Even with Bears, an era of failed leadership

Phil Emery, left, and Marc Trestman (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The Chicago Bears’ recent firing of General Manager Phil Emery and coach Marc Trestman reminds us, yet again, that the only thing permanent is change. However, it is not change that we need, have ever needed, or will ever need. It is only growth, improvement, or advancement that is ever needed. Not a matter of rhetoric, this disappointing scenario helps us to remember that for all things there is a season, even if not a winning one, and that all business relationships come to an end.

Lamentably, with this sports example we are again witnessing that we are living in an era of failed leadership.

Bears fans can hope that 2015 will produce the beneficial results of improved leadership and athletic performance that they have so eagerly been craving and patiently awaiting.

Leon J. Hoffman, Lake View

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Shameful milestone

Chicago, as of last weekend, has reached a shameful milestone that is beyond cynical and is almost too difficult to point out. So far this year we have experienced over 2,600 people shot in our ity.

I myself and I’m sure most Chicagoans enjoyed our holiday season with loved ones and reveled in the spirit of Christmas, but it’s almost for certain that most of those 2,600 shooting victims had other things to worry about. We without question have a very serious epidemic that seems to be going on and on with no relief in sight.

We have an election for mayor right around the corner, and I have yet to hear even one candidate mention this epidemic. We are a city that seems to be divided and without answers. When a young black child has to write a letter to Santa Clause that makes its way to the president of the United States saying all he wants for Christmas is to be safe from harm, in my opinion, if that does’t wake us up to this problem, what is it going to take?

We need answers, we need leadership, we desperately need help. Enough is enough.

Bob Angone, South Loop

Doomsayers are wrong

Again, doomsayers are predicting economic calamity if the federal minimum wage is raised. Nonsense. They’ve been wrong for 70 years.

In 1938, the minimum was set at 25 cents an hour. Naysayers grumbled. Employment held. In 1968, it rose to $1.60 an hour. Naysayers wailed jobs would shrink. Employment held.

With an increase expected in 2015, the naysayer chorus is again screaming, “Jobs will shrink!”

But as we all know, at each step, the republic did not fall. The economy barely burped. Jobs did not disappear. The working poor got a modicum of breathing room before inflation again ate away their improved quality of life, and the next tug-of-war over wages began anew.

The real job loss threat is not wage levels, but job export; continuing automation and robotization; and rogue practices by banks that breed economy-stifling, job-cutting recessions.

We face a greater national hazard in income disparity, which is hollowing out the middle class and threatening to turn our democracy into an oligarchy.Why do newspapers bother to print, without disclaimers, such fear-mongering blather, when history proves they’re habitual false prophets?

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park