The following letter to the editor published in the Broward County Sun Sentinel. More letters like this are needed across the country:
Link: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/fl-letter-paul-adinolfi-20140331,0,4651962.story
March 31, 2014
Every time an increase in the minimum wage is requested, there's an outcry that the sky will fall.
However, it's really not an increase — it is an adjustment to keep up with rising prices. The ones hurt the most when prices go up are the poor and the middle class, whose salaries haven't increased.
The top 10 or 20 percent of our country — most of them Republicans — do not have a problem because they are the ones who can usually raise prices to maintain their profits.
Uncle Sam gets hurt, too, when wages are stagnant as prices go up because he collects less in taxes to pay the bills. He also has to assist the working poor with welfare and food stamps. In the end, taxpayers are subsidizing employers and helping the rich get richer.
The "haves" are always in a win-win situation. They would like to end minimum wage laws or wage increases, but even when wages are increased, the "have nots" go out and spend and help the economy. The "haves" usually put their profits in a bank or stock market.
With all the minimum wage adjustments made by our government, not once did we see the sky fall. If anything, the sun came out.
Let's stop the nonsense and have these behemoth corporations pay their employees living wages so they can get off welfare and food stamps and we all can pay less in taxes.
Paul Adinolfi, Boca Raton
