Many jobs in America remain unfilled by qualified workers. The most recent estimate revealed that 6.7 million jobs remain open.

There are two reasons for this fact. First, there are too few qualified Americans for many of these high-paying jobs. Our once excellent educational system is no longer rated anywhere in the top ten in the world. Second, although employers are making outrageous profits, they refuse to raise wages.

Here are a couple of statistics; both of which should not exist in a nation which has 540 billionaires and 10.8 million millionaires, and a population of only 320 million. At last count there were an estimated 46.7 million Americans living below the poverty line. The second fact is that growing income inequality reveals that one out of every two Americans lives in poverty or is considered low-income.

Thanks to right wing politicians who protect the bloated profits of their supporters, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour. Millions of Americans must work two and even three jobs in a desperate attempt to support their families.

If we use the example of Kansas City, Missouri, which is near the average for overall cost of living, a family of four would need and income of $3,916 per month, compared to Los Angeles which is far more expensive at $5,800 per month. At $7.25 per hour, a full-time employee would make $1,276 per month. If both parents worked full-time a family of four in Kansas City would earn $2,552, which is $1,364 short of what is needed to survive. This is unforgivable.

American workers have joined in a demand for a $15 minimum wage. The total wages of both parents would rise to $5,280 per month. The number of Americans living in poverty would begin to diminish, and our nation would flourish economically.

Trump lied and told us that a large reduction in the corporate tax rate would increase the number of good-paying jobs. Wake-up my friends; “trickle-down economics” has failed since the time of Ronald Reagan. The increase in profits is used to either buy-back shares, or placed in an offshore account. When Reagan left office in 1989, unemployment was at 5.4 percent, and the national deficit was $155 billion.

George W. Bush reinstituted trickle-down economics. When he left office, the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent and growing. The national debt was $459 billion and would grow proportionately after the stimulus package was passed to save our nation from another depression. (The last figure is misleading because Bush refused to include his two wars in the national budget.

Raising the minimum wage would give more Americans expendable income which would lower the unemployment rate and reduce poverty. But common sense doesn’t apply to Washington politicians.

Please tell others about my blog; the truth lives here. Thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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