DEAR EDITOR:

I keep hearing the talking heads claim how a minimum wage of $15 will ruin the economy, how the stimulus package will disincentivize the working man. How has everyone bought into this rich man’s baloney?

That $15 an hour would give that working man $120 for an eight-hour shift, or $31,200 for a working year. First, most people working in the service sector don’t receive eight-hour shifts or 40 hours per week. That way, they don’t have to be offered health benefits from their employer that the employee can’t afford anyway.

During President Trump’s tenure, the income tax of the richest went from 33 percent down to 24 percent (and that’s not dealing with capital gains, a whole other economy of the wealthy) — but these people are our job creators, they’ll take that tax savings and reinvest into larger companies with more jobs, right? Wrong!

Most will buy up their company stock, thus artificially inflating the stock value, stuffing their golden parachutes.

During the year 2020, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ worth rose $75 billion, or $205 million a day, every day for 365 days! That same man who made $15 an hour would have to work 6,570 years just to make what Bezos made in one day of 2020. I’m not saying we all should make what Bezos, or what the three Walmart heirs make ($100 million a day), but if we work for them, couldn’t we at least make $15 an hour?

Henry Ford is sometimes credited with creating the middle class by paying his workers $5 a day, more than twice what the average wage at the time was. His competitors claimed he would go bankrupt within a year. This raise enabled his employees to be able to purchase the very product they were making — the Model T Ford.

Do you remember early 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, having trouble finding toilet paper, food or other necessities? These products are all made / prepared, trucked / transported and shelved, etc. by working people — not by Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg or a Walmart heir.

Without the working people and a vibrant middle class, nobody prospers.

URIAH HEEP

East Liverpo