Typical view on wages

Fri., Jan. 13, 2017

Typical of conservative critics of the passage of Initiative 1433, which raised the state’s minimum wage by 53 cents to $11 as of the first of this year, columnist Sue Lani Madsen bemoans the dire consequences: “fewer opportunities for those trying to reach the first rung of the economic ladder, reduced social services and higher prices increasing the cost of everything.”

And it will all be the fault of the poorest segment of the population’s grasping of 53 cents an hour more for their labor. Shame on them.

Or is it “shame on us” as a society for not willing to support such things as good social services, education, job training, living wages and medical care as rights for all those in need and not merely favors dependent on private charity or paid for on the backs of the poorest among us?

Peter Grossman

Spokane

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