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pened there in the distant past and could again, he says. Other team members — there were five at Lake Tahoe and plans for a total of 15, Cassell says — gushed over the experience. “It’s just magical,” added Peri Best, 48, of Napa, Calif. Best is training to pilot the sub and she plunged several times below the surface during the Lake Tahoe mission. The sub’s time at Lake Tahoe was donated by manufacturer and owner SeaMagine Hydrospace of Claremont, Calif., Cassell says. Much of the additional $25,000 in expenses came out of Cassell’s pocket, he says. Cassell, who gained some fame in November 2006 as the head of a team that was the first to successfully film a giant squid in its natural habitat in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, says he next plans to explore a massive island of plastic DeLong reports for the Reno Gatrash floating at a place where zette-Journal

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ocean currents converge in the northern Pacific Ocean. He will be accompanied by Charles Moore, who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in 1997 while returning from a sailing race. Moore estimated the size of the plastic mass at twice the size of Texas, something Cassell says he hopes to verify while filming a documentary. After that, Cassell plans an underwater circumnavigation of Santa Catalina Island and the Channel Islands off the California coast, examining fish populations and pollutants. Accompanying him, he says, will be researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of Southern California and the University of California-Davis. The planned longer-term effort, which Cassell envisions being funded by both private donations and contributions from interested governments, would involve dives in 33 countries. He says he is in negotiations for funding from Mexico. The Undersea Voyager Project, based in South Lake Tahoe, is trying to raise $3 million to purchase a three-person sub, capable of diving 1,500 feet, for the global expedition. “Our focus is the water. What is at 1,000 feet?” Cassell said. “ It’s the most hostile place on the planet that supports life — the top of the abyss.”

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“Our focus is the water”: Scott Cassell, founder of the Undersea Voyager Project, pilots his submarine past an ancient submerged tree in Fallen Leaf Lake near Lake Tahoe in California.

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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. team of submariners that spent the month of May exploring Lake Tahoe and examined, among other things, evidence of an earthquake fault that may have ruptured thousands of years ago, is hoping the operation is just the beginning of their underwater explorations. Scott Cassell, the sub’s captain and founder of the non-profit Undersea Voyager Project, says his team has plans for a five-year mission to gather information and develop ideas to help restore endangered bodies of water around the world. The goal, Cassell says, is to collect data and attract sufficient attention to prompt people and governments to halt pollution and overfishing and take other actions to protect threatened bodies of water. A two-person submarine spent the past month cruising Lake Tahoe, examining earthquake faults, ancient submerged trees and beds of invading clams that threaten the lake. “I think it’s a very useful tool,” said John Kleppe, a University of Nevada-Reno scientist who for years has researched submerged trees, some more than 3,000 years old, in Fallen Leaf Lake just west of Lake Tahoe. The trees, which grew when the lake level was lowered by lengthy drought, provide a “very good record of climate change,” Kleppe said. Lake Tahoe, 1,645 feet deep and second to Oregon’s Crater Lake as the nation’s deepest, has problems, including sediment pollution and algae growth diminishing the lake’s famed clarity and invasive species that could forever alter its ecology, says Cassell, 47, a commercial diver, explorer and filmmaker from Pasadena, Calif. He says he has been fascinated with aquatic depths since seeing the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when he was 6. Several other explorations are planned in the coming months in preparation for the five-year mission Cassell and colleagues hope to commence in 2011. Cassell said he dreamed up the Undersea Voyager concept along with veteran submariner Andreas Rechnitzer in 2003 as the pair worried about failing fisheries, the sea’s impact on climate and the fact that many of the Earth’s oceans are unexplored. He says he decided to make the effort his “life’s mission” after Rechnitzer died in 2005. Richard Schweickert, a geology professor from University of Nevada-Reno used the sub to study an earthquake fault he says ruptured within the past few thousand years. The resulting earthquake, Schweickert says, was likely between magnitude 6.5 and 7 — strong enough to generate a tsunami on Lake Tahoe’s surface up to 30 feet high. Geologic evidence shows such tsunamis have hap-

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Experts seek ways to protect bodies of water worldwide from pollution and overﬁshing

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Submarine mission plunges for answers

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Diving for sea data: Will Kohnen, president and CEO of SeaMagine, maneuvers a miniature submarine before taking it for its ﬁrst dive into Lake Tahoe in April.

says the youngest son “most resembles his father in looks, in personality, in charisma and in thirst for power.” She says the plans for a father-son succesHONG KONG — Reports that North Korea’s next sion suggest North Korea has no plans to reform its dictator may be Kim Jong Il’s youngest son set off a closed economy or to rethink the hostile face it guessing game over whether he will really be in shows the world. charge or just a front for a fierce succession battle. Little is known about Kim Jong Un. The Swiss After defying the world last week by detonating newsmagazine L’Hebdo reported this year that he an underground nuclear bomb, North Korea sent an attended the International School of Bern, Switannouncement to members of the ruling Workers’ zerland, in the 1990s. He enrolled under the pseudParty naming Kim Jong Un, 26, as heir apparent, onym Pak Chol, socialized with the children of U.S. South Korean newspapers and legislators reported diplomats and became of fan of basketball superstar Tuesday. The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper wrote that Michael Jordan and movie action star Jean-Claude North Koreans sing a song hailing the dictator’s Van Damme, the magazine reported. third son as “Commander Kim.” The eldest son — Kim Jong Nam — had been conBut Cai Jian, a North Korea expert at Shanghai’s sidered the front-runner until he embarrassed the Fudan University, says, family eight years ago by “No one outside North trying to sneak into Japan Korea really knows who with a fake visa to visit will be picked as succesTokyo Disneyland. sor.” Kim Jong Il, who sucKim Jong Un “is still ceeded his father, Kim Il too young,” says Choi Jin Sung, as dictator, thought Wook, a North Korea middle son Jong Chol was analyst at the Korea Intoo wimpy for the job, stitute for National Uniaccording to a 2003 infication in Seoul. “He sider account by Kenji doesn’t have any experiFujimoto, a pseudonym ence. for the family’s former Choi and other anasushi chef. Kim Jong Chol lysts suspect that, at best, is “very different from Kim Jong Un would Kim Jong Un. He doesn’t emerge as the frontman have any charisma. He for someone wielding doesn’t look like a strong backstage power. soldier. He doesn’t look “If he is indeed the like a revolutionary,” choice — a huge if — it Song says. might reflect the desire Cai says, “My guess is of some people to have a that a collective, transiconvenient but powertional leadership will less figurehead,” says emerge, possibly led by North Korea specialist someone from the milAndrei Lankov at Kookitary. Most analysts in min University in Seoul. China also expect North By Hong Jin Hwan, AFP/Getty Images South Korean lawmakKorea will change slowly, er Song Young Sun and Harsh feelings: South Koreans burn a North Ko- and politically will beother North Korea rean flag and pictures of Kim Jong Il in Seoul. come more like China watchers say the Pyongwith a collective leaderyang government’s latest provocations — testing a ship, not passing power from father to son.” nuclear bomb, firing missiles and threatening to The real power broker after Kim Jong Il dies launch more — are designed to bolster military and might be his brother-in-law, Jang Song Taek, 63, public support for Kim Il Sung as he prepares to Choi and other analysts say. Jang, who is married to name a successor. The dictator, 68, probably suf- Kim’s younger sister, was purged five years ago affered a stroke in August. ter being seen as a threat to Kim’s authority. Jang South Korean lawmaker Park Jie Won, who sits was later brought back into the fold and has risen to on the intelligence committee, told a radio show a spot on the powerful National Defense CommisTuesday that South Korea’s spy agency briefed law- sion. Working in Kim Jong Un’s shadows, Jang could makers that the regime is “pledging its allegiance to bide his time consolidating power and emerge as Kim Jong Un.” the next dictator, Choi and other analysts say. If these succession reports are correct, Jong Un is “This is political power,” Choi says. “This is not beating out his older brother, Jong Chol, 27, and his something you share.” half brother, Jong Nam, 38, for the right to dynastic Contributing: Calum MacLeod in Beijing and the control of the impoverished nation of 23 million. Song, a member of South Korea’s parliament, Associated Press

