OPINION

Bullying businesses

Re: "Cuts both ways", (PostBag, July 4).

Strangely, Burin Kantabutra, a prolific PostBag writer, has missed my main point that it is not normal for a government to ask companies for "co-operation" in giving up their profits of hefty billions. The appropriate way is to tax their windfall profits and not "bully" the enterprises to help its role in managing the nation's economy. They are not asking for charity contributions for temples or hospitals.

Secondly, it is common knowledge that the losses incurred by private enterprises are their own making, and no subsidies can be expected from anyone in our capitalist world.

Thirdly, the phrase "too big to fail" was coined during the US financial crisis in 2008 when one large financial corporation was assisted by a somewhat biased treasury to avoid widespread contagion.

Despite facing a chorus of criticism that the repercussions could not be that wide-ranging, the after-events proved this to be the case.

Covid confusions

Re: "Mild Covid cases rising in major provinces", (Online, July 4).

The statistics contained in this article starkly contradict the Post's daily Covid-19 status report (or spin, it seems), especially with regard to fatalities. Is this still the newspaper we can trust?

Army ants

Re: "True conservation", (PostBag, July 4).

ML Saksiri Kridakorn's letter was okay for the most part, but he closed it with this paragraph, "It is clear that the world domination policy of the USA and Nato through the use of arms has a much higher priority than building a greener world".

Huh? The USA and Nato are not trying to "dominate the world through use of arms".

In case you haven't noticed, it was Putin who mobilised Russian armed forces to go charging into a neighbouring country, with all guns blazing.

Does ML Kridakorn advise that Ukrainians should just lay on the ground in submission?

It's people like Putin who compel other countries to arm so heavily. Without such mass and sudden aggressions, countries could dial it back and instead fund things like alternative energy and environmental husbandry. Surely, developing national parks would be preferable to buying tanks and subs.

But humans are no more advanced, in dispelling aggressive tendencies, than army ants. As a species, we're developed technologically, but are so undeveloped in curbing aggression, as to make a troop of baboons blush.

Even Buddhist monks (who are supposed to be the most peaceful folks among us) can erupt in sudden anger, with fists raised.

Confirmation bias

Re: "Covid kills kids", (PostBag, July 5) and "Just google it", (PostBag, July 4).

Perhaps if Eric Bahrt had done a slightly more comprehensive search to check Diane Archer's assertion, he would have noted that the CDC had already responded to data inaccuracies.

Moreover, it has "made adjustments to its Covid Data Tracker's mortality data on March 14 because its algorithm was accidentally counting deaths that were not Covid-19-related".

More importantly:

"The reduction cut the CDC's estimate of deaths in children by 24% to 1,341 as of March 18."

Diane Archer is correct.

Sadly, and as usual, Mr Bahrt's obvious confirmation bias prevents him from getting past the first googled story that fits his narrative.