LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Minimum wage laws hurtpeople they are intended to help

US House Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, is calling for a $50/hour minimum wage (Gaston Gazette, 2/19/24).

If that’s a good idea, why stop there? Why not make it $100 an hour or even more?

Well, anyone who has not had a lobotomy should realize that the effect—if not the intent—of minimum wage laws will be to condemn to unemployment those whose productivity isn’t worth $50 an hour.  And that’s mostly the young, the elderly and minorities.

It’s particularly sad because the victims of minimum wage laws are the poorest and weakest in society, which of course is why ruling groups victimize them.

A better course would be to eliminate minimum wage laws so that the first rungs on the ladder to success aren’t cut off. That way the inexperienced can take jobs to gain experience, qualifying them for higher paying jobs, and work their way up the ladder. 

Ms. Lee would prefer to continue and increase the oppression of those victimized by minimum wage laws.

David Hoesly, Gaston County