In the op/ed Lara extolls the "booming economy" and asks everyone to think about her father-in-law's Christmas gift to them. The following is the letter to the editor I submitted in response.
Thank you, Lara Trump, for
the latest edition of fake news about America’s booming economy, which appeared
in the StarNews (12/22). It is ironic that it was published at the end of the
worst week for the stock market since 2008 and possibly its worst December
since 1931.
Your assertion that
minimum wage workers have seen their jobless rate decline seems more like a
cruel joke than a real Christmas gift. A minimum wage job for a full-time
worker grosses $15,000/year. They may be working, but their families are still
living in poverty. It would mean something if the minimum wage were raised to
$15/hr, something the grinch in the WH totally opposes.
The truth is that in this
“booming economy” workers’ wages have barely kept pace with inflation. And the
low unemployment rate is due, in part, to the fact that many workers have given
up finding a decent paying job and dropped out of the labor force, while others
work two or more part-time jobs to make ends meet. The labor participation rate
(the percentage of total population working or looking for work) has actually
dropped several percentage points for all age groups (18-65) since 2008.
Not that your
father-in-law wasn’t very generous to your wealthy friends. But his tax cuts
for the rich haven’t trickled down. And they won’t. Rather they have
contributed to greater inequality, in a nation that already leads the world in
the gap between the 1% and the rest of us.
This holiday season, my heart
and money go out to those who have been left behind, shut out, tear gassed and
locked up by the Trump administration. My Christmas present to them is to
continue to fight for equality and justice for ALL.
More on the "booming economy" in a future post.
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