Editor’s note: These letters to the editor were published only online. To send a letter to the editor, visit toledoblade.com/letterstoeditor
Minimum wage proposal a lousy idea
It’s a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do.” New legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and 22 others would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yet, none of the co-sponsoring senators pay their interns this hourly wage; in fact, most don’t pay them at all.
Hypocrisy aside, these senators surely understand that a $15 hourly pay requirement for internships would reduce the number of opportunities available. The same dynamic applies in the private sector, according to the best economic research, which is why a $15 federal minimum wage is such a foolish idea.
MICHAEL SALTSMAN
Managing director, Employment Policies Institute
Get to root of lead issues
Lead got out of paint 39 years ago. Since 1978, how many coats of no-lead paint covered prior coats of lead paint?
Children under the age of 5 like to chew on many things, including, I guess, woodwork with possible hidden dangers. These children living in the urban areas, according to Toledo, should be tested voluntarily at no cost to the parent.
If lead is found in any child or adult, the city should look at all sources of lead contamination. Let’s start with the lead water pipes the city has already identified in the inner city. Officials should get ahead of the real lead issues before we are in the next water crisis.
DAVID WOOD
North Huron Street
President out of bounds attacking media
At the risk of being compared to Chicken Little warning that the sky is falling, I see President Trump’s attempts to limit the news media as the biggest threat to our democracy.
I don't think it’s an exaggeration to say that Mr. Trump and his advisers are trying to control the dissemination of news, which I believe is much more dangerous to our freedom than taking away our right to own guns.
Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights was written to protect individual liberties and place restraints on governmental power, and the very first amendment included freedom of the press. The founders were rightly concerned about governmental overreach, and a free news media is crucial in restricting governmental power.
But Mr. Trump, since before the election, has repeatedly tried to intimidate and browbeat reporters and the organizations they work for. He has said that he plans to loosen libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations.
Calling the news media the “enemy of the American people,” is reprehensible. He has punished individual reporters who wrote a story critical of him by not taking their questions or excluding them from news briefings or other presidential events.
In my view, Mr. Trump has been accurately criticized for many shortcomings, but his feud with the media is the most abominable and dangerous.
DONALD CARR
Maumee
First Published May 8, 2017, 5:36 p.m.
