<strong><span class="subhead">Bring back &lsquo;Made in USA&rsquo;</span></strong></p><p>During a recent visit to Germany, my wife and I shopped a large, full-line department store. We noted that the great majority of items, including tools, housewares, appliances and clothing, were made in Germany. This contrasts sharply with consumer goods in America, where it is difficult to find anything not made in China or someplace other than this country. </p><p>Looking through our power and hand tools, kitchen gear and appliances here at home, we note that virtually all functional items purchased 15 to 20 years ago were made in the U.S. Each one of these products is now made in China, and the same for our clothing.</p><p> So, while the stock market is rebounding and the Wall Street crowd rescued by the taxpayers is salivating at the prospect of obscene new bonuses, many millions of Americans remain jobless, with little promise of future employment as long as we continue to source our consumer goods from China. Until we can once again buy items marked &ldquo;Made in USA,&rdquo; unemployment will continue at a high level, with serious effects throughout the entire economic structure of America. </p><p>&ldquo;Made in Germany&rdquo; works for Germany. &ldquo;Made in USA&rdquo; would work for America. </p><p><p align="right"><strong>Robert A. Eberle</strong></p></p><p><p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">$10-per-gallon tax on gas?</span></strong></p><p>Law professor Robert Hardaway disdains the cap-and-trade hokum in favor of the &ldquo;complete honesty&rdquo; of a straight $10 per gallon tax on gasoline (10/25, Opinion, &ldquo;As I See It&rdquo;). But he actually indicated the real problem as he sees it in the second paragraph of his discussion: all those newborn humans who arrive &ldquo;spew(ing) carbon&rdquo; and the various forbidden greenhouse gases. </p><p>In the interest of complete honesty, wouldn&rsquo;t it be better to address the problem at the source and slap a multithousand-dollar tax on the little buggers and their parents right there in the maternity ward? In that way, the new parents can immediately demonstrate their &ldquo;ultimate willingness to support&rdquo; Mr. Hardaway&rsquo;s agenda &ldquo;even at the cost of reducing the(ir) standard of living.&rdquo;</p><p> Make the tax onerous enough, and the entire family will be able to reduce their carbon footprints to that of countries currently meeting the green movement&rsquo;s required 2050 per-capita emissions limits: Somalia and Haiti. However, Mr. Hardaway should note that global warming, should it actually exist, will have to increase significantly before living in an unheated hut and walking to work in January are considered a reasonable way of life in Kansas City.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>M.E. Hintz</strong></p></p><p><p align="right"><em>Prairie Village</em></p></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Swine flu vaccine shortage</span></strong></p><p>The article on the front page of The Star (10/27, A1, &ldquo;Political fallout is seen with swine flu&rdquo;) faulting the government for the fact that the private sector has not delivered vaccine on promised dates was, to me, misleading. </p><p>Would the private sector, without government guarantees, have had any vaccine available for free or at what cost? Was all the testing for safety done by the private sector, or was the government involved? How could an individual, physician or hospital identify this need for a vaccine and initiate its production on a scale that would satisfy manufacturers&rsquo; need for making a profit? </p><p>Since H1N1 is a worldwide pandemic, and vaccines to help protect against it are being made worldwide, how are other countries coping with supplies and prevention? </p><p>Shouldn&rsquo;t we be grateful that our government did see the problem, has identified at-risk sectors and is getting vaccine to those sectors as fast as the private sector makes it available?