Remember when Andrew Friedman, the virulently anti-$15 owner of the Capitol Hill bar Liberty was given precious column inches in The Stranger to warn readers that a $15 minimum wage would surely destroy local small businesses?
“Local independent businesses WILL close, many of your neighbors WILL be out of work,” the capslockian Friedman declared, arguing that his 5 percent margins were too small to absorb the cost of paying his employees a living wage.
Well, on Friday night, not quite nine months after Seattle’s $15 minimum wage was approved, and just one month before the first phased-in hike goes into effect, Friedman opened his second Capitol Hill bar, the ironically named “Good Citizen.” Which, if you take Friedman at his word, is kinda weird.
So I guess that makes Friedman either the world’s worst businessman, or a pathological liar.
It could be one of two things that afflicts the right these days: Willful ignorance or toot-toot for the crazy train.
What do you expect from anti-worker rightwingers? Just today, I read a book review in Barron’s magazine by Benjamin Powell, the 36-year-old director of the “Free Market Institute” at Texas Tech University and a fellow at a libertarian think tank, extolling the virtues of Third World sweatshops. You can read his rationalizations here, if you have the stomach for them:
http://online.barrons.com/arti.....1359741966
I’m not going to work in a sweatshop. For that matter, I’m not going to work in any shop. I’m a capitalist now. I make tax-free income* without doing any work by owning capital (i.e., stocks). Our society is run solely for the benefit of capitalists, so why wouldn’t I be a capitalist? Why wouldn’t everyone? Everyone should own stock. No one should work. That’s why the system wants you to do. Otherwise, capitalists wouldn’t be coddled and workers wouldn’t be crapped on the way they are.
* Under Bush tax cuts still in effect, taxpayers in the 10% and 15% brackets (which is anyone making less than $36,900 a year of adjusted gross income, or $73,800 for married couples, which is most of us including me) enjoy a 0% tax rate on qualified dividends and long-term capital gains.
you’re not suggesting (i trust) that those are mutually exclusive traits?
If anyone bothered to contact Friedman and point out this contradiction to his malediction; he’d, of course, declare that some business (or other) DID close! And (he personally knows of) two, no, THREE!, people who lost their jobs [mumble]because of the wage[mumble]increase…
Yes, of course. But how much is he charging for a well gin and tonic? I bet the margin is incredible on those.
I recall that he posts under the monicker “I’m Cool” on Slog and man, he was such an inarticulate drama queen that you just hope they find roach eggs in all his restaurants.
Friedman tries to put himself forth as some sort of community spokesperson, but I don’t think I ever saw any comment expression any sort of compassion for anyone other than himself. No outrage from him about people getting gay-bashed or losing their homes, or being run over while biking. Nope, it was all about him and maybe how Anna Minard betrayed him by writing in support of a higher MW.
Of course, Friedman gets the last laugh there. The Stranger is pretty much what kind of paper he wanted now.
These days, he’s just a typical employer.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....ail=email#
Indeed, the local independent business that was killed by the $15/hr campaign was the Stranger.
I get Andrew Friedman. He likes money and doesn’t want to give you any of his. And there are enough #bellevuewivesmatter patrons to fill his bar — er, bars — even if he’d like the rest of progressive Capitol Hill to fuck off and die.
But what is up with Tim Keck?
The gentleman clearly is a practitioner of “The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition” by Qark as told by Ira Steven Behr. He is enjoying success in following the rules and wishes to remain successful. Get your own copy of the rules from Amazon or perhaps a used book store. Now you can harness the wisdom of these rules as they are available to everyone.
We will see what’s up with Tim Keck when the glowing review for Good Citizen comes out.
@12 Or maybe, given past history, The Stranger will just let Friedman write his own review of Good Citizen?
Or maybe he is smart enough to realize that if you sell alcohol on Capital Hill it’s almost impossible to not make $$$ since no matter what labor cost is people will stay pay for drinks. Maybe he is also smart enough to realize that not every business has the benefit of being driven by alcohol sales and that other types of businesses might have different challenges than a bar located in the most populous dense neighborhood in Seattle.
That fact that Goldy would call someone a pathological liar for having a more nuanced and different opinion of the effects of the min eage increase, illustrates why ideologues on either side of any issue are antithetical to any productive dialogue. Remember Andrew is on record as supporting a $12.50/hr min wage with no tip credit, no waivers to not pay for any business like was given to mega corps like Hyatt & Marriott, so to say he is anti-labor or a right wing ideologue is false. In what world does supporting a $12.50 min wagemake one a right wing ideologue?
I would suggest Andrew is a smart businessman for opening a bar in a location where the product is in high demande. I would also suggest he has a different opinion than Goldy on what the effects will be for small business. Or is Goldy not smart enough to realize bars in Capital Hill are not reflective of most small businesses in Seattle?
@14 If you can’t operate a business except with slave labor, then you shouldn’t be in business.
