Regarding the April 3 article "Lost & Found: Cache of mislaid Edo Period photos resurface in Berlin": It is interesting to see how the personal politics of 1861 are no different than today. People hired for political reasons, a jealous artist undermining new technology and historical documents closed away from public view. Human beings remain human beings. With only 50,000 years in social communities, we have yet to shed the 250,000 years as small-group hunters/survivors. Because we call ourselves modern does not make it true.

Now we have corrupt bankers and investment firms, and inept, oppressive governments. No one is willing to accept responsibility or assign responsibility. Nations would be wise to remember what happened after the Great Depression and how economies were restarted. Maybe a smaller self-sustaining national economy is not such a bad idea as the global model seems to primarily only benefit a few while placing everyone else at risk.

richard dipeppe