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Moneyline Bernanke concerned about deﬁcits

Online travel agencies drop ticket booking fees

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Delta Air Lines is postponing plans to launch ﬂights from the U.S. to Kenya and Liberia because the Transportation Security Administration needs more time to approve the carrier’s request. . . . Dish Network was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a digital-video-recording service that infringes a TiVo patent. Dish was also told to pay $192.7 million to TiVo in damages and interest as its software still infringes TiVo’s patent. By Eric Nordwall from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News and staff reports

Travelers using services to check fares, then buy from airlines

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Financial services Consumer, including retailing, advertising, etc. Industrials, including energy, infrastructure, etc.

17% 15% 14% 14% 12%

Source: Russell Reynolds Associates’ Fortune 250 Why Diversity Matters in the Boardroom, 2009 study on boards of Fortune 250 companies By Jae Yang and Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY

1 — for multiple-airline booking; 2 — except for some packages 3 — fees still apply for name-your-own-price ﬂights Source: USA TODAY research

March had been a “positive catalyst” in boosting airline ticket sales. Sales were down 9% year-overyear in January and February but up by double digits in March and April. At the same time, the promotion had cost the company about $3 million a month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a ﬁrstquarter conference call in April. The fees have prompted many travelers to use agencies as “online Yellow Pages” to shop for fares but then buy their tickets on airline websites that don’t charge booking fees, Harteveldt says. He estimates that the airlines’ websites will account for about 70% of online airline vacation bookings and 10% of corporate bookings this year. Tom Botts, partner at consulting ﬁrm Hudson Crossing, says this week’s announcements don’t mean that all agency fees have disappeared. Many still impose “ankle-biter fees,” he says. For example, Travelocity, Orbitz and its sister site, CheapTickets, still charge a fee for tickets booked on two or more airlines. Such “interline” tickets account for more than 20% of airline ticket sales at Priceline, spokesman Brian Ek says. Other agency charges are “even more confusing,” Botts says. Last week, Expedia announced it was also eliminating change and cancellation fees for hotels, car rentals and cruises. Competitors Orbitz and Travelocity, meanwhile, still charge $25 for some hotel changes or cancellations.

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Airline Airline change/ cancel fee booking fee $71 $50 None None2 $71 $30 3 None None $6.991 $30

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Some skeptics wonder if opinionated economist can be Obama’s honest broker

Sachs of Columbia University. The dinner represented an unusual moment in official Washington: a president, breaking bread with impassioned, well-credentialed opponents of his signature policy initiative. To some, the episode also underscored a key question about a By David J. Lynch rumpled figure at the table, who was uncharacUSA TODAY teristically quiet much of the evening. As director of the National Economic Council, Larry SumWASHINGTON — On a warm Monday in late mers, 54, is charged with ensuring that the presiApril, the president dined with some of the dent hears all sides of the complex financial and sharpest critics of his handling of the financial economic issues confronting him. It’s an unlikely crisis. Just that morning, one of role for the opinionated Sumhis guests, Nobel prize winner mers, a brilliant, bulldozing forPaul Krugman had complained in “With hindsight, all of mer Treasury secretary with a his New York Times column that us with involvement reputation for chewing through the administration “will probably in financial policy dissenting voices with the same let the bankers off with nothing wish we had done fervor he brings to an undemore than a few stern speeches.” more to forestall fended buffet table. For roughly 90 minutes, over “Larry’s a debater, and he problems.” plates of savory roast beef and wants to win,” said Stiglitz. the first lettuce from the new In a 40-minute interview in his White House vegetable garden, — Larry Summers West Wing office, Summers says President Obama and some of placidly, “I’m trying to make sure the nation’s leading economists debated the fine the president has access to the best thinking he points of bank restructuring and financial bail- can have.” outs. The half-dozen attendees included another How much Summers has changed since his Nobel prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz; former Fed- 1990s Washington stint — both stylistically and eral Reserve Board governor Alan Blinder; HarPlease see COVER STORY next page u vard University’s Kenneth Rogoff; and Jeffrey

CheapTickets.com Expedia.com Orbitz.com Priceline.com Travelocity.com

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Former Treasury secretary Summers adapts his style

What online travel agencies charge

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Changed role: Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, listens as President Obama speaks in the background. Summers was Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.

