Letters to the editor

Focus shouldn’t be on SARS’ economic
impact

I was utterly disgusted while reading Dr. Tiejun Huang’s
misleading submission, “China’s economy safe despite
SARS” (May 23). 

While only cursorily mentioning SARS’ impact on the
citizens of China and the international community, Huang instead
asserts that SARS will not affect China’s economy in the
long-term. It is perplexing that, as chief operating officer of the
Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China, Huang’s flawed approach
toward SARS mirrors that of Communist China. 

The outbreak of SARS can be attributed to the control of
information, misinformation and manipulation by the Chinese
government, all of which served to prevent “social
instability” of the government. The Congressional-Executive
Commission on China recently reported that, through various methods
of censorship, China’s legal system allows for its leaders to
control criticism, while also preventing the establishment of
institutions that investigate health matters of public
concern. 

Thus, China’s systematic denial and cover-up of the SARS
health issue have severely obstructed the processes of
identification, quarantine and development of preventative
strategies against SARS. In fact, the SARS health issue only
became public when mysterious cases developed globally and
courageous doctors at Chinese hospitals broke the silence imposed
by the government.

What I am most disgusted by is the fact that this is not the
first time China has exacerbated a health crisis. In the 1990s, the
AIDS virus began spreading in China, but the government-controlled
media restricted its coverage, while leaders denied the existence
of an epidemic. Due to governmental measures of manipulation and
control of information, unaware families sold their infected blood
to raise money, which further contributed to the spread of the AIDS
virus.

For this reason, we must be critical when Huang confidently
overstates the “ability and capability of the Chinese
government to control SARS from spreading.”Â From
China’s public health record, it is apparent that its
governmental policies cost lives instead of saving them.

Through ineffective social policies and failed damage-control
measures, the Chinese government has attempted to distort reality
by masking the real humanitarian problem ““ that over 700
lives have been lost worldwide, over 8,000 remain infected without
a cure, and countless Asian Americans have become the objects of
irrational fear and hatred. 

Contrary to what Huang and the Chinese government want the
global community to believe, the loss of human lives by SARS and
its psychological effects on society should clearly outweigh its
impact on the social stability and economics of Communist
China.

Liang Guo Graduate student, marketing University of
California, Berkeley

Tax cut would help average families

I was disappointed, but not surprised, by the unsigned
editorial, “Tax cuts would benefit rich before poor”
(May 28).

True, the lesser income earner’s break will be lower in
terms of actual dollars, but the fact is that that person
contributes much less to the IRS every April. Furthermore,
the average family will now actually have an additional $1,100
to offset the predicted $1,200 UC fee increase, not that it has
anything to do with Bush’s tax cut. So, isn’t this
discount a boon?

Contrary to the editorial opinion, this tax cut will help
average families, particularly those with kids. This summer,
millions of taxpayers will receive checks, due to an increase in
the dependent child credit from $600 to $1,000. The tax on
dividends, the profit that corporations pay shareholders, has also
been dramatically reduced. Previously they were rated at a
person’s income tax level, a maximum of 38.6 percent, but
now, to attract market investment, the top rate has been axed to 15
percent (the lowest will be 5 percent).

Additionally, capital gains tax has been reduced, also between 5
and 15 percent. Soon, money will begin to pour into the markets via
equities and mutual funds, and corporations will have larger cash
flows, resulting in their ability to create more jobs. An economic
jump-start thanks to tax cuts ““ tax cuts for all.

Michael Brown First-year, business
economics