"The message: Locals aren't important."

Where to park the money

Ask the limo drivers how we get out of this squeeze

Editor, The Times:

Hedge funds now account for half the daily volume on the New York Stock Exchange ["Global markets fret over debt uncertainty" and "Fed intervenes to halt a skid," Times, Business & Technology, Aug. 11].

Much more transparency must be demanded by the Securities and Exchange Commission overseeing the stock market regarding the precarious nature of the huge hedge-fund beasts stampeding up, and now down, Wall Street.

Applications for redemptions by hedge-fund investors are closed after Aug. 15 for Sept. 30 paybacks out of the tottering mega-funds that are collapsing one after the other.

Will über-investors be able to redeem the market calls? Will it be "The End of Hedge-World — and Wall Street — as we know it"? While the few, the rich and the famous haphazardly play the markets of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, the rest of us peons wonder if there will be any value left in our meager retirement funds after the Federal Reserve finishes printing up — or runs out of — billions of dollars to replace hedge-fund junk paper.

Flooding the financial system with "liquidity" to wash away the recklessness of bankers who helped lev-erage corporate buyouts for these market manipulators is tantamount to another paycheck deduction from every single American worker who is making an honest buck — which is much more than can be said for the limousine passengers cruising up, and now down, Wall Street.

— Dan Piecora, Kirkland

Not behind Ford or GM

In January 1973, I sold my stocks, and watched many go down 70 percent by the end of 1974. Yes, there are times when 5 percent on Treasury bonds is a better choice over the 1.7 percent currently offered on stocks.

Each of us should ask ourselves how much agony we can handle as stocks decline ["Wall Street closed out difficult week with mixed finish," Business & Technology, Aug. 10, and "Small investors' guide to market's wild ride," page one, Aug. 11].

Better to switch to a mix of 40 or 30 or 20 percent stocks now, than to give up later. One only has to look at Ford or GM to see that stocks do not always recover.

Also, as we age, we do not always have time for stocks to recover in the "long run."

It took 26 years for the Dow Jones to recover from 1929. I do not see another 1929, but trimming back after stocks have risen 10 times in 15 years may not be a bad idea.

— John Perris, Chimacum

Red zone for the savings and loan

I've been following the subprime loan crisis and its negative impact on the stock market for some time now ["A ratings charade?" Business & Technology, Aug. 12]. What is not being discussed is how the investment elite all over the world were somehow convinced that they were all going to get fabulously wealthy by fleecing poor, underqualified home-loan customers. You take a high-risk loan, bundle it with a bazillion other high-risk loans, and suddenly it becomes a triple A-rated investment instrument. What were they thinking?

I suspect when this all plays out, we will see that this has been the latest incarnation of the "savings and loan" investment swindle [of the '80s], where crafty insiders bid up initial investments with contrived transactions only to enable a straw man to default further downstream. These con artists then disappear, never to face criminal prosecution.

With all the "mania" of no-documentation mortgages and zero-down ARMs [adjustable-rate mortgages] proliferating over the past five years, it's hard to imagine that a lot of those loans were not going to opportunistic swindlers.

Hopefully, this will be contained to just the wealthy elite (hedge funds) without morphing into the "liquidity" chain reaction outlined in many of The Times' fine articles Sunday.

— Michael McInnis, Seattle

We know a better lot

Former Times reporter Don Duncan's "Hard times at 1st and Pike" [Local News, Aug. 11], about growing up at Pike Place Market, was moving and enlightening, especially in juxtaposition to the memories of those less desperate. What a story of pain and heartache, courage and survival, as his mother struggled to feed her family, his grandfather retained his dignity against all odds, and Mr. Duncan suffered the stigma of being a "really poor" child.

Now when I take visitors to the market and play tourist myself, I'll think about his words and remember how hard life was for many during the Great Depression.

Duncan's story serves to remind us all about the plight of those less fortunate in our society.

— Jan Schwert, Seattle

Back out if garage is tight

So, Pike Place Market wonders how to attract more local shoppers ... the people who might actually return to buy fish, flowers and fruit every week? ["What happens after the party?" page one, Aug. 12.]

A few years ago, there was a wonderful incentive: 60 minutes of free parking. I drove to Pike Place every week, delighted to be able to support vendors. It was fast, it was easy, and I have to think the merchants appreciated regular customers. It felt nice to be part of that community and to build relationships with my favorite merchants.

Imagine my surprise when, one week, I presented my parking stub to the attendant at the Pike Place Market Parking Garage and was told, "That will be $3." He said the free parking had been discontinued. With that, Pike Place Market lost a return customer. It wasn't the cost of parking, it was the small-minded thinking that drove me back to my local farmers market. The message: Locals aren't important.

Tourists will always be necessary to support the craftspeople. But for merchants who need regular locals to buy fresh food, free parking may make all the difference in their livelihoods.

— Suzanne Ball, Seattle

Jacked at City Hall

"South Lake Union losing free parking" [Local News, Aug. 11] stated twice that the city "earns" money from the meters. The city does not earn money from meters. In order to earn money, one must produce something. If you have a job, you are paid based on the value of your output or product.

You should have used the word "extort" or "steal" or "take." The city extorts money under the threat of a large fine if you don't pay. This is similar to the way a mobster extorts protection money from merchants.

If the city fines you for a meter running out of time, did it earn that money?

Did you vote for the parking meters? Who has the authority to install meters and how did they get this authority? This is absolutely nothing but another way to rip off more money from the public. The voters need to throw out the people, and the worthless bureaucrats, responsible for these unilateral actions.

— Hollis Neal McLemore, Kent