Foreign currency per dollar Wed Tue 1.2335 1.2166 1.9440 1.9267 .6101 .6034 1.0975 1.0811 6.8315 6.8336 19.01 18.73 .7057 .6984 7.7512 7.7511 47.023 46.810 10110.00 10255.00 3.9639 3.9039 95.78 95.66 .2869 .2867 1507.50 1501.50 3.4845 3.4890 13.3255 13.1684 80.51 81.05 3.20 3.12 30.8015 30.5232 3.7502 3.7502 1.4428 1.4369 8.0866 7.9613 1232.40 1233.40 7.6805 7.4794 1.0697 1.0608 32.41 32.42 34.03 34.13 3.6725 3.6721

Country(currency) Australia (dollar) Brazil (real) Britain (pound) Canada (dollar) China (yuan) CzechRep (koruna) Europe (euro) Hong Kong (dollar) India (rupee) Indnsia (rupiah) Israel (shekel) Japan (yen) Kuwait (dinar) Lebanon (pound) Malaysia (ringgit) Mexico (peso) Pakistan (rupee) Poland (zloty) Russia (ruble) Saudi Arab (riyal) Singapore (dollar) So. Africa (rand) So. Korea (won) Sweden (krona) Switzerlnd (franc) Taiwan (dollar) Thailand (baht) U.A.E. (dirham)

Several major online travel agencies are permanently waiving the $7 to $12 fees they charge to book an airline ticket in an effort to lure travelers amid lackluster demand and increasing competition from the airlines themselves. Orbitz, CheapTickets and Travelocity said this week that they have extended spring-time promotions that let customers book ﬂights on their sites for free until May 31. Expedia last week Travel permanently removed the fees it charged. Agencies “want to hang on to customers, and hope that by waiving fees for airline tickets, they’ll come back for something else,” says travel analyst Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research. Expedia says a no-fee promotion launched in

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Raptor hedge fund to be shut down James Pallotta, the investment manager who split with longtime partner Paul Tudor Jones earlier this year, will shut his Raptor Global Funds, saying he doubted the hedge fund industry could sustain its short-term focus. Pallotta, who lost 20% last year, will begin returning money to clients in July, he said in a letter sent to investors. He said he’ll take time off to develop a new investment strategy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said large U.S. budget deficits threaten financial stability and the government can’t continue indefinitely to borrow at the current rate to finance the shortfall. “Unless we demonstrate a The economy strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth,” Bernanke said in testimony to lawmakers Wednesday. “Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance.” Bernanke’s comments signal that the central bank sees risks of a relapse into financial turmoil even as credit markets show signs of stability. He warned the financial industry remains under stress

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Morgan Stanley said Tuesday it will raise $2.2 billion through a stock offering as part of a plan to satisfy preconditions for repaying a government loan it received in fall amid the deepening credit crisis. Morgan Stanley priced the offering at $27.44 a share, an 8.2% discount from Monday’s closing price of $29.89. Based on the price, Morgan Stanley will issue about 80.2 million shares of common stock.

By Craig Torres and Brian Faler Bloomberg News

and the credit crunch continues to limit “Either cuts in spending or increases spending. The Fed chief said in his prein taxes will be necessary to stabilize pared remarks to the House Budget the fiscal situation,” Bernanke said in reCommittee that deficit concerns are alsponse to a question. “The Federal Reready influencing the prices of longserve will not monetize the debt.” term Treasuries. Yields on 10-year notes Bernanke also addressed banks’ efhave climbed about 1 percentage point forts to bolster common equity in the afsince the Fed announced plans in March termath of regulators’ stress tests on the to buy $300 billion of long-term govern19 largest U.S. lenders. He said the 10 ment bonds. The notes yielded 3.57% firms that were found to have a total AFP/Getty Images early Wednesday in New York, down capital shortfall of $75 billion have now Bernanke: Testifies sold or announced plans to boost comfrom 3.61% Tuesday. “In recent weeks, yields on longer- on Capitol Hill. mon equity by $48 billion. term Treasury securities and fixed-rate “We expect further announcements mortgages have risen,” Bernanke said. “These in- shortly” as the banks submit plans due by June 8, creases appear to reflect concerns about large fed- Bernanke said. This year’s projected budget deficit, eral deficits but also other causes, including greater four times the size of last year’s shortfall, has been optimism about the economic outlook, a reversal of driven up mostly by costs associated with the fiflight-to-quality flows and technical factors related nancial crisis. “Bernanke knows that fiscal financing to the hedging of mortgage holdings.” The budget problems are already complicating monetary policy deficit this year is projected to reach $1.85 trillion, and are in danger of undermining Fed credibility,” equivalent to 13% of the nation’s economy, accord- said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at ing to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. RBS Securities in Stamford, Conn.

Morgan Stanley raising funds for TARP

Fed chairman sees possible threat to ﬁnancial stability

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USA TODAY · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · 7A

Summers links energy, health reform to recovery

Some of the world’s most popular networking services have gone dark in China, apparent victims of government censors in the days leading to a notorious anniversary. Online users in China said Twitter, Yahoo’s Flickr photo site, Microsoft’s new Bing search engine and Hotmail, and other services were inaccessible on Tuesday. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square. Social media experts such as Laura Fitton suspect Chinese authorities may be blocking sites to tamp down discussions of the protest. If so, it would be the ﬁrst time Twitter has been censored by the Chinese government. The microblogging service had not been

Human Rights and Democracy. Video-sharing site YouTube has been blocked within China since March, according to Google, which owns the service. “Authorities make a point of locking down public discussion this time of year — especially tools like Twitter and Flickr that could be used to organize protests,” says Danny O’Brien, international outreach coordinator at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-proﬁt. But in attempting to stiﬂe the exchange of ideas, the Chinese government is drawing more attention to a dark chapter in its history, says Fitton, author of Twitter for Dummies. “If that is their intent, they inadvertently created even more dialogue.” Some Twitter applications, such as Seesmic Desktop and Tweetie, allow users to bypass the Chinese blockade, says Loic Le Meur, CEO of Seesmic. Contributing: The Associated Press

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subject to restrictions even though it’s used by Chinese activists, who often use aliases. The Chinese government has not issued an explanation. “We understand the Chinese government is blocking access to Flickr and other international sites,” Flickr spokesman Jason Khoury said in a statement. Added Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz: “We are reaching out to the government to understand this decision.” Twitter officials said they’re looking into the situation. Chinese authorities have tightened surveillance of dissidents ahead of the anniversary. Now they’re extending restrictions to social-networking services in a society where information is tightly controlled. Those sites have been effective in spreading the word on student protests. Government officials have shut down message boards on more than 6,000 websites affiliated with colleges and universities, says the Information Center for

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makes road, construction and energy industry equipment, will acquire the Hummer brand, dealer network and management team. The company could also lease an assembly plant and key materials and components from GM, preserving 3,000 jobs at Hummer’s Bloomberg News Shreveport, La., plant. Hummer: Chinese company Si“We will be investing in the chuan Tengzhong may buy brand. Hummer brand and its research and development capabilities, work. Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy which will allow Hummer to betIndustrial Machinery, which ter meet demand for new prod-

new owner will need to develop a clean diesel engine for Hummer trucks and focus on developing smaller Hummers. “Hummer is sized wrong for markets outside of the Middle East,” Hall says. “And they’ll need to ﬁnd a partner for clean diesels, because GM won’t be able to help them with that.” Separately, Chrysler said Tuesday it plans to restart many of its plants by the end of June. It shut down operations when it entered bankruptcy-court protection in April.

