Ford’s example
Regarding “Lifting minimum wage would harm lowest-skill labor in Texas” (Page A11, Monday), capitalism is inherently neither evil nor virtuous; it is the way that it is practiced that imbues it with one or the other of these qualities. Many companies today, with the help of legislatures, are making record corporate profits while their employees starve. Is it really unreasonable to ask that a person who gives an honest day’s work receive a living wage? No doubt increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would create a hardship for small enterprises with low revenues, but they could raise wages on an extended schedule to ease the burden.
Large corporations like McDonalds and Wal-Mart have no such excuse. They could immediately raise wages with a minimal impact on profits. The money diverted to fair wages would reenter the economy, generating demand, and more employment to meet that demand. American industrialist Henry Ford, who was a pioneer in the motor-vehicle industry, discovered this when he doubled wages to solve turnover on his production lines. With the higher wages, his workers could afford to buy the cars they were building.
Instead of funneling revenues into corporate profits and offshore accounts, revenues should be shared equitably with those whose hard work has created the wealth.
William Madigan, Houston