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Letter to the Editor: Would-be voter finds fault with Pennsylvania’s closed primaries

Gov. Tom Wolf wants to raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.15 per hour.This is very admirable, but is it really well thought out? I must say that I hated economics in school, but maybe there is a reason that it is required. Let&#8217;s think about it.This will give every minimum-wage earner a $2.90 raise. So the employer will simply absorb the extra payroll cost, right? What about the person who is now making between $7.25 and $10.15 per hour; they all will have to get a raise just to bring them up to the minimum rate. Beyond that, the person who has worked for two, three or four years to build his or her salary is now going to be paid the same as someone who is starting at minimum wage. That will go over well, don&#8217;t you think? If you believe that, I have some ocean-front property to sell in Arizona.If someone wins, someone will have to lose. To balance the books, prices will without a doubt go up, and many people will be laid off. Who will be laid off? Logically, minimum-wage earners and people with any type of disabilities, the uneducated, people who speak other languages and cannot communicate well &#8211; basically the lower rung of the socio-economic and skill ladder. Along with that, full-time positions will become part-time positions, so that employers will not have to pay benefits.I am a member of the largest &#8220;loser group,&#8221; people on Social Security or any type of a fixed income. Somehow I do not believe that we will be getting a raise, even though our purchasing power will be reduced.Gov. Wolf and his cronies in Harrisburg are mostly multimillionaires. It appears to me that, although they believe that they are doing good, they are out of touch with basic economics.I completely encourage a raise in the minimum wage, but on a much more moderate rate, more in the range of 50 cents or 75 cents per hour, and go from there.Did you notice that I did not even mention the impact that raising the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7.5 percent, which the governor proposes, will have on people in the lower-income bracket? That will have to wait until my next writing.Keep your hat on tight.Joe SkinnerClarks Summit

Letter to the Editor: Hiking minimum wage in Pennsylvania could do more harm than good