International -- Readers Report
Most Turks Look toward the West
"Turkey: A rising Islamic party gives the West the jitters" (International Outlook, Oct. 21) says that if the Justice & Development Party got a majority in Parliament, it would mark an important shift away from the secular parties that have traditionally held power in Turkey. We have had Islamist parties in coalitions many times in the past, but power never shifted away from the secular parties. The reason was that the electoral base of Islamist parties did not exceed 20%. The core base was lower still--8% to 9%. The rest of the supporters were those who were unhappy with the economy.
Today, the same reality is valid. The core base is less than 10%. The remaining voters will be those who are secular in outlook but unhappy with the economy and dissatisfied with secular parties. The real opponents to the West represent no more than 15% of Turkish society. A preference for Western values and a wish to become a contemporary society is the will of the Turkish people.
Joining the European Union is welcomed by at least 75% of the people in Turkey. According to various public surveys, Turks want to join the EU, no matter what the parties or the groups say, because they believe it will bring more efficient, creative, noncorrupt, modern, and fair administrations. Joining the EU will bring foreign capital and investments as well.
People are not looking for aid from Europe. People want change.
Murat Mehmet Sevinchan
Istanbul
Almost Nirvana in Italy
Our company, e.Biscom, is deploying an Internet protocol-based fiber network that allows us to offer 10 megabits per second to Italian households, therefore supporting fast Internet, telephone, and video applications ("How to achieve digital nirvana" (Technology & You, Nov. 4). We are bringing our customers DVD-quality premium video and music content, all on demand. We have struck landmark agreements with U.S. major film producers and European content providers. After just over two years of commercial operations, we expect to close 2002 with nearly a quarter of a million residential and corporate clients.
While it may not be nirvana, I think we're pretty close.
Silvio Scaglia, CEO
e.Biscom
Milan
Brazil: Debt Default Is Not an Option
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face very tough decisions very soon ("Seeing eye to eye with business," Latin America, Nov. 4). He certainly knows that the Brazilian budget doesn't offer much scope for relieving the hunger of the poor. To increase public spending on the social sector without generating inflation, reforms must be enacted.
The government must overhaul our pension system and adopt new laws to discourage tax evasion and reduce the tax load on the productive sector. To spur growth, it must lower the Brazilian interest rate, one of the world's highest. Defaulting on our public debt is unacceptable.
José Thomaz Gama da Silva
Ouro Prêto, Brazil
Note to Barro: Don't Confuse Economics with Real Life
Robert Barro is amused by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's attacks on the quality of stock-picking by Salomon Smith Barney's Jack Grubman ("Bush's economic policies: The bull's-eyes and busts," Economic Viewpoint, Nov. 4), saying that "economists" find zero value in such recommendations. Analysts and their employers did not put out those recommendations to influence economists' stock purchases. The reality is that these recommendations widely influenced many individual investors, and even some large institutional investors--as they were intended to do. I find Barro's take in this whole sorry situation silly if not disingenuous, certainly of about zero value.
Robert W. Gunn
Black Mountain, N.C.
Barro proposes revising the antitrust laws to permit mergers in concentrated industries with "overcapacity," including the rejected 1999-2000 purchase of Sprint by MCI WorldCom. Unprofitable investment decisions do not justify creating monopolies. Antitrust laws already permit mergers for businesses that would otherwise go bankrupt. This means that financially sound Sprint is probably now free to purchase bankrupt WorldCom at fire-sale prices. Unfortunately, WorldCom's dishonest accounting means that no company dares to purchase it for fear of large and unknown liabilities.
Carl Lundgren
Economist and President
Relpromax Antitrust Inc.
Arlington, Va.
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Copyright 2002, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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