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DETROIT — A Chinese manufacturing company is poised to take over General Motors’ Hummer brand, the two companies said Tuesday, marking the ﬁrst Autos foray by a Chinese company into the U.S. auto market. Chinese automakers have indicated for several years that they’d like to ﬁnd some way to sell cars here, but until now, haven’t managed to make it

heavy equipment before entering the passenger car market. The Hummer brand has been a lightning rod for U.S. environmental activists who say the brand shows that GM is out of touch with consumers, who want greener technologies. The brand sold around 5,000 vehicles this year, down 64% from a year ago. Still, the sturdy and off-roadcapable Hummer has the potential to make sense in developing countries that lack good roads, says Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics. He says the

and

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ucts such as more fuel-efﬁcient vehicles in the U.S.,” said Yang Yi, CEO of Tengzhong. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year; the purchase price was not released Tuesday. GM on Monday ﬁled for bankruptcy-court protection, so the deal will need approval from the bankruptcy court. While many industry watchers expected a car company to buy Hummer, Asian makers of heavy equipment have a history of breaking into the car business. Mitsubishi and Fuji both made

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These doubts are among the factors increasing the likelihood of a second Obama administration stimulus package. Rogoff, a Republican, calls it “inconceivable” that there won’t be a second stimulus about as big as the $787 billion legislation passed earlier this year. Worries about the economic strategy are matched by brewing doubts about whether the administration is prepared to do enough to prevent a return to business-as-usual on Wall Street. In this view, the nation’s largest ﬁnancial institutions became too big and too politically powerful. Stiglitz, a longtime Summers critic, says the administration has made the too-big-to-fail problem worse by shoveling money at the biggest banks while encouraging weaker institutions to merge into larger entities. “The regulatory structure we’re going to end up with is going to be less effective in dealing with the problem than we’d like,” he says. Administration allies, such as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, bluntly dismiss such concerns and say political support remains strong for far-reaching changes in ﬁnancial industry oversight. Summers is certainly aware of the challenges ahead. “We’ve learned from the last two cycles,” he says, “that memories are short and that when the good times start rolling, people get complacent and do imprudent things.”

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driven. So addressing this most serious of recessions in a maximally effective and credible way requires setting the stage for a different kind of expansion,” Summer says. By lowering costs, health care reform “will act as a spur to business investment.” Likewise, resolving uncertainty over future energy costs will unlock pent-up corporate investment in “greener” systems. The idea is that surging investment can ﬁll the hole in the economy left by the collapse of consumer spending — as soon as this year. It’s a coherent vision. But there are doubts about whether those reforms will actually occur this year, whether even if they do, businesses will be quite so optimistic about potential cost savings, and about how much new investment will result at a time when so much excess capacity already exists in the economy. “They’re hoping that investment will save the day, especially in ‘green’ technology, that increased government investment will produce attractive opportunities, and the investment community will step forward and that will compensate for a real pullback in consumption. . . . I wonder if he’s going to have a timing problem,” Smick says.

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“But as there’s been a little bit of a return to normality, there’s been a little bit more of a movement toward a broader range of topics.” In the daily briefings, also attended by other top policymakers, including Geithner, Summers isn’t shy about making his own preferences known. But the goal is to make sure the president hears all the arguments — before a decision is made, not afterward when the talking heads on cable TV begin picking it apart. In the administration’s early days, one question surrounded the interaction between Geithner and Summers. There was talk that rival Treasury and White House power centers would jostle for policy supremacy. So far, if the process hasn’t been perfect, there’s no indication of the sort of institutional paralysis that has bedeviled other administrations. “They battle intellectually sometimes, but in a very friendly and collegial way. . . . Each is the one the other would most want to reach consensus with,” Sperling says. On this day in mid-May, Summers’ briefing includes developments in the Treasury bond market, an update on General Motors’ march toward bankruptcy court and the financial unraveling of the state of California. Later, for someone with his fingers in just about every aspect of the worst financial crisis since the Depression, Summers appears relaxed. Obama is tied up with his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, so for the moment, the intense presidential spotlight has lifted from the economic team. The economic data lately, though mixed, have been better than during the white-knuckle months in late 2008 and early 2009, when the prospect of a global cataclysm akin to the Great Depression seemed very real. Both the U.S. and global economies are still shrinking, but at a less rapid rate. Summers welcomes the relative improvement but is keeping the champagne corked. “I don’t think there’s anything that gives any grounds for serenity or complacency,” he says. In the interview, he sketches a comprehensive strategy linking the administration’s ambitious health care and energy agendas to economic recovery. The president has been criticized for trying to do too much at once: repair the nation’s banks, auto companies and insurers while simultaneously reforming the health care system and promoting green technologies and energy independence. But Summers makes clear that health care and energy reforms are meant to have essential economic consequences. “The last two economic expansions have been more bubbledriven than fundamentals-

