To the Editor:

In his letter on Jan. 1, 2024, Ron Shirtz accused Ms. Hodges of name-calling, and claimed to care about carefully examining facts.

Despite this, the rest of his letter was far from rational. To start, Mr. Shirtz uses the term "socialism" as if it's a dirty word. How do I know this? Because he goes out of his way to define socialism as a dirty word in his letter.

" So like socialism, where a small elite in charge determines what’s best for everyone?"

and

"Wages cannot keep up with the increase of 30% or more of the price of consumer goods. Raising the minimum wage exacerbates the problem."

Sneaky name calling is still name calling. And Mr. Shirtz's above claims are nothing but name calling, but sneakier. Socialism is a political position that is concerned with providing social safety nets for average citizens. Safety nets such as social security, workman's comp, healthcare, care for the disabled. Most other developed nations have socialized medical care.

Japanese citizens, for example, boast paying half of what US citizens do in healthcare costs, for objectively better service. How much better? Life expectancy in Japan is about 6 years higher than in the USA.
The difference? Japan has a nationalized healthcare service, that is regulated by its government, that keeps costs low and quality high. In other words “socialism”.

The US? It allows private insurance companies to price-gouge the average American citizen, leading to many, many tragic and unnecessary deaths, all in the name of corporate greed.

As far as whether or not the minimum wage can keep up with the cost of consumer goods....

Wages for average Americans in the USA have been stagnating since the 1970's. Prices have done nothing but increase. This cannot continue forever. The longer this continues,the more the rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer.

If Mr. Shirtz cares to live in a world where the "to the victor, goes the spoils" he is more than welcome to continue supporting Donald Trump, a wealthy elitist.

Alternatively, if Mr. Shirtz (or any other readers of this letter) care to live in a country where we can afford such luxuries as basic health care, rent, food, and shelter, it might just be time to reconsider whether or not "socialism" is a dirty word.

Willow Shirtz
Canton