Our Opinion: Stopping Wilkes-Barre’s shooting spree requires new strategies

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Parents of slain Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Bryon K. Dixon urge justice, forgiveness for Frein

It is time to catch up with 1968! Thirty million hard-working, minimum-wage workers are making less today than they did 45 years ago. Had the federal minimum wage kept pace with inflation since 1968, it would be $10.56 instead of today&#8217;s $7.25 per hour.In those 45 years, the minimum wage has lost one-third of its value; in the same time, average CEO compensation has skyrocketed over 900 percent. Something is wrong when we can live in a world where that is considered OK.Critics say that raising the minimum wage would increase unemployment, harm small businesses, and that most minimum wage workers are just part-time teenage workers. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Studies have shown that previous increases to the minimum wage did not increase unemployment. Two-thirds of minimum-wage workers are employed by large, profitable corporations, and over 75 percent of minimum-wage workers are at least 20 years old.A Chicago Federal Reserve study shows that for each dollar increase to the minimum wage, the result is $2,800 more annual spending from that minimum-wage worker&#8217;s household.On top of all of this, poll after poll has shown that 70 percent of Americans support increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. Public support. Better jobs. Economic stimulus. What is Congress waiting for?Fred Ahrens Jr.Kingston

Letter to the Editor: Congress urged to hike minimum wage