Letters, Feb. 12, 1979

Brezhnev Speaks

To the Editors:

If Leonid Brezhnev [Jan. 22] can be believed, the Soviet leader is a master strategist. If he cannot be believed, he is a master politician. And liar.

Lockwood Richard Doty II Alexandria, Va.

In the Communist language, detente means surrender; peace means when the entire world is converted to Godless Communism. Every official in Washington should be aware of this difference in meaning, and not be deluded by Mr. Brezhnev's yearning for peace.

Harold E. Fuller Green Bay, Wis.

The sad thing about Soviet-American relations is that while the Soviets may have a real desire for peace, American politicians get much more press and public praise for "hanging tough" on the Soviet issues.

Tom Armbruster Severna Park, Md.

Our conflict with the Soviets is not over any strategic nuclear attack issue, but over the kind and quality of our respective economic and social systems. If we allow inflation to go unchecked, continue to channel our technological expertise into "smart" weapons and away from better cars, more public transportation and alternative energy sources, we are giving the Soviets just what they want—the spectacle of a degenerating America.

William T. Scott Reno The High Cost of Dreaming

Re "Inflation: Who Is Hurt Worst?" [Jan. 15]: boo, hiss to the American Dream! My husband and I now find that even though we have obtained that hallowed ground called "the upper middle class" we are hard put to have meat on the table three times a week. We put off visits to the doctor. A family vacation nowadays is a joke. Most depressing is watching Congress continue to set up programs that we finance but cannot use because we "make too much money." So please tell us: What is the American Dream?

Just how long do you think the ever giving middle class will continue to support this country?

Joy Ross Brookfield, Wis.

I really got a laugh out of your statement, "But farmers have been able to insulate themselves from stunning increases in food costs ... by producing much of what they eat." We farm and raise corn and soybeans. We have a small garden, but we do not raise beef, pork, eggs, chickens, wheat or coffee. If we ate only what we produced on our farm, we would be in a bad fix.

(Mrs.) Mary Sutter Cooksville, Ill.

It was sometime in the 1970s when my parents completely stopped reminding me how difficult things were during the Depression of the '30s. It looks like those days are here again.

Charlene Mesick West Palm Beach, Fla.

An Insecure Future

In your article "Trying to Slow Social Security" [Jan. 22], you suggest phasing out benefits paid to spouses who "do not work" because such payments are expensive and "discriminate against working women." I'd like to know what a wife who works for years at hard labor—cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, being nurse, adviser, chauffeur and mainstay of a home—does if she does not work. I would say that this kind of working woman deserves all she gets from her husband's share of Social Security.

Mrs. Ralph W. Dexter Narrowsberg, N. Y.