maui devastation was interesting, you ruined it by taking a jab at Biden. Did you know that President Trump reversed several environmental protections, and he dissolved the agency that was established to prepare for catastrophic pandemic emergencies?

I googled vehicle exhaust emissions: nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and the most harmful pollutant in diesel exhaust is lead, a human carcinogen.

We hear more and more about tragic weather-induced catastrophic events like floods, fires, and dry reservoirs. The earth is warming, the polar ice is melting, the oceans are rising, and we have drought conditions. We are dealing with disease, starvation, animal extinction, and a massive migration crisis as people escape intolerable conditions. At least admit that pollution and the changing climate is serious and must be addressed. We can’t control the weather, but we can change human behavior that is destroying the planet.

The President is trying to find solutions and implement those that could possibly help. Your guy tells rally goers and post on his Truth Social that if you don’t elect him “you won’t have a country left.” He foments fearmongering. He calls conservationists “fake climate alarmists.”

The solution is to put our heads together to solve the serious problems facing the human race and leave politics out of it.

Norma Salchow, Springfield

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State president search, auto workers strike topics of letters