I was delighted to see Gov. Inslee’s call for an increase in the minimum wage (“Governor: Minimum wage must be raised; Governor also calls for an additional $200 million for education, passage of transportation bill,” Jan. 15). Companies have adopted the business model of paying employees less than enough and letting them make up the difference with food stamps and Medicaid. In fact, four of the top 10 wealthiest people in America run a company whose employees are the largest group nationally that use food stamps. It is time to end policies that take from the many who have too little and give to a few who have too much.
As a retired math teacher, I know people need visual images to understand the magnitude of numbers. To illustrate the magnitude of differences in wealth in our country, let us imagine the net worth of individuals as stacks of $100 dollar bills. There is $23,300 in a 1-inch stack. The stack representing the median personal wealth of $44,900 is 1.97 inches high. The average wealth of the top 10 people on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest people is $41,050,000,000 and their stack is 27.8 miles high.
It is time to get special interest money out of politics. Support Move To Amend. Their website is www.wamend.org.
Rodger L. Stevens
VANCOUVER
