Cutbacks and tax cuts won’t work

The July 23 Business section reported some disturbing news: “United, Jet Blue to cut flights” and the effect these and other airline cutbacks are having on local airports; “2 banks post billions in losses”; and that “Bush sees a ‘hangover’ in economy” and notes problems in the housing market.

Was there any additional financial doom and gloom not reported? Other than our California budget crisis and the FDIC needing to increase its cash reserves and so many educational, state and municipal cutbacks.

Please tell me where the money is going to come from when all the state and federal governments are concerned about is cutting taxes? We need to face the inevitable. We need to increase revenues by having the rich pay their fair share or, alternatively, going to our Arab and Chinese friends begging for more loans.

Ira M. Landis

Ocean Hills

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Regarding “2 banks post billions in losses”: Lenders making so-called option adjustable-rate mortgages, whereby the loan balance could increase, and interest-only loans, whereby the loan balance did not decrease, were betting that property values would continue to rise.

They also were betting that regardless of whether borrowers could make the payments, the lenders still would have the collateral, which would be worth a lot more.

That is not lending. That is real estate speculating. Where were the regulators when this activity was going on?

Anita Roglich

Santa Monica