Should have gone to law school

Iowa lawyer Robert Allan Wright Jr. got a year-long suspension from the Attorney Disciplinary Board for using money from client accounts to pay up-front fees on a Nigerian inheritance letter that one of his clients received (News of the Weird, Jan. 9). To help Mr. Wright understand what on Earth just happened to him, I suggest he watch “Nebraska,” starring Bruce Dern, as Woody, and Will Forte as his son, David. Woody receives a Mega Sweepstakes prize letter and is hell-bent to go from Billings, Mont., to Lincoln, Neb., for his money. David feels sorry for his father, so agrees to drive him to Lincoln to accept his make-believe winnings.

The letter that came into Attorney Wright’s possession sounds a lot like Woody’s letter, although rather than driving to Lincoln for any money, he dipped into his clients’ accounts to move the transaction along. Interestingly, I received a similar letter years ago and discerned the offer to be bogus — that decision was reached without the assistance of any attorney. This tells me I’m probably smart enough that I could have gone to law school after all.

Don’t give me your ‘globalization’ b.s.

What are the true costs of destroying our domestic job base for all working people and jobbing them out to foreign employers? Is this debate on extending jobless benefits the congress is having an indicator of the true cost of job loss? We have encouraged through apathy and large corporate pandering the erosion of well-paying jobs out of our country under the guise of “globalization.”

This has not necessarily cut the prices we pay as much as increased the profits that are not shared to the customers, but the incomes of a few wealthy company managers and investment bankers. This wealth has been used to influence our government and finance spin control to convince the public that business must compete on this global level to survive.

Our country can’t survive when we become more polarized with have and have-nots due to job losses and under employment with low-paying service jobs that enhance wealth to the upper 20 percent by low wages to the remainder. If we want to continue supporting the upper 20 percent instead of employing a broader 80 percent, including the unskilled, semiskilled and pink-slipped with a living wage, then we will need to pay the cost of lost jobs and lives.

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