LETTERS: Maximum rage on minimum wage protests

To the editor:

I’m getting sick of these fast-food workers protesting that they want to make $15 per hour to do menial work (“Shouting for increased wages,” Aug. 30 Review-Journal). If you want to make more than minimum wage in that industry, go into management. Even some store managers, who are often on salary, don’t make $15 per hour.

If you want to make more money doing bottom-level work in the food service industry, get a job delivering pizzas. I have done that as both a primary and secondary job for about 20 years on and off, and I have never wanted to go into pizza management in my life, for the obvious fact that I make more money delivering than I ever would managing the place. Entry-level managers usually get about a dollar or two higher than minimum wage. If there’s anyone in this industry who should be striking to make $15 per hour, it’s pizza delivery managers.

Low-end work in the food service industry was never meant to be a career choice, but more of a supplemental income or an entry-level job for teenagers. I couldn’t wait to get a job in fast food or whatever else was out there paying minimum wage, which was $4.25 per hour when I turned 16. Nowadays, even with today’s wage, teens are hard-pressed to find a job because companies would rather take their chances on someone who is either an adult or has experience.

The only real argument about minimum wage I have at this point is for some wait staff, who rely on tips to make a living. Nevada is not one of these states, but many other states pay the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour for tip earners, which results in a zero paycheck every week for these people after you take out their taxes. While the regular minimum wage has gone up basically with inflation, this wage hasn’t, and it needs to.

There are arguments for lifting minimum wage in this country, but fast-food workers making $15 per hour is definitely not one of them.

JONATHAN LENTZ

LAS VEGAS

Both sides are the enemy

To the editor:

Secretary of State John Kerry is urging military strikes in Syria because he has information about 1,400 people dying from chemical weapons use in the Syrian civil war (“Obama lays out case for strike,” Saturday Review-Journal). U.S. action would, in anyone’s mind, escalate into another war that the majority of American people are opposed to, which could result in tens of thousands of deaths, or more.

It’s no wonder this opposition exists — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime hates Americans, and on the other side of the civil war, al-Qaida hates Americans. In fact, al-Qaida thugs are even connected to military strikes against American troops and attacks against U.S. citizens here in our own country, not to mention Benghazi and other U.S. interests around the world.

It’s safe to say that both Assad and al-Qaida are enemies of the United States. If President Barack Obama and Mr. Kerry get their way, this could be the greatest tragedy America has ever suffered.

JIM ANDREAS

LAS VEGAS

Water recession

To the editor:

Recently, there has been another flurry of media reports regarding the water crisis in the valley. This happens every couple of months. The main issue of this fabricated crisis is that there is a severe shortage of water, which will only get worse as the county becomes more populated.

There are two solutions proposed by Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy and a whole bunch of politicians in the area. The first is to continue trying to finish the third straw in Lake Mead, so water can still be supplied as the level of the lake continues to decrease. This is being pursued despite huge cost overruns and delays in the completion that would embarrass any responsible person.

The second plan is to spend at least $15 billion to construct a pipeline north to ruin the water table and way of life of a population in the historically rural areas of Nevada and western Utah.

This brazen theft of water rights would be done to provide water to an area of Nevada that refuses to make responsible choices while recognizing a very simple and extremely important fact: we live in a desert. This desert by definition has very little water, yet we insist on growing the population. When this happens, you eventually run out of water. Duh.

The reasonable and responsible (two words obviously foreign to our local leaders) solution is to put a moratorium on new building. This would only allow a new structure to go up when an equal one is destroyed. Eventually, if a new answer is found, this policy can be revisited. Until then, we don’t have the resources to increase the population. Tough but true.

GORDON SOEDER

LAS VEGAS

A deadly combination

To the editor:

The situation in Syria points out how important it is to elect as U.S. president someone who has the courage, character, intelligence, training and of course common sense to confront our enemies in a timely, well-thought-out manner. Sadly, we don’t have such a person. President Barack Obama, through his poor handling of this situation, has proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he is considered irrelevant by other world leaders.

In fairness, not all of our presidents have had the proper training for major foreign policy decisions, but in their defense, they surrounded themselves with people who did. Moreover, they followed their advisers’ suggestions. President Obama seems to have a disdain for anyone who disagrees with him. Perhaps it’s narcissism, a term that originated with Narcissus in Greek mythology. Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Currently, the word is used to describe a person characterized by egotism, vanity, pride or selfishness. Sound like anyone you know?

BILL WILDERMAN

LAS VEGAS