Minimum Wage
* The President’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, an idea The Times seems to endorse (editorial, Jan. 25), will cause thousands of the marginally employed to lose their jobs. Politicians who apparently failed Economics 101 are pretending to do unskilled workers--particularly teen-agers and minorities--a favor by pricing them out of the job market.
If raising the minimum wage is such a great idea, why not arbitrarily make it $500 an hour? CHRISTOPHER M. SCHNAUBELT
Santa Maria
* Re “The Minimum Wage Doesn’t Merit a Raise,” Column Right, by Jesse Malkin, Jan. 15: Regardless how low the percentages of minimum wage earners are, some are young people who have to support themselves. Some are old people who cannot live on the $600 a month Social Security without part-time work at minimum wage. But the minimum wage still is not enough when some medications cost $3-$5 per pill and they need them on daily basis.
The conservatives allow the free-market prices of medication to rise, but are against raising the minimum wage for people with families that they have to support. It is an outrage not to raise the minimum wage.
EVELYN MUNN
Las Vegas
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