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DECEMBER 13, 2004
The Financier Of The Hour "The next Warren Buffett?"(Cover Story, Nov. 22), on financier Edward S. Lampert, could not have been better timed. The merger plans of Kmart Holding Corp. (KMRT ) and Sears, Roebuck & Co. highlight Lampert's flair for recognizing and creating value. However, one has to wonder who was looking out for Kmart shareholders during bankruptcy proceedings. As you noted, not long after the company was reorganized, Kmart sold 68 stores for a price that was nearly equal to the value being placed on all of its real estate. Ron Allen St. Louis I worked for Kmart and Kmart Holding Trust for a total of 18 years and three months. I enjoyed working as a community pharmacist in a retail setting. Lampert's goal "to keep Kmart humming so it can continue to throw off cash," with the "program of keeping the lid on capital spending, [and] holding inventory down" made Kmart Holding Trust an employer for whom I no longer wanted to work. Lampert sees the value of Kmart Holding Trust in its cash flow and real estate. I left when I saw that valuing those priorities did not leave much room to value associates and customers. I wish the best for the associates who remain and for the customers who continue to shop at our friendly neighborhood Kmart. Dee Renee Chesnut Lewisburg, Ohio Eddie Lampert's stakes in Kmart and Sears made the announced merger a "natural." What's next? The merger of AutoZone Inc. (AZO ) and AutoNation Inc. (AN )? Bill Hochman Fair Lawn, N.J. A Closer Look At Justice Scalia's Rulings In "What the new court will look like" (News: Analysis & Commentary, Nov. 22), the discussion of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's adherence to a strictly "conservative" legal doctrine is incomplete without noting two landmark cases in which Scalia broke ranks with the entire Court and issued textualist dissents that aptly articulated public opinion -- albeit well before their time. In 1989, Scalia issued the sole dissenting opinion in Mistretta v. U.S. concerning federal sentencing guidelines. Fifteen years later, Scalia's witty characterization of the U.S. Sentencing Commission as a "junior-varsity Congress," once dismissed by both parties as an overly strict interpretation of the Constitution, was adopted by a majority of the Court in Blakely v. Washington. Scalia was alone in his dissent in Morrison v. Olson, a 1988 case in which the Court upheld the independent counsel provision of the Ethics in Government Act. Although Scalia was heavily criticized at the time, a narrowly divided Congress chose not to renew the independent counsel provision when it expired a decade later. Colin Sheldon Stratford, Conn.   Don't Forget About The Investors It is fundamentally flawed to base a ranking on the opinions of chief financial officers and audit-committee chairmen ("Auditing the auditors," People, Nov. 22). The job of the auditor, along with the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Justice Dept., is to attempt to prevent CFOs, audit-committee chairmen, and other executives and board members from putting in the public domain financial statements that are materially misstated (whether by error or by fraud). The auditing-services market is unlike the prior markets J.D. Power & Associates has surveyed. Although the corporation pays the audit fee, the consumers of the audited financial statements are the investors, bankers, and others outside the corporation. Ross D. Fuerman Suffolk University Boston Keeping The Bankruptcy System Fair As a bankruptcy litigator having defended and brought hundreds of "preference" suits, I could not help but notice "The long arm of failure" (Finance, Nov. 15). My concern is that your article will help turn yet another section of the bankruptcy code into a target for lobbyists, all of whom will seek exceptional treatment for their politically connected clients at the expense of the overall bankruptcy system, which should be creditor-neutral to be fair. Earl M. Forte Philadelphia Don't Blame Public Universities For Polishing Their Image Public universities are attempting to maintain or gain "elite" status precisely to keep the fraction of total costs paid by students as low as possible ("Should public universities behave like private colleges?" Social Issues, Nov. 15). The lion's share of federal research support goes to the "elite" institutions. Similarly, private support of universities goes to the same group of institutions. I suspect that few of your readers believe that government-owned institutions can be more efficient than private institutions. Why, then, should you believe that it is less expensive to operate a state-supported university than a private one? Clearly only a few public universities not already among the elite group will be able to raise their profile, but can you blame them for trying when that is the only way to slow the rise in tuition? Gary Thomas, Chancellor University of Missouri Rolla, Mo. Serendipity In Treating River Blindness Your reader Judy Rosner got it right about the difficulties posed by vaccine development by big pharmaceutical companies ("The woes of U.S. drugmakers," Readers Report, Nov. 15, replying to "A booster shot for vaccines," News: Analysis & Commentary, Oct. 25). However, she did not get it right about Merck & Co. (MRK ) and its development of Ivermectin for river blindness. That drug was created to treat parasitic diseases in large farm animals (cattle, horses, and sheep), the market for which is huge worldwide. That was the motivation and payoff. It happens that it also works for river blindness. Merck kindly supplies the drug free of charge, and it is mainly distributed by the Carter Center. Roland H. Ingram Jr., M.D. Atlanta Breaking Through Mexico's Gridlock "How China opened my eyes" (International Business, Nov. 8) has described well Mexico's situation compared with China and the rest of the world. Mexico is in paralysis -- our government is profoundly divided among the three major parties: PAN, PRI, and PRD. There have been serious attempts at reform, but all have been rejected in an extremely politically charged environment in both houses of Congress. It's impossible for a President to govern with such a divided Congress, and that will continue. Political reform should include, instead of a President, a figure more like a Prime Minister ensuring for the executive branch a majority in Congress that would let him or her govern and give coherence to the economic and social systems. Divo Milan Mexico City
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