(Community Matters) Found this AAS letter to the Editor thought provoking:
Minimum wage woes
Re: Feb. 3 article, “Gap widening under Obama’s failed policies.”
I find that Matt Mackowiak has missed a major point in his opinion piece on income inequality. He states, “When labor costs increase without productivity increasing, jobs are usually the first thing a business owner cuts.” What he fails to recognize is that when productivity increases and wages do not, as has happened in the past 30 years, the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer. If the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity over the past 30 years, it would be over $20 per hour. And the economy would be booming.
The rich do not spend their extra money on things that stimulate growth. And, the rich are not job creators. Jobs are created by demand for a product or service. And that demand is created when the 99 percent have sufficient income to live comfortably, enough to purchase more than the bare necessities to sustain life.
David A. Petersen
Austin
I didn’t fact check Mr Petersen
Community Matters 