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substantively — will have enormous influence on what the Obama administration ultimately does to reshape the American financial system and economy. The irony is that Summers, long one of the Democratic Party’s most fervent market champions, has helped craft an unprecedented expansion of the government’s economic role even as some now say the danger is that the administration will end up doing too little to change the U.S. financial landscape, not too much. “There is a sense within the Treasury Department and within the White House that the changes to U.S. markets are actually going to be less than people expect. Not only are we not headed to European-style socialism, we’re not even headed that far from where we were,” says David Rothkopf, a Washington, By Win McNamee, Getty Images D.C., consultant who worked with Summers in the Clinton ad- The A team: In March at the White House, President Obama walks with Christine Romer, left, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Timothy Geithner, Treasury secretary; and Larry Summers, diministration. rector of the White House’s National Economic Council. A born economist derivatives would mushroom Summers was almost literally a and that regulators would reborn economist. Both of his parmain spectators, he would have Title: Director, National ents were economists; two unacted. “With hindsight, all of us Economic Council. cles won Nobel Memorial Prizes with involvement in financial Age: 54. in Economic Sciences. He entered policy wish we had done more to Marital status: Married to the Massachusetts Institute of forestall problems,” he says. Elisa New, a professor of EngTechnology at age 16, did graduHis allies say Summers has belish at Harvard University. ate work at Harvard University come the indispensable man of Children: Five daughters, and eventually became one of the Obama administration policyone son. youngest tenured professors in making, a sort of economic conEducation: Massachusetts Harvard’s roughly 350-year hissigliere for the president. If ObaInstitute of Technology, bachetory. ma decides to replace Fed lor’s degree in economics; A brilliant academic career led Chairman Ben Bernanke when Harvard University, Ph.D. in to top policy jobs at the World his term expires at the end of economics. Bank and then in the Clinton adJanuary, Summers is a likely sucLittle-known fact: An acministration, where he eventucessor. complished tennis player. ally succeeded Robert Rubin as “He can provide one-stop Often quotes: Legendary Treasury secretary. shopping for analytical rigor on a By Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images British economist John MaySummers was deeply involved breadth of economic and finannard Keynes. in the U.S. handling of financial cial matters like no one else in the crises in Mexico, Asia and Russia world,” says Gene Sperling, a during the 1990s and was a counselor to Treasury Secretary forceful advocate of open mar- time but left legions of irritated known him since the late 1980s. Timothy Geithner. kets and deregulation. associates in his wake. “He’s just Still, Summers can sometimes After leaving government, very direct and to the point. . . . appear to be a man feigning calm No champagne yet Summers returned to Harvard in He’d be much less exciting to talk rather than possessing it. And he 2001 as president of the univer- to if he weren’t so clear-headed remains a controversial figure Summers’ modest West Wing sity. It was a rocky interlude, ulti- and direct,” says Rogoff, a Har- within the Democratic Party, office provides few hints of his mately undone by comments he vard colleague. where some see his enthusiasm prominence. There’s a small cormade in 2005 casting doubt on Summers realized by the late in the 1990s for market solutions ner refrigerator stocked with Diet women’s innate aptitude for sci- 1990s that his pile-driving ap- and deregulation as having sown Cokes. A wall-mounted photo of ence and math. The remarks ig- proach was counterproductive, the seeds that sprouted into to- Obama and his economic SWAT nited a fierce gender controversy, and he learned to throttle back. day’s crisis. Along with then- team at work. Another signed “Al and Summers resigned the fol- But doubts resurfaced when Treasury secretary Robert Rubin, Gore.” But as head of the NEC, a lowing year. Whatever personal Obama opted to put him in a job Summers opposed regulating de- Clinton administration creation, angst the incident caused, his ex- at the NEC requiring the skills of rivatives, including credit default Summers enjoys ample amounts ile turned out to be a profitable an “honest broker” rather than swaps, and supported repealing of that key Washington currency: one. He took a part-time position return him to Treasury. Friends the Glass-Steagall Act, which pro- presidential face time. Every advising hedge fund managers at say Summers was determined to hibited banks from simulta- morning, he makes the short D.E. Shaw & Co. in New York that prove the skeptics wrong by run- neously engaging in investment journey down one level to the paid more than $5 million. ning an even-handed policy and commercial activities. Oval Office, where he leads a daiAlong the way, Summers process. “I think he shares the blame,” ly economic briefing for Obama, earned a “yes, but” reputation. “It’s been a remarkable transi- says economist Dean Baker of the an innovation the new president Universally regarded as an almost tion stylistically from where he Center for Economic and Policy put in place to keep tabs on the uniquely brilliant economist, he was 20 years ago, even 10 years Research, a left-of-center Wash- metastasizing financial crisis. was equally widely seen as arro- ago. Stylistically, it’s like night and ington, D.C., think tank. “There were periods when evgant and brusque. A favorite tac- day,” says David Smick, CEO of fiSummers acknowledges some ery day — one way or another — tic was to finish the stories or ar- nancial advisory firm Johnson regrets, though with caveats. If was about the financial crisis,” guments of others, which saved Smick International, who’s he had known that unregulated Summers said in an interview.

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8A · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · USA TODAY

General Motors bankruptcy

GM’s hits and misses

LOS ANGELES — Over its 101-year histoinnovations as the self-starter, practical air conBy Chris Woodyard ry, General Motors has brought us the best, ditioning and the automatic transmission. In reUSA TODAY More online and worst, innovations and cars in the auto cent years, though, GM’s output was too often See more photos of the world. marred by miscues, cut corners and plain bad ideas. best and worst GM cars at cars.usatoday.com. In the early years, GM’s marketers added style and color We asked Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Autoto cars, putting Henry Ford and his industry-leading Model motive Museum in Los Angeles, to click off seven of the uGM has buyer for HumT’s on the defensive. The company also came up with such best and of the worst in GM cars:

1935 Chevrolet Master Coach by General Motors

mer, 1B; auto sales, 2B

GM’s best . . .

. . . and best-forgotten

General Motors

1955 Chevrolet Introduces the GM small-block V-8, bringing to everyday cars the high-revving performance once reserved for exotic luxury machines.

General Motors

1971 Chevrolet Vega Seeing small cars score with collegeage Baby Boomers, Chevy responds with the Vega. Its aluminum engine, designed to save weight without iron cylinder liners, was so prone to wear it “self destructed at 60,000 miles,” Kendall says.

1957 Corvette The ’Vette was introduced in 1953, but this was the ﬁrst one with a four-speed transmission and fuel injection, making it the modern American sports car. General Motors

General Motors

By Theresa Howard USA TODAY General Motors, now in bankruptcy reorganization, seeks to reassure car buyers and dealers it intends to emerge as “leaner, greener, faster, smarter” in TV ads that begin airing Advertising today. Even as it owes ad agencies more than $160 million, according to its filing, GM tapped Deutsch L.A. to create an ad that first appeared online Monday on a new GM website, gmreinvention.com, and on Facebook. Also posted: news about the bankruptcy filing and other developments. “We were in limbo for the past three to four months and knew people would need assurance,” says Jay Spenchian, executive director of marketing strategy. “The most important thing was to reassure and acknowledge the situation. . . . This is a new beginning for GM.” The ad, using 80% existing footage to cut costs, says: “We’re not witnessing the end of the American car. We’re witnessing the rebirth of the American car.” GM ad spending fell from $2.8 billion

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Message: GM has moved quickly to introduce the “New GM” with “leaner, greener, faster, smarter” ads that will air during prime time, the news and the NBA Finals. See the GM “Chapter One” ad at media.usatoday.com

in 1999 to $2.2 billion last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. And GM radically cut back this year, including dropping out of big events such as the Oscars, but would not disclose spending for 2009 or the “reinvention” program. The campaign will use already-purchased ad time. GM also plans to follow through on launch marketing in the works for new vehicles, such as the Chevy Camaro. The U.S. Treasury cut Chrysler’s plan for post-bankruptcy ads but so far is on board with GM. “We shared with the Treasury a version of this assurance ad and the kind of money we were going to spend, and they were very supportive,” Spenchian says. TV ads will run during news and prime-time shows and the NBA Finals.

