Forgotten category of borrowers
"Major lenders offer relief for delinquent borrowers" (Feb. 13) said there were "three major categories of borrowers who don't respond to mailings." Let's add a fourth: those delinquent borrowers of all IQ levels who simply didn't understand the legal terminology in the mortgage agreement they were signing.
Also, it is no wonder that "just 16% of borrowers responded late last year to mass mailings" from the ironically named Hope Now industry alliance. The recipients may have thought it was just one more piece of lending-industry junk mail hoping to entrap them.
Wendell H. Jones
Ojai
Still distrustful of Blue Cross
I am glad to hear Blue Cross of California is no longer asking doctors to reveal their patients' medical history if there is anything to give the giant insurer grounds to cancel the patients' coverage. I don't believe it, but it's nice to hear. ("Blue Cross halts letters amid furor," Feb. 13.)
Blue Cross has been doing this for a long time, and I have to believe it will continue. No one tells the medical insurance industry what not to do.
Tom Freeman
Pinon Hills
Grocers should rethink imports
Thank you for your news item about Trader Joe's halting some Chinese imports ("Grocer curtails China imports," Feb. 12).
I'm sorry to see that the other food retailers mentioned in Jerry Hirsch's story -- Whole Foods, Fresh & Easy -- are not reviewing their import policies. Not only are there serious safety concerns about the food itself, and the working standards under which that food is produced, but the idea of shipping garlic and spinach across the Pacific Ocean is absurd.
It's no wonder that U.S. farmers are disappearing as we become increasingly dependent on food that is grown elsewhere.
Dorthea Atwater
Los Angeles
Exxon's legal win serves as warning
Exxon is to be congratulated for standing up for its property rights against Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. ("Exxon scores win against Venezuelan oil company," Feb. 8.)
Exxon's legal victory in U.S., British and Dutch courts, which froze $12 billion in assets of Venezuela's state-run oil company, should serve as a warning to any government around the world that might consider nationalizing the property and looting the wealth of multinational companies.
David Holcberg
Ayn Rand Institute
Irvine
