In Kevin Leahy’s Tuesday column, he tried to explain why President Bush’s term in office was a disaster; some parts may be true in current status. However, Leahy said some things that weren’t fair. I am mainly talking about employment.

Four years ago, what was the big “scare” going around? The Y2K bug. This would not affect only the technology sector. The Y2K bug also provided many jobs because companies needed to have extra technology workers to handle changes in programs and, for those in the technology sector, they needed extra tech support people to handle all the personal calls about problems they had upgrading.

All of this wasn’t just about the jobs. People would need to buy upgrades or unknown consequences would happen. The extra expenditures led to a massive surplus in taxes. More money was being spent on programs written in America (that benefits American companies). That extra income going to Americans led to more money in everyone’s pockets, including the government’s. The government was able to do some great things.

However, after all the jobs were lost, the extra money coming in decreased. The government didn’t have the income to support or enforce some of the steps taken under the Clinton administration. Also, the businesses weren’t taking in as much money as they had previously. Therefore, to stay afloat, jobs needed to be cut.

Even still, the unemployment rate is now at only 5.6 percent – near where it was at the beginning of Clinton’s second term. The amount that people are receiving is just less because there is less money out there. (Yes, that is right: The stock market fluctuates and alters the amount of money overall that people have at their disposal after selling the stocks.)

So, I can only conclude two things: That Leahy is close-minded or that he just can’t remember back and understand some things that happened. I will assume he is an open-minded man and just forgot.

William T. Michels

Sophomore, mechanical engineering