An open letter from GM CEO Fritz Henderson will run in national newspapers. The social-networking element will court younger buyers. It includes ﬁve bloggers and has had an uptick in people talking, good or bad, about GM vehicles. “This is where the audience is and where we need to be to convince people that we are a new GM,” says Christopher Barger, GM’s global social-media director. “If the perception of twentysomethings is that we are a dinosaur, they won’t expect us to be on Twitter.” Web consultant B.L. Ochman of whatsnextonline.com says the effort is too late. “They should have been looking at this stuff years ago.” But eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna disagrees. “For a company whose failure is perceived as being out of touch, this sends out the right message to reach out directly to consumers. It can only help in this kind of situation.”

General Motors’ bankruptcy filing Monday was expected, but the news is still unsettling for the automaker’s thousands of employees, especially those close to retirement. Personal finance Here are some answers to questions about what the filing means for retirement benefits. Q: What will happen to GM’s retirement plans? A: In the short term, nothing. In a statement, GM said it plans to maintain its employee benefit plans, such as pensions and health care. GM also pointed out that the assets in its pension plan are protected by federal law from claims by creditors. That means the company can’t use funds from its pension plan to meet its obligations or pay its debts. Likewise, contributions to GM’s 401(k) plan are held in a trust established on behalf of plan participants. Employees’ savings, along with matching contributions, don’t belong to GM and are off-limits to creditors, the company said.

Q: If the PBGC takes over my pension, will I still get all my beneﬁts? A: Not necessarily. The PBGC insures pensions up to limits established by law. For plans terminated in 2009, the maximum guaranteed amount for workers who retire at age 65 is $54,000 annually. The limits are lower for workers who retire before they’re 65. “The earlier the retirement, the lower the guaranteed amount from the PBGC,” Elliott says.

Q: What about other retiree benefits for salaried employees? A: In a statement, GM said it is working with the Treasury to reduce some retiree benefit obligations by roughly twothirds. Those reductions will affect life insurance and health care coverage for salaried retirees, among other things, Q: Will the government take over the company said. GM’s pension plan? A: Not in the near future, but it’s still Q: How can I find out more? possible. Currently, GM’s pension plan is A: GM employees and retirees can call underfunded by $20 billion, says Doug- 800-489-4646. The PBGC also has inforlas Elliott, an economics fellow at the mation on its website, www.pbgc.gov.

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Automaker puts lean, green spin on future

Brookings Institution. The restructured company will need to use some of its operating profits to close the gap, he says. If those profits fail to materialize, the company could end up filing for a second bankruptcy and transferring its pension obligations to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Elliott says. The PBGC is a federal agency that insures defined pension plans.

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Law protects pension funds, money in 401(k)s

GM ads pitch new beginning

It looked so odd that when it was privately shown to the brand’s dealers, they gasped. How would they sell this boxy mess? The plastic cladding around the bottom only made it worse.

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General Motors

2001 Pontiac Aztek

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Had the ﬁrst fully automatic transmission, the Hydra-Matic. Cadillacs got it the next year. “Delicate ladies were not interested in shifting,” Kendall says, an experience coarsened by then-primitive synchronization that led to gear grinding. The automatic got the nickname “slush box” because its connection to the engine was ﬂuid rather than metal gears.

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General Motors

1940 Oldsmobile

and

Three others 1912 Cadillac: Introduced the self-starter, ending the days when owners had to crank the car to get it started. 1935 Chevrolet: The all-steel roof, dubbed the “turret top,” is introduced on Chevrolets. It was a breakthrough made possible by new, big sheet metal stamping machines. Previously, car roofs were criss-crosses of wooden slats. 1964 Pontiac GTO: Big engine, midsize cars. It wasn’t the ﬁrst true muscle car, but GM executive John DeLorean’s baby set a standard for powerful American cars. “This brought muscle performance to the smaller car,” Kendall says.

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Three others 1959 Cadillac: Its big fins, the height of the trend, now are iconic, even cool. But Kendall thinks it was a “horrid” design, “a lot of wasted chrome.” 1960 Corvair: Chevrolet’s answer to Volkswagen’s success. With a rear engine and swing axle, drivers were losing control of the Euro-style car and crashing. “Unless you paid close attention to the tire pressure, you could flip the car over just going around a corner,” Kendall says. It helped make a star, however, out of Ralph Nader, who made it a chapter in his landmark consumer book Unsafe At Any Speed. 1978 Oldsmobile diesel V-8: During the oil embargo era, Olds converts a gasoline engine to diesel for better fuel economy. But it made the switch without beefing up some key components, resulting in mass failures.

Legendary designer Harley Earl’s ﬁrst design for GM and the ﬁrst production car designed from the ground up by a professional designer. “It was sexy for 1927,” Kendall says. That’s Earl at the wheel of his creation in the photo, with Cadillac chief Larry Fisher. Earl, considered the father of automotive design, was GM’s head of design from 1927 through 1958.

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Production ended in 1923 for the aircooled car that was so prone to overheating that, Kendall says, it brought another industry innovation — the recall.

1927 Cadillac LaSalle

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General Motors

Chevrolet Copper-Cooled

Hoping to tap growing sales of upscale smaller cars, Caddy introduces a thinly disguised, dressed-up and rebadged Chevrolet Cavalier. It devalued the premium brand in a way that has taken decades to try to repair. “Everything that was wrong, venal, lazy and mendacious about GM in the 1980s was crystallized in this ﬂagrant insult to the good name and ﬁne customers of Cadillac,” wrote Time magazine in its list of the 50 worst cars of all time. Kendall is slightly gentler: “It was not a bad car in and of itself.”

