Minimum Wage

Robert Reich has it backward (“A Better Way to Raise the Minimum Wage,” Commentary, Feb. 24). The minimum wage is already being raised (or not) the right way: Our elected representatives actually have to vote up or down and then stand by their vote in front of the electorate.

Let’s be clear: A rise in the government-mandated minimum wage is a tax increase on the economy. Businesses pass along the cost to consumers by raising prices, and thus all of us pay for the higher wage.

The solution is not to let our representatives off the hook by burying tax increases under the guise of an “inflation adjustment,” but rather make them represent us with their public voting record. (Incidentally the same logic ought to apply to Social Security increases or any other government-imposed cost on the economy.) Autopilot government is not a solution, it’s a cop-out.

KENNETH J. ARTINGSTALL

Glendale