Quit Bickering and Govern Already

Come on, fellas, its time to quit the jockeying for political power and get about the business of running the country (''Let's all work together--once we've nuked Bush's Cabinet,'' Washington Outlook, Jan. 22). President Bush, true to his campaign promise, has chosen a cabinet diversified in ethnicity, gender, race, and political affiliation. Senators should limit their scrutiny to the qualifications of cabinet appointees. I welcome the offer of bipartisanship and cooperation extended by the Democratic Party to the Bush Administration.

John E. Perme
Port Charlotte, Fla.

Bush's ''Recession Insurance'' Could Pile Up the Debt

The idea that the surplus will grow to cover a $1.6 trillion tax cut is less certain as the economy falters (''Not so fast with that tax cut, pardner,'' News: Analysis & Commentary, Jan. 22). I am afraid President Bush will push the idea of ''recession insurance'' to the point where the national debt will increase. While the surplus belongs to ''the people,'' so does the debt--along with its huge interest payments. Let's pay it off.

Mary Schafer
Petaluma, Calif.

Those Megamergers Don't Help the Customer

What America really needs is another Theodore ''Trust Buster'' Roosevelt (''The ever-shrinking skies,'' News: Analysis & Commentary, Jan. 22). The Time Warner/AOL merger and the proposed American/United deal only hurt the customer. Leave it to the government to force Microsoft Corp. to split, when all they ever did was put out one superior product after another.

Chris W. Fitzpatrick
Upper Montclair, N.J.

Kobe Steel Is Not About to Go Under

In ''Japan: This time, it could get nasty'' (International Business, Jan. 15), Kobe Steel was mentioned without stating that the source of the information was an analyst's report. We were one company on a list of 44, which included Japan's top five steel companies. Readers might have misunderstood--thinking that, following Sogo and Chiyoda, Kobe Steel could be the next in line with a high possibility of going under. We have been making a number of moves to restructure, including improving our finances. We are hardly the next company to go bankrupt.

Hiroji Izumi
General Manager
Secretariat & Publicity Dept.
Kobe Steel Ltd.
Tokyo

Editor's note: In the analyst's report mentioned, ING Barings (Japan) Ltd. listed Kobe as part of Corporate Japan's ''Problem 44.'' Readers could have concluded that Kobe was in danger of bankruptcy. We should have cited the report, and we regret not giving Kobe an opportunity to respond.

Risking the Peace in China

Refusing World Trade Organization entry to China and putting up a missile shield is a very dangerous game (''Star Wars II: Less ambitious, so more likely?'' International Outlook, Jan. 22). If we tumble the reformists in the Beijing government through our myopic viewpoint, we have lost peace and a progressive world political arena.

Bob Averill
Montpelier, Vt.

Business Costs and Election Results

Your chart accompanying ''The lure of low business costs'' (Economic Trends, Jan. 15) had nothing to do with the Presidential election. But if I am not mistaken, the eight states with the highest costs voted for Gore and the eight with the lowest costs were for Bush.

John L. Watson III
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Life Insurance and the Net: A Match Not Made in Heaven

Life-insurance premium rates must be filed and approved by the commissioner of insurance for each state (''E-Commerce: The buyer wins,'' Economic Trends, Jan. 8). The process can take several months to several years and is hardly responsive to Internet traffic.

Joseph Fisher
New York

Redistricting: A Modest Proposal

It's reprehensible that both political parties take advantage of our society's schisms to create their safe congressional seats (''Where do you draw the line?'' Legal Affairs, Jan. 15). Computers could draw each state's district boundaries into perfect squares, which could not be any more bizarre than the gerrymandering that goes on every 10 years.

Stephen Casillas
San Diego

Desperately Seeking Sacagawea

The use of the new dollar coin may be related to its availability (''Sacagawea stumbles,'' Washington Outlook, Jan. 8). I have sought in vain to even glimpse one of the new coins over the past several months.

Paul D. Wisegarver
Ridgefield, Wash.

"How O'Neill Got Alcoa Shining" (Cover Story, Feb. 5, 2001)

BusinessWeek incorrectly identified Donald S. Perkins as a director of Alcoa Inc. in "How O'Neill Got Alcoa Shining," (Cover Story, Feb. 5). Mr. Perkins, former chairman and CEO of Jewel Companies Inc., and Alcoa Chairman Paul H. O'Neill served together on the board of Lucent Technologies Inc.