Retirement Realities
When I read the cover story "10 Bargain Retirement Spots" [June 11], I crossed my fingers that none in Idaho would be listed. Then when I opened it up, there was Sandpoint ["Sandpoint, Idaho"]. Sandpoint is everything you say and more. But a lovely thing about almost all of Idaho is the lack of congestion and crime. I was hoping we could remain a secret.
IRENE BAIN
Potlatch, Idaho
C'mon, why did you list "Melbourne Beach, Florida," where the median home value is $425,500 and the cost of living is 32.2 percent above the U.S. average, and "Kennebunk, Maine," where the cost of living is 17.7 percent above the U.S. average, among "10 Bargain Retirement Spots"? I'm sure you could have found other towns equally appealing that would have truly served readers "ready to ponder an affordable retirement."
BELLA ROMAIN
Tucson, Ariz.
As a resident of an area that the housing boom has left behind (median home prices in my area in the first quarter of 2007 are around $98,100), I read your Annual Guide to "10 Bargain Retirement Spots" with great interest and disappointment. Of the 10 bargain areas, eight had a median home price of $150,000 or more, which would make homeownership a challenge for many in our area. Information about rental availability and costs in each of these areas would have been helpful. "Do Your Research Before Buying" [June 11] pointed out other factors that needed to be taken into consideration. Hmmm...the best place for me to retire may be...right here.
ALANA MAUTONE
Johnson City, N.Y.
Of Tax Hikes and Job Training
In his observant editorial on the uneasy middle class, Mortimer B. Zuckerman recognizes the economic uncertainties facing the nation's "bottom" 90 percent and notes that things have worsened since Ronald Reagan's administration ["Uneasy in the Middle," June 11]. Zuckerman skates to the edge but does not leap. The obvious conclusion is to reinstate the 70 percent tax rate that Reagan slashed along with the universal notion that paying taxes is a patriotic duty.
JOSEPH CHIANESE
Oakland, Calif.
Zuckerman is right that our nation needs to "equip Americans with the skills to make them mobile and give them greater economic security." Helping Americans learn better job skills will increase salaries, mobility, and prosperity. Job training is the sleeper issue of the 2008 presidential campaign. While candidates from both parties are talking about middle-class anxiety and inequality, neither party is addressing job skills. The party that begins to focus on job training and provides real solutions will reap a great political reward.
DAVID GRAY
New America Foundation
Washington, D.C.
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