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San Jose’s problem is staffing, not OT pay

Re: “Firefighter is highest-paid SJ employee” (Page A1, June 9).

My reaction to fire engineer Spencer Piercy earning $437,000 with overtime? Thank you, sir, for protecting our city and doing whatever it takes to fill in for an agency grossly understaffed.

Shame on San Jose for finding the funds to pay overtime and not apply funds to recruit new men and women. The public is quick to cry foul when they hear these enormous salaries, but there isn’t enough pressure on the city to staff appropriately. Sadly, the SJPD is under the same disadvantage.

Firefighters and police officers are critical to San Jose, and we should be grateful they haven’t flamed out in exhaustion and fled to another city where they could have more family time.

David Wilkins
San Jose

Forest Service funding is crucial to fire safety

Re: “Brush fire at Camp Pendleton spreads into Cleveland National Forest, chars 1,500 acres” (June 17).

As we head into the summer months, this fire is a stark reminder that California will continue to heat up, vegetation will dry out and the risk of wildfires will threaten our forests, homes, infrastructure and communities.

My life has been greatly enriched by spending time in our beautiful forests. I’m deeply concerned that the U.S. Forest Service is facing significant proposed cuts to funding and programs. A well-resourced USFS is essential to protecting communities, strengthening forest resilience and reducing the risks and emissions associated with catastrophic wildfires.

Congress should provide robust FY2027 USFS funding to ensure the agency has adequate staffing, research capacity and operational resources to support wildfire preparedness, forest restoration and emergency response.

Kudos to Rep. Sam Liccardo, Sen. Alex Padilla and Sen. Adam Schiff for supporting such funding. I urge them to encourage their colleagues to do the same, as a lack of funding could have devastating consequences.

Paula Danz
Los Altos

Trace state’s healthcare cliff to corporations

Re: “A healthcare cliff is coming but few notice” (Page A7, June 3).

L.A. Times columnist Anita Chabria writes that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most recent budget plan includes cuts at the state level due to both the loss of federal money and rising health care costs.

Chabria contends that the change needed is a complicated and largely ignored debate. What are the changes and who should bear the brunt?

Her “Sort of Solutions” is brilliant — the world’s fourth-largest economy needs to stop subsidizing corporations that pay so meagerly that their employees qualify for Medi-Cal.

Executive director of SEIU Tia Orr points out that Med-Cal has become a program for workers rather than for the disabled. “The idea that someone can work every day and qualify for food stamps and Medi-Cal should be eye-opening.”

While California taxpayers are paying about $7,800 a year for each person on Medi-Cal, the corporations they work for pay nothing — the “proverbial “elephant in the room.

Peggy Brady
Foster City

Social Security runs dry as war enriches wealthy

Re: “Social Security’s trust fund faces funding shortfall” (Page C7, June 10).

With the latest news that Social Security may become insolvent earlier than anticipated in 2032, the immediate reaction from the Trump administration is to call for benefit cutbacks and increases in the retirement age.

Meanwhile, we wage war willy-nilly with complete disregard for costs and an incomprehensible rationale for it. Defense spending is beyond obscene: $2 billion for a stealth bomber, more than $100 million for fighter jets and $4 million for one Patriot missile. The Iran “war” is adding tens of billions of dollarsto defense spending, that is, if you believe this administration.

All of this is being orchestrated by someone whose first impulse is to line the pockets of his cronies, right after his pockets are fully engorged. Our priorities and values are woefully misguided. Government should be helping all people live better lives, not inventing ways to make obscenely rich people more obscene.

Eugene Ely
San Jose

Restore foreign aid to restore US soft power

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not the good guys anymore; we’re the thugs that use power indiscriminately to ensure personal gain and wreak havoc in the world.

Withdrawing aid to USAID and laying off CDC experts have unleashed a new Ebola epidemic; strangling Cuba has left a country without basic needs; starting a war in Iran has endangered the world’s energy supply; spending billions on vanity projects and slush funds has undercut social programs for millions of Americans; cutting funds to Ukraine has enabled Vladimir Putin to demand concessions from Volodymyr Zelenskyy; insulting long-held and cherished allies has alienated us from Western democracies; using the DOJ as a personal tool for vengeance has eroded our confidence in the rule of law; and finally, the lack of integrity in the Republican Party has shaken our trust in our elected representatives.

Our 250-year birthday could be a wake, not a celebration.

Claudia Parker
San Jose