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LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

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Byline: The Register-Guard

Startups are the real future

Two articles in the Feb. 24 Register-Guard caught my eye.

Tom Friedman's column on investing in startups rather than the ossified dinosaurs in Detroit is a compelling argument. Coupled with an article in the business section about a local green enterprise, Energy Wise Lighting, that intends to build low-cost solar water heaters for residential use, they bring our current economic moment into focus.

Peter Greenberg, Energy Wise's president, isn't looking for a handout from Washington, D.C., but his spunk in starting a solar water heater business in these economic times is not only commendable, it's truly American.

While the bombasts in the Beltway pour billions into the aging behemoths in Motor City - the very same big auto companies that worked diligently for decades to prevent greater fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks and lobbied Congress to subsidize Hummers and Hemis - small business entrepreneurs like Greenberg represent the future of America's industry and economy.

Supporting businesses based on renewable energy sources, an independent entrepreneurial spirit and a moxie that says we will thrive despite long odds and the misadventures of our financial, industrial and political elite is poetry from the heartlands.

PAUL HOOBYAR, Principal

Watershed Initiatives

Eugene

Laissez faire nearly wrecked us

In the Feb. 25 Mailbag, Stephen Hawke asserts that the Obama stimulus plan will "destroy free market capitalism" and repeats the tired mantra: "cut taxes," and all will be well. He furthermore somehow claims that liberals have brought down our economy. If we accept Hawke's premise, I, as a card carrying liberal, should feel guilty for my...

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