In his speech last Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pointed out that in a free market economy, businesses must absorb their costs. Whatever costs business creates should be paid for by the business, not by the public.

Sadly, this is not what is occurring in this country today. Businesses often make extra profits by polluting public land and not cleaning up their mess. Ultimately, it is the public that pays the price in the form of sick children, unclean water and dirty air. Kennedy told the audience of how when Bush got into office the government was suing over 1,100 of the worst coal power polluters. To stop the worst of their pollution and thereby help keep harmful mercury levels down in the blood of people who eat fish, would have cost these big companies less than 1 percent of their total profits. Instead, these corporate criminals that cause thousands of deaths each year were saved by the Bush Administration's decision to drop the suits.

Hearing of this type of thing really saddens me. To give us short-term monetary gain, future generations will have a less beautiful earth than we were gifted with, and will be sicker. I don't believe anyone hearing of these facts would want to support these policies. Please, media, tell us the truth about what is happening in the world so we can be informed about such vitally important issues.

Catherine Archibald
MSU College of Law student