Resources should be shared evenly

I appreciate your editorial in the Nov. 4 Capital Press edition regarding the job-killing effect of Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Like any businessman and farmer, I well understand the potential negative effects of government regulations.

But I was also intrigued by your lead stories about prison inmates being employed in the Washington apple harvest. When I did the math, and interesting result emerged -- that the greed of some capitalists is denying good-paying jobs to American citizens.

Your story confirms that the apple growers paid $22 per hour to the state prison for each inmate worker compared to $10-15 per hour for H-2A (foreign guestworkers). A sidebar also confirms that these inmate workers were only half as productive as regular pickers. The end result is that growers paid the equivalent of $44 per hour to have their apples harvested.

If growers were willing to pay $44 per hour, or $30, or perhaps even $22 per hour, I believe there would be many able-bodied American citizens eager to perform such work. So, it is easy to envision a headline on a follow up story which reads "Apple grower greed kills jobs for American citizens."

I understand that my analysis is a simplification of a complex situation. But sometimes simplicity permits us to see truths that become lost in the maze of business, governments and worldwide economies. I am a firm believer in capitalism and free enterprise, but I also believe we would all be much more happy and secure if the wealth of our national resources (both public and private) were shared more evenly.

Ken Donnell

Greenville, Calif.