WAGE: Minimum must push higher

I was pleased to read an article about Raiseidaho.org in The Press. The petition to raise the minimum wage is positive. The negative blogs to the article are hilarious, containing a lot of the “up by my bootstraps” rhetoric. I will never understand why people who are financially comfortable want no one else to be. At the most, raising the wage might cost us about $18 a year.

Presently Walmart’s and McDonald’s prices are the same in Washington as they are here in Idaho, yet the minimum wage in Washington is currently $9.19 an hour. Also Washington’s current average annual wage is $51,595 a year and Idaho’s is only $38,438. Obviously raising the minimum wage doesn’t hurt an economy.

An Idaho person, currently earning minimum wage in Idaho would have $5,000 more in yearly income. That extra income will be recycled into the community. Perhaps this increase could lift a family out of poverty, or help a student, 18 or older, earn money for college, or a working senior buy food. This is not strictly an economic issue, it is also a moral issue, uplifting for the entire community. Look for petitions at the fair, Wednesday’s farmers market or in your neighborhood.

JANET CALLEN

Coeur d’Alene