Letter of the day: First step to economic health is Employee Free Choice Act

Last update: May 7, 2009 - 7:03 AM

Nobel economist Paul Krugman (Opinion Exchange, May 6) tells us what every middle-class Minnesotan already knows: The path to economic recovery is not paved with lower wages. A healthy, middle-class economy requires middle-class wages.

How do we get those middle-class wages? Legislation is before Congress to make it easier to join a union. Those unions can then bargain for the higher wages our recovery will need. No borrowing from China, no printing money and giving it to mega-banks -- looked at this way, the proposed legislation sounds a lot like an economic stimulus plan that makes sense for the middle class.

RICHARD A. LEVINS, MINNEAPOLIS,

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF APPLIED ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

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