Here’s what I think, Mayor Emanuel

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Updated: November 3, 2011 10:47AM

So Rahm Emanuel wants to know what we think? Here’s an example: A production company gets to trash Grant Park during a multiday show, and the park is then closed for several weeks in mid-summer. They loudly proclaim that the production company is paying for the damage. Who else should pay? In addition, the production company does not pay the same 5 percent tax as every other company. And the man who arranges all this is? Rahm’s brother!

What do we think? Same old, same old.

Kevin R. Callahan,

Arlington Heights

No new stimulus

The worse this economy gets, the better it is for President Barack Obama. Then he can blame everything on the Republicans and the Tea Party. Think back to a little more than 2 1/2 years ago when Obama and company wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy — anyone making $250,000 a year — and I recall how they couldn’t quite agree on the threshold for what wealthy was. It seems we are fighting the same battle again. Well, my question is: Why didn’t Obama raise taxes on the so-called wealthy when he had majorities in both houses?

Now Obama demonizes Republicans for not raising taxes to fund his reckless spending. Did everyone forget how the Tea Party was formed and why the nation voted in a Republican Congress? It was to stop this out-of-control Washington bureaucracy, not to raise taxes or pass Obama Stimulus No. 2.

Tom Ploski, Mount Prospect

Ratify U.S.-Korea Trade pact

It was encouraging to see President Barack Obama visit Illinois this week, especially given the administration’s urgency to improve the local and national economies as soon as Congress returns.

An immediate action the administration and Congress should take in September is to ratify the pending U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The pact will create and support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, according to the administration, by opening international markets for American manufacturers, farmers, businesses and service providers. Conversely, the U.S. risks losing this economic opportunity if we continue to delay ratifying the pact.

Our company, Schaumburg-based Quality Float Works, is an industry export leader of floats and assemblies used in gas, oil, plumbing and agricultural applications worldwide. Despite our export success, Korean duties that currently are placed on our products inhibit us from further promoting our American-made goods in the dynamic Asian economy. Meanwhile, the European Union already is reaping the economic benefits of its free-trade agreement with Korea, which took effect on July 1.

The longer this pact languishes, the more Quality Float Works and other U.S. manufacturers and businesses will be placed at a significant market disadvantage to the EU and other international competitors. The Obama administration and Congress agree that it will benefit the U.S. economy. Now is the time to approve the deal before America falls further behind.

Jason Speer, vice president, general manager,

Quality Float Works Inc.