The federal minimum wage is no longer allowing people to sustain a standard of living, so it must be raised. Greg Mathis, chairman of the Rainbow PUSH-Excel Board, claims that “by raising the federal minimum wage, the federal government will be able to lift millions of families out of poverty, improving the economic and social health of the entire country. In 2005, executive salaries grew 25 percent. The average American CEO earns more in a half day of work than a minimum wage worker will take home all year.” It is a disgrace that executives in this country make the amount of money they do when the working poor make so little.
If the CEOs made less, our country’s businesses, education and government would not have the financial problems we are now facing in America. Businesses would be able to afford to pay their employees an adequate minimum wage for people to obtain a healthy standard of living.
The poor working class deserves a fair chance to survive. If the government doesn’t help, then who will?
Austin Lauer
Camas