Sir: With important elections coming up, the time has come for us to speak plainly about the current economic state of our country. We who are charged with the management of the great corporations on which the prosperity of the entire nation depends are privileged, perhaps, to see a little farther and a little more clearly than the great mass of ordinary people who merely live from day to day. It is quite clear from our perspective that the entitlements and luxuries of the boom years, which we had come to take for granted, can no longer be maintained. Painful sacrifices must be made. And when I say that sacrifices must be made, I wish it to be understood quite unambiguously that they must be made by other people. I have no intention of reducing my own personal income, and I believe I can say the same with perfect confidence for nine out of ten of my brother executives. There can be no question of our making sacrifices.

But since profits have fallen, the shortfall must be made up somehow, and I shall have no other choice than to lay off several thousand employees, who will thus be thrown off the tax rolls and onto the welfare rolls. Clearly this will necessitate further reductions in government services consumed by the poor;—the more so since my own company may soon be forced to accept a government bailout in order to maintain the current level of executive salaries, in addition to the bonuses we shall have earned by our decisive action in radically pruning the payroll. I urge all truly sensible voters, therefore, to keep these things in mind in the upcoming election for Registrar of Deeds, and to make the responsible choice accordingly.

Sincerely,
J. Rutherford Pinckney,
President,
Schenectady Small Arms & Biscuit Co.,  Inc.