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1982 Cadillac Cimarron

USA TODAY · THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2009 · 9A "USA TODAY hopes to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation." -Allen H. Neuharth, Founder, Sept. 15, 1982 President and Publisher: David L. Hunke Editor: John Hillkirk Editor, Editorial Page: Brian Gallagher Managing Editors: News, Carol Stevens; Money, Jim Henderson; Sports, Monte Lorell; Life, Susan Weiss; Design, Jeff Dionise; Network, Chet Czarniak

Senior Vice Presidents: Advertising, Brett Wilson; Circulation, Larry Lindquist; Electronic, Jeff Webber; Marketing, Susan Lavington Vice Presidents: Finance, Myron Maslowsky; Human Resources, Janet Richardson; Information Technology, John Palmisano; Production, Ken Kirkhart

Today’s debate: Death in Wichita

Activists mount militant assault on abortion rights Our view:

groups should not be blamed for the actions of a suspected killer who appears to have lurked in the violent and twisted fringe of the movement, where murdering a doctor is excused as justifiable retribution. That said, the braying of cable TV hosts In the United States of America, medical professionals should not have to carry guns, such as Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and activists such as wear bulletproof vests, hire bodyguards or Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry conlive in fear of assassins. But doctors who pro- tributes to a climate of intolerance that can vide abortions, particularly late-term proce- encourage deranged individuals. O’Reilly repeatedly referred to the doctor as “Tiller the dures, often do some or all those things. The lifeline that these physicians provide baby killer,” and Terry, who is no longer assofor women in difficult, sometimes desperate, ciated with Operation Rescue, called Tiller a “mass murderer” whose circumstances grew even “hands were covered with thinner on Sunday, when blood.” On an issue as heatDr. George Tiller was Less choice ed as the abortion battle, gunned down in the foyer The number of abortion providers in the U.S. dropped by not everything that’s legal of his Wichita church. Vilone-third from 1985 to 2005. to say is wise to say. ified by anti-abortion The fact that some activgroups, Tiller was a hero to 1985 2,680 ists see Tiller’s killing as the thousands of women. murder of a murderer simSome came to him as a last 2,089 1995 ply is not relevant. The docresort after learning their tor acted within the law. In baby had a fatal condition the 36 years since Roe v. or that their own health 1,787 2005 Wade, abortion foes was at grievous risk. haven’t been able to outTiller’s insistence on Source: Guttmacher Institute law the procedure or conhelping those women was By Keith Simmons, USA TODAY vince most Americans that remarkably courageous. He it should be illegal. A recent had already been shot, and his clinic had been bombed and vandalized. Gallup Poll showed that 76% of Americans How many people would carry on doing still believe that abortion should be legal in what they thought was right if they had to all or certain circumstances, virtually unlive in constant fear that they’d be shot or changed in three decades. Thwarted in legislatures and courts, some blown up? How many medical students anti-abortion activists are achieving with inwant to choose a life like that? Regrettably, threats by anti-abortion activ- timidation and harassment what they can’t ists have worked all too well. The number of through the political process. They harshly abortion providers is down almost 40% since and aggressively confront women on their the peak in 1982, according to the Gutt- way into clinics, picket doctors at their macher Institute, a research organization homes or churches, and harass doctors, clinic that supports abortion rights. Already, 87% of workers, contractors and landlords. counties have no provider, and women often Regardless of personal beliefs about aborhave to travel long distances to find a willing tion, authorities have an obligation to protect doctor. Tiller’s clinic was one of only three in those providing and receiving abortion serthe nation offering the late-term procedure. vices, and to prosecute those who harass or Anti-abortion groups were generally quick threaten them. The tragedy of Tiller’s death to condemn his slaying, and the author of the will only be compounded if it frightens away opposing view below correctly calls the slay- more doctors and makes a legal procedure ing a “cowardly act.” Mainstream pro-life even harder to come by.

Unable to win politically, they turn to intimidation and harassment.

To comment . . . We welcome your original responses to USA TODAY content. There are two platforms where you may share views: uFor print publication consideration, e-mail letters@usatoday.com, fax to 703-854-2053 or mail to 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22108. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length, and comments of 250 words or fewer have the best chance of being published. Only comments that include a name, address and day and evening phone numbers, and that are veriﬁable by USA TODAY, can be considered for print. uYou may also choose to join conversations taking place online by going to www.opinion.usatoday.com. Letters to the editor and articles submitted to USA TODAY may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.

Commitment to accuracy To report corrections or clariﬁcations, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones at 1-800-872-7073 or e-mail accuracy@usatoday.com. Please indicate whether you’re responding to content online or in the newspaper.

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As a former small-business owner, I know that banks make a nice proﬁt each time a credit card is scanned. That proﬁt comes at no charge to the customer, but a portion is taken from the merchant’s bottom line. Then the banks double-dip by charging fees to

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Bank fees pile on

credit card holders. And now they are proposing to charge more fees on checking accounts? The dark side of capitalism is the motivator. Although it’s legal, how can we allow banks to squeeze more money out of unsuspecting people? Those fees contribute to the million dollar bonuses paid to banking executives. The more customers that the large banks and credit card companies can sign up, the more the nickeland-diming pays off for them. I’m better off, and so is my community, if I keep my money in local banks and credit unions. When I get one of those credit card solicitations, I write “no thanks” in big black letters across the application and send it back. Benjamin Schultz Bloomington, Ind.

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If one substitutes some key words, that sentence becomes: “We need serious and major regulatory reform over Congress, or it will continue to rip off people in every way imaginable, with outrageous earmarks snuck in every single bill.” Congress is our problem, not banks. We can choose to avoid banks, but how can we avoid Congress? John W. Wehmeier Muskego, Wis.

Congress needs reform as much as credit card practices do An economic researcher called the latest moves by banks a “double whammy” for taxpayers because they have put up $700 billion for the bank bailouts and now are getting hit with increasing fees on checking accounts (“Banks ﬁnd new ways to increase fees,” Cover story, News). I feel sorry for those of us affected by these fees. Even so, no one is victimized because we can choose to avoid them by using cash. It is harder for us to avoid being victimized by members of Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., suggests credit reform does not go far enough. Then he hypocritically states: “We need serious and major regulatory reform over these institutions, or they will continue to rip off people in every way imaginable, with outrageous fees snuck in every single place.”

I would like to congratulate USA TODAY on the article on adoption and the audio slideshow “One woman’s decision to give up her baby” (USATODAY.com). They were thoughtful, accurate pieces on adoption in the USA. As the article pointed out, 90% of domestic infant adoptions are open, where adoptive families remain in contact with birth families. I would like to clarify one detail. The headline on the second page of the story says, “Agencies say more

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Awareness grows

women considering giving up babies for adoption.” But a more accurate reﬂection of the reality would be to use the phrase “placing babies for adoption.” Adoption is not about giving up your child; it is about placing the child with an adoptive family because that is the best option for the birth family and the child. Just as important is making a commitment to stay in contact so that the child knows the decision was made out of love, as it clearly was in the case of the family proﬁled. The Independent Adoption Center has been providing open adoption placements and counseling to birth and adoptive families since 1982 in an effort to ensure that every child grows up feeling loved and supported. Our work results in hundreds of open adoption placements each year. IAC is committed to ensuring best practices in adoption, and to that end IAC has never had any exclusionary policies for adoptive parents, including age, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, ethnic background, color or race. In his recent speech to the graduating class at the University of Notre Dame, President Obama urged that we make adoption more readily available. That is exactly what IAC is tirelessly working toward every day. Stories such as the one USA TODAY reported help tell the positive side of adoption that was often taboo not long ago. Ann Wrixon Executive Director Independent Adoption Center Pleasant Hill, Calif.

