Print edition: 
Boeing move is free market at work
Nothing I can think of better reflects free-market principles than Boeing pulling out of Wichita despite the best efforts of workers and politicians to keep it here.
Issues like “loyalty” and “promise keeping” and “commitments” are immaterial. Free-market philosophy says that there is only one value that matters: radical self-interest. For businesses, that self-interest expresses itself in purely monetary terms. If Boeing believes that it will make more money by leaving Wichita, it is obligated, under free-market principles, to do so.
For advocates of free-market principles to then complain about them or modify them when things don’t go their way is not just inconsistent; it’s downright bizarre. What in the world did they think they were supporting?
If you want loyalty, promise keeping and commitment, you need an economic theory in which those things matter – one that acknowledges values beyond mere self-interest.
LAEL EWY
Wichita
Poison e-mail
So many people in this country have hearts full of poison. Does this have to include people in public office in the great state of Kansas?
House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, sending his e-mail about the first lady of the United States was such poison (Jan. 6 Eagle). Then to say he didn’t read the text? Someone should inform the speaker where you can go for lying.
PHILLIP THEIS
El Dorado
Don’t revote slots
The pro-greyhound track letters writers are obviously using the same information sheet when composing their letters to The Eagle. The supposed wonderful economic boost and the hundreds of jobs the reopened track could create are always in there.
A huge casino just opened in the area, giving local gamblers plenty of opportunity to lose their shirts and get further behind on their bills. At least the Mulvane casino offers the good, bad and ugly aspects of gambling without the additional spectacle of pitiful animals being brought into the world for short lives spent “entertaining” humans.
I, for one, knew exactly what I was voting for in 2007 and am tired of hearing the other side say their folks didn’t understand what they were voting for. If you vote without knowing what for, you’re probably not a great risk for gambling success either.
I sincerely hope the Legislature doesn’t give this effort the time of day, no matter how many billionaires are behind it.
ELIZABETH ROWE
Wichita
Disaster knocking
When all in government agree on anything, disaster is knocking at the door.
The hew and cry went out from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Iran’s nuclear program must be stopped. So we built a coalition with most of the free world, and we cut off Iran’s money supply. Slowly, for months, we have been choking the Iranian economy to death.
Sadly, there is no indication that this has had any significant effect on Iran’s nuclear program. The sanctions have, however, brought economic hardship to ordinary Iranians, making the argument that “the West is evil” sound convincing again.
So now, the Iranians have threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway where 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil travels. Would Americans have done less to protect their economy?
Let’s live and let live, and avert World War III. Cease all sanctions on Iran, at least for now.
LONNIE LONG
Wichita
Diabetes help
Several families and I recently met with Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, to tell our stories of living with Type 1 diabetes. We focused on the promise of artificial pancreas technology, a device that would address high and low blood sugars to help people with Type 1 live better and longer lives. It also would reduce costly complications associated with having Type 1 diabetes, including seizures, kidney failure and even amputations.
In the diabetes community, we are pleased that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently published guidance on this technology so that a formal framework can be provided to researchers and device manufacturers. This framework will make it possible for outpatient studies to begin, effectively getting us one step closer to having this technology available to us.
Pompeo really listened to us, and we hope that he will stay engaged with the diabetes community and do all that he can to help us have access to an artificial pancreas.
JENNIFER ALLRED
Wichita
