To the editor:

All Americans, especially our elected representatives, should give heed to wisdom from the past.

Consider this from Andrew Jackson in 1832: “Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. … But when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions … to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society – the farmers, mechanics, and laborers – who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.”

Now consider a bill that has just passed our Republican-majority House of Representatives. It would increase the minimum wage over three years from $5.15 to $7.25. This apparent burst of generosity is an illusion. At $14,500 per year, that minimum will not reach 75 percent of the 2006 poverty level for a family of four. (Meanwhile, since the last increase in the minimum wage, Congress has raised its own salary $35,000 a year.) Beyond that, the proposed bill would reduce estate taxes, benefiting just 7,500 very rich families, and would extend other tax reductions for the well-to-do. That is, while providing token help for the working poor, it would dramatically expand, not narrow, the income gap in America!

Jackson’s indictment rings true today: Economic policy should protect the humble members of society, not make the rich richer and the potent more powerful.

Walter H. Crockett,

Lawrence