Free Enterprise

Graham's article on Iacocca demonstrates little knowledge of the facts. Referring to the Chrysler loan guarantee, Graham writes, "He was the beneficiary of one of the largest government bail-outs in corporate history." The facts are that the government received fees of a million dollars a month during the years of the guarantee, which provided no money to Chrysler, just allowed it to borrow on the open market. In addition, the government made $311 million by buying Chrysler warrants.

It will come as news to many, no doubt, that there is a Warhol on the moon. And a Rauschenberg and an Oldenburg - a whole "Moon Museum," in fact, containing the work of six artists in all, in the form of drawings inscribed on the surface of a ceramic chip roughly the size of a thumbprint. Conceived by the artist Forrest Myers in 1969, the chip was fabricated in collaboration with scientists at Bell Laboratories and illicitly slipped by a willing engineer between some sheets of insulation on the Apollo 12 lander module.

It appears that every time the Glendale City Council meets, it violates the rights of the citizens. This time I refer to your article, "Vendor Says He'll Stand--and Fight" (Nov. 27). Three cheers for Pablo Torres! He is just a hard-working man who wants to earn an honest living. I can't understand why Glendale officials are fining him and threatening him with imprisonment. I have worked in the Glendale Federal Building for 2 1/2 years and always see Pablo's catering truck nearby.

The United Republican Party will undertake a campaign next month to challenge Guyana's ruling socialist party with a platform based on free enterprise and democracy, party leaders said. Chairman Vishnue Bandhu said that his party, founded in New York in 1985, will hold a series of public meetings starting Nov. 18 to explain its objectives.

James Flanigan's ("Pro Sports Wins Big With Taxpayer Assist," March 18) brought to mind a thought that I have harbored for years: Why are non-leftists so innocent in their use of language. For example, as an advocate of individual initiative, why not use "freedom of enterprise" instead of "free enterprise?" To a large part of the public, free enterprise connotes a vague concept, something gratis, bestowed by government on rich people. It does not come across as one of the freedoms, like speech, religion, press, etc. As for Al Davis of the Raiders, he is negotiating for a government grant for a private business monopoly, which partakes of the mind-set of mercantilism.

Your Aug. 16 editorial "A Hopeful Law on Wal-Mart" overlooked two important philosophies: free enterprise and unions. Imagine if anyone started a business years ago with a new idea and borrowed money. Imagine the business grew to a size similar to Wal-Mart's. Imagine if the business were to benefit people in products and price. Then imagine if some politicians tried to control this business, whether in size or salary. It would make our forefathers turn in their graves. And now the politicians are trying to destroy imagination and enterprise.

Moscow and its reformist allies, in a move unthinkable only months ago, have accepted an international accord committing them to back private property, free enterprise and multi-party democracy, delegates to an East-West economic conference said today. Although not legally binding, it represents a formal commitment by the reformist Communist countries to step further down the path of Western-style free markets and make their currencies convertible.

In "San Diego Losing Its Football Team Spirit" (May 11), you cover the San Diego Chargers' desire to move to greener pastures in L.A. Let's see: a billionaire like Philip Anschutz angling a strapped L.A. County and reeling in L.A. citizens to buy him a new stadium. A team that managed to squeeze San Diego into buying unsold tickets (to the tune of $25 million) complaining it's not making enough money. And, spurning a $78-million civic investment in its own stadium, a team management that is ready to run. These people want to suck even more money from us. In an environment in which L.A. can't even afford to fund its own hospitals?

The Soviet Union and its former satellites in East Europe agreed here Monday, in a significant signal of shifting economic policies, to embrace the principles of free enterprise, private property and a market economy. Moscow and the old East Bloc countries endorsed a series of liberal economic principles at the 35-nation European economic conference as a way of encouraging foreign investment and their own private sectors.