Seattle Raises Minimum Wage $15 Per Hour...

[smitty]

Good for Seattle or bad for employment?  Or -- who's actually gonna  benefit from this?!

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/02/news/economy/seattle-minimum-wage/index.html

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

Marijuana sales will go up tremendously.

[stevenash]

This is another positive step toward improving the cancer of income inequality. The gap between the minimum wage earner and corporate CEOs has been lessened. This will make the Seattle economy more robust and vibrant and more companies will move there when they find out they must pay higher costs than in other cities. ( although some of the more sophisticated companies may wait until Seattle raises its tax rate)This country is moving FORWARD!!!!!!

[baddog]

Minimum wage is seeking out lifetime employees. Why educate yourself when you can work the window at McDonald's. We know how sharp they are. Get my order right every time.

[smitty]

Marijuana sales will go up tremendously.

:D

[PURPLE 4EVER]

Do you hear the vacuum suction sound in Seattle?   It is the sound of many businesses getting the hell out of dodge.  Raising minimum wage will only increase the prices you pay for the service.  If you are an adult trying to make it at McDonald's on minimum wage then when you were young and at school you made choices that put you there.

[Fevertree]

@ purple 4ever  The only vacuum suction I hear is coming from you.

[LumRaiderFan]

@ purple 4ever  The only vacuum suction I hear is coming from you.

But he is 100% correct.

[stevenash]

How dare you say that?  You must be a greedy capitalist pig who has no compassion for the little guy, the one our President is watching out for.  You must be one of those who believes that companies are created to make a profit rather than giving all to their employees.  You must be one of those who believes that companies should try to generate excess capital and invest it in more plants and more people instead of dividing it up amongst the deserving employees who take all of the risk in your business.

[Fevertree]

I didn't realize you people in the triplex were so up to date on Seattle's economy.

[thetragichippy]

It sounds really good (like all assistance programs) until you REALLY look at it......

 

 

Raising the minimum wage adds no money into the local economy; it only redistributes money among people who are already part of the economy. Low wage workers will have more money to spend; business owners and customers of those businesses will have less to spend by an amount equal to the increase in wages.

 

The lost money is federal government benefits that low wage workers lose thanks to the increase in the minimum wage. In fact, many of these workers will lose food stamps, some or all of their earned income tax credit, and other means-tested federal benefits.

 

This money is currently spent in the local economy, but after the minimum wage is increased the money will revert to Washington, D.C., to be spent on something else.

 

low wage workers can lose as much as half of any new income to increased taxes and lost benefits. Given the percentage of low wage workers that live in low income households (around 30 percent) and that eligibility for the earned income tax credit extends to about $50,000 for a family of four, the loss to the Seattle area economy is likely on the order of $75-100 million.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/05/06/seattle-will-hurt-local-economy-with-15-an-hour-minimum-wage/

[BLUEDOVE3]

It sounds really good (like all assistance programs) until you REALLY look at it......

 

 

Raising the minimum wage adds no money into the local economy; it only redistributes money among people who are already part of the economy. Low wage workers will have more money to spend; business owners and customers of those businesses will have less to spend by an amount equal to the increase in wages.

 

The lost money is federal government benefits that low wage workers lose thanks to the increase in the minimum wage. In fact, many of these workers will lose food stamps, some or all of their earned income tax credit, and other means-tested federal benefits.

 

This money is currently spent in the local economy, but after the minimum wage is increased the money will revert to Washington, D.C., to be spent on something else.

 

low wage workers can lose as much as half of any new income to increased taxes and lost benefits. Given the percentage of low wage workers that live in low income households (around 30 percent) and that eligibility for the earned income tax credit extends to about $50,000 for a family of four, the loss to the Seattle area economy is likely on the order of $75-100 million.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2014/05/06/seattle-will-hurt-local-economy-with-15-an-hour-minimum-wage/

Thank God its not from a republican blog

[thetragichippy]

Maybe you will read it then.....

 

The truth will set you free B)

[stevenash]

Good example of many existing policies that actually discourage folks from working or pursuing better work. They think they cant afford to do so because of the lost benefits. There is something wrong with that approach.

[BLUEDOVE3]

Forty years later, a distinguished news commentator asked incredulously: "My God! 25 cents an hour! Why all the fuss?" President Roosevelt expressed a similar sentiment in a "fireside chat" the night before the signing. He warned: "Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, ...tell you...that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry."² In light of the social legislation of 1978, Americans today may be astonished that a law with such moderate standards could have been thought so revolutionary.

[baddog]

Goods and services will go up and skilled labor will demand a raise, then we are back to square one. Everything is relative.

Would this generate more outsourcing?

[LumRaiderFan]

The free market should dictate minimum wage, not the fed gov.

Burger flippers in Wyoming and North Dakota probably are making $15.00 an hour because of the free market energy boom.

All the fed gov needs to do is get out of the way.

[stevenash]

Get out of the way?  They are doing their best to get "in the way" as much as possible because they believe that, in spite of the economic woes of the postal service, the overt failure of Solyndra, and the lack of accountability( which ultimately led to deaths) at the VA, that they know more about how to run businesses efficiently.

[LumRaiderFan]

And I do realize this case is not the fed gov but gov in general just picking a number for minimum wage when the market may not support it is a mistake.

 

it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

[bullets13]

The businesses will respond by either employing less people or raising prices. Companies that are barely making a profit will be shut or moved because they're now in the red. Minimum wage is minimum for a reason. There are still teachers and other professionals with 4-year degrees who don't make the $31K a year that burger flippers and cashiers will now make in Seattle. I honestly don't see this turning out well for the city and it's economy.

[stevenash]

I agree but it "sounds so good" and lots of people make judgements  based upon good sounds instead of good judgement.

[PAMFAM10]

$10 a hour sounds about right to me. Nobody that works 40 or more hrs a week should be living in poverty. ENTITLEMENT Why get a job that won't change your situation. When you can just be a couch potato. That can be motivation

[stevenash]

PamFAm- That attitude is whats killing this country.  Instead of saying to oneself "why get a job that wont change your situation" why shouldn't it be " what can I do to improve my status in life"?

[PAMFAM10]

PamFAm- That attitude is whats killing this country.  Instead of saying to oneself "why get a job that wont change your situation" why shouldn't it be " what can I do to improve my status in life"?

look Nash bottom line some people can careless that's just how they see it. A shame yes but that will likely never change. 10/hr can motivate.

[stevenash]

you are right and our current society encourages more of that instead of less of it