You can't legislate a good economy

Mr. Daugharty (Letters, Oct. 17) clearly needs help interpreting history (and economics). Indeed the passage of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was necessary at the time — it established minimum wages at 25 cents an hour.

Adjusted for inflation in 2018 that same wage would be $4.45/hour — hardly the $12/hour in Washington State, already set to go up to $13.50 in January, 2020. That’s effectively trying to compare today’s minimum wage scenario to paying 75 cents/hour in 1938, which clearly did not happen.

As well, Washington has the highest minimum wages across the nation, excluding Washington D.C. It shows in our unemployment. The U.S. minimum wage is $7.25/hour with 3.7 percent unemployment. Washington State unemployment is already higher at 4.6 percent. Let’s see what happens when the January rate goes into effect.

This all supports my point: you can’t legislate the economy. It will adjust to compensate. If your goal is higher unemployment, then you’re on track to meet that goal.

Raising the minimum wage can be interpreted by those who are negatively impacted by it as a social injustice. It just depends on where your own chips fall. Gross generalizations appear to be altruistic. Reality doesn’t bear it out.

Now let’s look at the historical facts about tax rates. From a July 31, 2012 Forbes article:

“In 1946, the highest-bracket rate was cut to 86.45 percent from 94 percent — and tax receipts were 17.7 percent of GDP...In 1982, [the Reagan era] the top rate was slashed...to 50 percent. And tax receipts were 19.2 percent of GDP. Tax receipts were higher at a 50 percent top rate than any time during the post-WWII era of 80 percent and 90 percent tax rates.”

So no, Lee Hughes was not spot on with his analysis. He failed to do what many so-called journalists are guilty of: a few minutes of research on Google and some real analysis.

Paula Thornton

Medical Lake