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Egyptian human rights advocates remain bitter that the Bush administration stirred hope, then dropped its freedom agenda. For Obama, an easier venue for outreach to the Muslim world would have been Turkey, a country that showcases the reform and modernity Islam is capable of attaining, or Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood. But Egypt is central to the Arab world and culture, as well as a spawning ground of religious extremism. Cairo-born doctor Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s No. 2 and “the brains” behind al-Qaeda, was quoted on an Islamic website Tuesday urging Egyptians to reject the “criminal” Obama. Obama, with his Muslim roots, might be harder for al-Qaeda to demonize than his predecessor. But more than anything Obama says today, the real way forward is for moderate Muslims to reject the death-cult extremists and their vision of a revival of medieval laws and cruelties. The most Obama can do is help remove the excuses for making the United States a target of hatred. For all his formidable rhetorical skills, Obama might well ﬁnd that addressing the history of U.S. race relations, and his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, last spring was simple compared with satisfying the multiple audiences that will be hanging on the president’s every word in Egypt.

Thank you so much for the story on the woman in her 30s who placed her baby for adoption. I, too, placed my daughter for adoption in 2000 at the age of 34, though I had no other kids and still don’t (“Struggling families take second look at adoption,” Cover story, News). I received a number of vicious comments from other women who called themselves my friends as well as co-workers. Many people still hold a backwoods mentality when it comes to adoption. Often, people are unaware of what the birth mom goes through or why she makes the decision. It’s a heartwrenching choice, by the way, that is not easily wrapped up like a gift as it was in Juno, the movie about teen pregnancy, with only a few tears shed. Thanks for bringing this issue to light in a helpful way, not one that exploits the birth mom. Terri Rimmer Fort Worth

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President Obama’s speech in Egypt today — one intended to reboot soured U.S. relations with the Islamic world — might well be his trickiest yet. Obama will have to appeal to a wary Muslim world that thinks the United States routinely betrays its ideals, chieﬂy by supporting dictatorships that people despise. He’ll have to promote democracy without giving extremists an opening to capture control. He’ll have to condemn human rights abuses without grievously offending his host, repressive Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, or the Saudi royal family, which Obama needs to supply both oil and support for Middle East peace. And he’ll have to signal support for a Palestinian state without undermining Israel’s security. Just how tall an order this represents is underscored by the Bush administration’s illfated effort to promote freedom in the region. In 2005, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also delivered a major speech in Egypt, one in which she called for democracy and civil rights. Egypt soon began opening up under the pressure — in part because it receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid. The result? The extremist Muslim Brotherhood grew stronger. The prospect these radicals might win elections — as Hamas did in Gaza — forced a retreat.

Independence Day The Fourth of July is when Americans celebrate the values that unite us. But these are politically divisive and economically difﬁcult times, not to mention a time of war. What do you think the nation needs to remember about itself this Independence Day? What are the messages you would like to share with other Americans? We’d like to publish those comments on this page and online. Send your responses of 250 words to letters@usatoday.com. You may also fax to 703-854-2053. Please include a name, address and contact number for veriﬁcation purposes.

Placing child for adoption no longer considered taboo

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Obama’s Egyptian conundrum

Commentary writer DeWayne Wickham makes some great points about the lack of commitment of today’s citizens in support of our troops, military service and our country in general. A draft doesn’t go far enough. Mandatory military service of two years after high school graduation or at some later date should be considered. The skills, discipline and the learned appreciation for one’s country would be of great benefit to our free nation. Having served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, I have firsthand knowledge of how military service benefits the individual and the country. In these tough economic times, I advise high school and college graduates to give the military a good look. It might be a win-win for everyone. Richard Perry Allston, Mass.

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The fundamental tenet of the pro-life movement is that human life has intrinsic value and is deserving of protection from the moment the seed and egg unite, until natural death. To take a life without due process devalues all life. We at Operation Rescue were shocked to hear of the killing of late-term abortionist George Tiller and were among the ﬁrst groups to denounce the cowardly act that took Tiller’s life. It was not justice, but vigilantism, which must be abhorred by a society that embraces the rule of law over anarchy. Social justice begins in the womb or it does not exist at all. The spark of life is so precious that the matter of abortion demands we expose it for what it is: the brutal and immoral destruction of a unique human being. Operation Rescue uses legal tools at our disposal, including the justice system, law enforcement, the legislative system, regulaTroy Newman is president of the antitory boards, health departments — even our ironclad First Amendment rights to display abortion group Operation Rescue.

Beyond military draft

By Brett T. Roseman for USA TODAY

Birth mother: Renee Siegfort, 36, of Marengo, Ill., put Joie up for adoption a week after giving birth in December. Siegfort already has three teenagers.

By Troy Newman

pictures of aborted babies brutally killed through the euphemism of “choice” — to expose the violence of abortion and provide as much protection as possible for women and their pre-born babies. Outspoken opposition to abortion has had positive results. For the ﬁrst time in decades, polling data show that the majority of the American people, 51%, identify themselves as “pro-life,” while the numbers of those who say they are “pro-choice” have slipped eight points to a low of 42%. Abortion rates are dropping nationwide. Our “pro-choice” opposition fears what will happen if the truth about abortion becomes known. We fear what will happen if the truth is not told. America must not be afraid of where showing the truth will bring us, whether it is to the brutal death of a baby in the womb, the state-sanctioned starvation death of Terri Schiavo, or dehumanizing war crimes committed at Abu Ghraib. Tiller’s homicide must be denounced, but so should the killing of over 45 million innocent babies through abortion, because when even one life is wrongfully taken, it devalues us all.

I don’t always agree with columnist DeWayne Wickham. But the piece “The heavy burden of war, shouldered by the few” was right on target (The Forum). I disagreed with the decision to eliminate the draft several decades ago because I expected this situation. Where do we go from here? Everyone has to share the load. Every day I see evidence of a widening gap between the military and the citizenry. My sons and I served proudly, and I expect others should also. Thanks again to Wickham for stating the obvious imbalance in our public service. Along with that thought, we have a long way to go in preparing for these conﬂicts. Edward Evans La Crescent, Minn.

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Operation Rescue uses all legal tools to expose abortion’s brutality.

More should serve in armed forces

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We abhor vigilantism Opposing view:

By Jeff Stahler (jstahler@dispatch.com), The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, for USA TODAY

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