OPINION:
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s testimony regarding the minimum wage is technically factual, but it certainly is not the whole truth (“O’Malley: Minimum-wage increase is ’pretty modest,’” Web, Feb. 17).
While it is true that the buying power of today’s minimum wage has decreased since 1968, a chart the Times printed shows clearly that the minimum wage in 1968 was the highest in today’s dollars that the minimum wage has been in all its 75 years.
By this chart, the current $7.25-an-hour state minimum wage is higher than the minimum wage has been for more than half of its history.
A state “floor” of about $8 an hour, with counties able to go higher, would be better economics even if it wasn’t good politics for someone with Mr. O’Malley’s ambitions.
FRANK O’BRIMSKI
Garrett Park
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