Views in brief

Banks ripping off the poor

A RECENTLY released annual study of overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds (NSF) banking transactions made me as mad reading it as when my bank slaps me with overdraft fees and NSFs.

Here are the highlights: In total, banks made $34.7 billion in 2008 from overdraft fees and NSFs. That's an average of $343 per household with a checking account.

The majority of overdraft fees and NSFs are incurred by 20 percent of households--described as "managing paycheck to paycheck" by one retired bank executive--and they average $1374 per household. This 20 percent of households is responsible for $27.8 billion in annual fees, or more than 80 percent of the total.

Fees have increased by 16 percent over just the last four years, and are still on the rise.

In summation, the smaller your checking account, the more attractive a target you become. The study goes on to describe ways in which the banks maximize their overdraft/NSF potential.
Brad Ward, Greensboro, N.C.

Can we feed the world organically?

PAUL D'AMATO'S column generally does an excellent job of explaining and shedding light on the core of the International Socialist Organization's politics.

In a recent article titled "Enough to go around," he makes the case that we can produce an abundance of food, certainly enough to feed the current world population, "[T]here has been, along with the industrial revolution, an agricultural revolution that has tremendously increased agricultural output per area of land and per unit of labor." As a result, "we have the technical capacity to produce more food than ever before." Mass hunger is not caused by a lack of food, but rather by the market.

After explaining how current environmental problems result not from absolute numbers of people, but from capitalism's exploitation of nature, D'Amato ends the article: "Yet we possess the technology, the tools, the ideas and the resources necessary to reorganize production and plan it in such a manner that all can live decent lives--without hunger and want--in a way that is sustainable for ourselves and our environment."

The article left me hanging, wondering, "Do we really have the means?"

I have heard that sustainable, organic agriculture is less productive than conventional, non-sustainable, polluting agriculture. I wondered: can we feed the world organically?

I found a number of studies online that suggest "yes." While organic farms are generally less productive initially--as it takes time to repair the damage done to the land by petroleum-based conventional agriculture methods--in time they catch up to roughly the same level of productivity per acre as conventional farms. During drought years, they do far better, with no chemical inputs. However, they are more labor-intensive.

Perhaps in a rational society labor resources could be shifted away from producing harmful pesticides and fertilizers, and toward meeting the need for increased labor on sustainable farms.
Kyle Gilbertson, Chicago

Protests for health care reform

I AM a resident of Columbus, Ohio, and an avid supporter of health care reform.

I am hoping to organize protests in front of Republican buildings in central Ohio on Labor Day to encourage them to support health care reform.

I would love to make this a widespread even across the nation and would love any help in getting the word out.

If there are enough voices speaking out, I know we can bring universal health care to America!
Josh Link, Columbus, Ohio

Racism is alive and well in the U.S.

NATIVE AMERICANS in Rapid City, S.D., among other cities in that state, have been experiencing overt racism for decades--and it seems to have increased with various types of discrimination in jobs and housing.

A contributing writer on this old American-initiated social ill who has had experiences in racism against Indians has written several articles. Melvin Martin is his name, and he writes in the Rapid City Journal.

We hope many more people can bring this issue out in the open so the world can know that America is still a hotbed of racism for Native Americans, especially.
William Thunder Hawk, from the Internet