Hospitality industry and tips: Stop the subsidies

When a restaurant or hotel employee qualifies for food stamps (or Medicaid), who are we subsidizing?

By Letters to the Editor

The restaurant/hospitality industry wants to preserve the “tipped wage.” Compare the earnings of a restaurant’s owners with that of its employees. Or compare a Pritzker family member’s earnings from Hyatt Hotels to that of Hyatt’s housekeeping staff.

We might have fewer millionaire and billionaire restaurateurs/hoteliers if they had to pay living wages to employees — so what?

When a restaurant or hotel employee qualifies for food stamps (or Medicaid), who are we subsidizing? Not the employee, working 40-plus hours per week. Stop subsidizing restaurants, hotels and their millionaire/billionaire ownership and enabling their exploitation of their staff.

Muriel Balla, Hyde Park

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Trump’s crimes more than one phone call

Let’s face it, Donald Trump is no scalawag, he’s a monster. His list of crimes goes on and on — from his Trump University and Trump Foundation to his multiple acts of obstruction of justice. By focusing on one phone call as grounds for impeachment, the House is making it easy for the Republicans to dismiss the whole matter.

Everyone must see that Trump is totally unfit to be president. This about more than one phone call. Throw the book at him.

Lee Knohl, Evanston

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