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The wealthy have a hole
that can’t be filled
Some of the world’s wealthiest individuals — Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — seem perpetually unsatisfied, living in constant anxiety about losing power, influence or relevance. Their relentless pursuit of more often overshadows the original purpose, raising the question: at what cost?
Despite unimaginable fortunes, these titans appear vulnerable, haunted by fears of loss and the opinions of others, including powerful figures like President Donald Trump. Ironically, those who have everything can still feel insecure.
In stark contrast, people like John Bogle, founder of Vanguard, embody a different mindset. Bogle, in 2007 speech, quoted author Joseph Heller: In response to Kurt Vonnegut telling Heller that their billionaire party host had made more in a single day than Heller’s most famous novel, “Catch-22,” would ever make, Heller said, “Yes, but I have something he will never have — enough.”
His contentment highlights a truth that money cannot buy. It profits a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world, but for a bit more.
John Rowles
Cupertino
Politicians dodge state’s
role in insurance mess
Re: “Insurance companies should sue Big Oil for harm to climate” (Page A6, July 9).
In their recent column, California Sen. Jerry McNerney and U.S. Rep. John Garamendi dodge accountability for state mismanagement of its insurance industry.
Chevron believes affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy is essential to human progress, but California policymakers have chased many energy producers out of the state. More than 17% of today’s gasoline refining capacity will shut down by early next year, once Valero and Phillips 66 shut down important California refineries.
California policymakers have similarly chased much of the insurance industry out of the state, including State Farm and Allstate. As a former insurance commissioner, Garamendi knows the systemic challenges facing the state’s insurance market are the result of regulatory failures.
Over-regulation has hobbled the insurance industry. Anything else would require accountability for the state’s bad policies, something California regulators and politicians are anxious to dodge.
Andy Walz
President, Chevron Downstream, Midstream & Chemicals
San Ramon
Trump’s spending bill
shreds health care
Re: “Tax, spending bill worries execs” (Page B1, July 13).
Thank you for your coverage of the devastating impact of HR 1 on health care.
Rather than the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” HR 1 should have been titled the “One bad bigoted, brutal abomination.”
This would more accurately describe the bill’s impact on the most vulnerable Americans, including but not limited to disabled, chronically ill or low-income residents.
Julien Pierre
San Jose
Assembly must stop
effort to end landlines
Here we go again. California Assembly Bill 470 wants to allow AT&T to squirm away from providing landlines to people who need them.
In our house, we have both a landline and cell phones, but because our cell towers are unreliable, we have a lot of dropped calls. So when my husband fell and was unconscious, I called 911 on our landline, not a cell phone.
Please call your state Assembly member and urge them to block this bill. Those of us in rural communities need our landlines.
Linda Omaley
Morgan Hill
Israel’s war will lead
to generational hatred
Re: “Israeli strikes kill at least 31 in Gaza as UN agencies warn of fuel crisis” (Page A4, July 15).
Every day, there are many scores of innocent Palestinian civilians murdered by the Israeli military, while the Israeli Defense Forces non-apology for targeting these noncombatants usually essentially consists of: “The ordinance missed its target. We thought a militant might be hiding among the civilians.”
Palestinians are being systematically and brutally slaughtered and starved to death on a massive scale. There is no reprieve from the Israeli military, and those innocent women and children are completely helpless and without hope.
Even though it is Benjamin Netanyahu who is prosecuting and intentionally prolonging this conflict, it is the Israeli people who will suffer the long-term effects of generational hatred from the international community.
Jerry Gudeman
Santa Clara
Gaza’s dead are victims,
not collateral damage
Re: “Israeli strikes kill at least 31 in Gaza as UN agencies warn of fuel crisis” (Page A4, July 15).
As you report, 58,000 people in Gaza have reportedly died. Many of these slain are women and children simply trying to sustain their lives.
Plain and simple, this is a massacre. These Israeli shootings, ostensibly to attack Hamas, are entirely reprehensible and avoidable. These innocent people cannot be considered “collateral damage.”
Moreover, the limitation on food and other supplies entering Gaza adds to the specter of famine and death. It is a challenge not to conclude that this is a plan for genocide.
Rosemary Everett
Campbell