Dear Editor,

My boyhood hero, Robert Kennedy, often said that “jobs are better than welfare.” As a liberal, progressive Democrat, I agree.  But I would add that having a job that pays a good wage and is well above the government’s “official poverty line” is the human right of every American who is willing to lead a responsible and productive life.

Therefore, I am proposing to you and your readers that, following the November 2018 elections, our president and Congress reverse the 2017 tax cuts. Instead, they should spend $1 trillion on a new federal government bill that promotes the creation of jobs and the ending of poverty, guaranteeing a job to all responsible Americans that not only pays above the official poverty line, but also pays above the “near-poverty” line — an income 100 to 125-percent above the poverty line.

It is the humane and just thing to do.

Sincerely,

Stewart Epstein

Rochester, New York