Advertisement Reporter Chris Hubbuch’s weekend story comparing and contrasting current economic conditions with the onset of the Great Depression had some visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com answering that question with a resounding “yes.”
Here’s a sample of comments readers attached to the weekend’s most-read story:
Big Spender wrote: “Money thrown at today’s problem will wind up diverted to crooks as it did after Katrina. Many of those crooks are the same characters who made this mess, and they’ll just repeat what they did before; they’ll be off to the Wall Street casinos again! It would have been better to let the crash run its course: You’d clear out the bad actors that way!”
daddylonglegs wrote: “The more government ‘intervenes,’ the worse it will become. You can’t stop the inevitable. History does, and will, repeat itself. The last Depression led into WWII, I wonder where this one will lead us?”
MS wrote: “Hard to get much better perspective than Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin in 1802: ‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. ...’”
Common Sense wrote: “To put it simply, we know a lot about what went wrong in 1929 and the following years, what didn’t work and what did. In these days, with our knowledge, computers and instant communication, there is no reason it should ever turn into what happened then. People don’t have to wait to find out what is happening, and if someone needs help, we have more help available than we had then. Be frugal and wait to see what unfolds in the next weeks. Don’t be panicked by the doomsayers.”
rt2spk wrote: “I think it is just a glitch in the matrix. Take the blue pill, MS ... the blue pill.”
Walking expert wants friendlier downtown
When Terry Rindfleisch reported that walking expert Mark Fenton had a few ideas about making the downtown more pedestrian-friendly, it drew a few comments at www.lacrossetribune.com:
PicklesPlease wrote: “Yay for feet!”
exercise wrote: “I am all for walking and biking. The problem is that gas is now down below $3, so driving short distances will again become a reality. ... The point is that Americans lack long-term memory and will soon be back to old habits with a slight reduction in fuel costs.”
wiseup wrote: “It doesn’t take a national expert to tell La Crosse there is too much traffic. There would NOT be nearly as much traffic downtown if only there were a bypass or north-south corridor that travelers and commercial traffic could use to escape going through
La Crosse on their way to their actual destinations! Madison has a beltline. Green Bay and Appleton have expressways so drivers don’t have to clog the city roads on their way through the city.”
thetrain wrote: “WOW ... glad a man with a ’70s ’stache could come and walk the streets of
La Crosse and give a report. I’ve been staying inside waiting to hear if these streets were walkable.”
Mack wrote: “We already have the north/south corridors, and they are all within a mile of each other. That’s a very high percentage of the available space allocated to through-town corridors.”
castafly wrote: “I always thought alcohol hampered walking downtown, not one-way streets.”
Destructive pigs prompt ... jokes
A story in Monday’s Tribune explaining the origin of southwest Wisconsin’s wild pig population gave visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com more fodder for fun than for serious debate.
Here’s a look:
ViroquaDude wrote: “Wow, I am not believing the timing of this story. Just yesterday I was walking through the rear of the new cemetery section in Viroqua and ran into one of these monsters tearing up the cornfield. I called the police and together we investigated the scene. This animal was huge, and it is pretty scary they are wandering this close to town here in Viroqua.”
The Lone Gunman wrote: “... again I beg to ask the question: Did anyone ask Barack if the pigs were wearing lipstick?”
davidinlse wrote: “(T)he amount of destruction these pigs can do is astounding. I spend several weeks every year in Texas, and I’ve seen them, and they can destroy everything. This is news about something that can destroy farms for generations. These creatures multiply fast, everyone should be aware of them, and we should do everything possible to destroy them all. Any cats found in the woods should also be shot.”
High Plains Drifter wrote: “Good thing they weren’t released in Galesville. The city council woulda had a bird.”
By the numbers
52 percent, or 1,169 of 2,269 respondents, reported being unimpressed.