I concede that $12.50 improves on the existing state-mandated minimum wage; arithmetic doesn’t lie. But that doesn’t answer the question of whether $9.47, or $12.50, is an appropriate minimum wage for Seattle, where living costs challenge anyone to live on $12.50 of pretax income, especially if their employer provides only 28, 32, or 36 hours of work a week.
As for rightwing ideology running amok, that’s clearly evident in the efforts of Republican legislators to impose a uniform statewide (low) minimum wage, and eliminate local options to enact higher standards that may be both appropriate and necessary in some of the state’s high-cost urban areas.
@15 to call raising mim wage $12.50 slave labor seems a little hyperbolic and ridiculous. And to call someone who suppports raising the mim wage to $12.50,with no waivers or political carve outs treating all employees & employers equally, right wing, anti-labor, or a pathalogical liar is at best ridiculous and hyperbolic, and dishonest at worst.
@14- The man claimed that if the minimum wage passed businesses LIKE HIS would be closing their doors. The law passed. He’s opening another business akin to his previous (still open) one. He lied.
It’s not unusual, but it’s worth pointing out.
@15 he didn’t claim his business would close, but small businesses like his, which I assure some most definitely will and some won’t. But just because he is choosing to open a 2nd bar in probably the most desirable location to do so does not make him necessarily wrong or a “pathological liar”. To say it does is as stupid as Jim Inhoffe bringing a snowball to the Congressional floor to disprove global warming. One example of anything does not prove or disprove anything, except to ideologues like Jim Inhoffe & Goldy.
@16…
Just how much is a man or woman…a human person…just how much is that part of a lifetime they will never get back worth?
That is the real question.
What is the value of life and time in this society.
@18- I can also assure you that some small businesses will close and some won’t if the minimum wage law is repealed today because THAT ALWAYS HAPPENS regardless of any other factor. That’s as astute as predicting that the tide will come in after it goes out and then back in again.
Isn’t he the same guy who pulled a bunch of statistics out of his ass then defended that practice? He lies about stuff. A lot.
@16 “a little hyperbolic and ridiculous”
Of course it is. I’m a Democratic party hack and liberal propagandist. Were you expecting a priest?
“to call someone … right wing, anti-labor, or a pathalogical liar”
I didn’t call him that, nor would I spell “pathological” that way.
First of all, the $15 minimum wage is still being phased in so it’s not in effect right now.
Second of all, the reason AF has opened another bar is because he is smart enough to see what every other entity is able to see – diversification is the only way a bar like his – and every place that is still worth hanging out at – is going to have a snowballs chance in hell for surviving. Look at Linda Derschang, Tom Douglass, Meinert, Sam’s owner, STOUT, Barrio, Poquitos, Quinn’s, Lark, etc… The reason these places become mini-conglomerates is because the day of the “mom and pop” is over and the industry only supports larger, centrally owned businesses. You could call it “DIY franchising.” It’s just common sense: spreading resources around like staff, inventory, and the physical ability to bring in another income is the way it is now.
Franchises are the ultimate Ponzi scheme, capitalistic swindle of our time in the bar and restaurant industry and they have created an entire system that subsidizes them and shits all over the small guy. Margin’s didn’t used to be 4-5% and for anyone thinking, well, fuck that guy, 4% of a million dollars a year is a lot of money.
Really? That’s $40,000 “profit” and “profit” is a) something that varies widely yearly so it’s not just “pocketed” and b) the proverbial “paycheck away from” having a place to live and being out on the street. A business that is making a million dollars a year has a payroll and rent that eats that $40,000 in weeks if there’s anything that goes wrong. A fucking walk-in refrigerator is $5,000-$12,000.
Andrew is one of the few, brave business owners who has spoken up. The rest are hiding behind closed doors and watching the drama. Everyone admits there needs to be a way for kitchen staff to make a livable wage and the system needs to be changed but NO BARTENDER OR WAITRESS is making slave wages. NOT ONE. They are making much, much more than $15/hr. in an industry that isn’t scrutinized very closely and know the gravy days may be over. The system is incredibly biased against hispanic laborers willing to not speak up.
And finally, with all this bragging about how SeaTac is now, with their giant mw leap creating more jobs and building out the airport: Correlation is not causation (don’t be an anti-vaxxer).
The Seattle area is the fastest growing one in the country right now and SeaTac is where a huge majority of workers start at or only make minimum wage, as opposed to Seattle proper where most new transplants are starting at much higher wages, so the statistical references and skewed ratios that are being thrown around are misleading to make it sound like many more jobs at minimum wage are being added only in SeaTac because of the mw hike.
Enjoy your $8 beers and new, scaled down menu at The Canterbury.
Have you ever tried owning a bar? I’d suggest you try it before pointing the “shame on you” finger at the very liberal, Mr. Friedman. Those who know him also realize how ignorant some of these comments are. It’s obvious that most of the people who have contributed their hate to the stream of shite, have no idea who Mr. Friedman actually is. There’s nothing worse than internet dummies, I tell ya.
i think the funniest comments are those calling Andrew a right-winger, he’s one of the most liberal people I know. If anyone slinging hate his way knew anything about running a bar, or even about working in a bar, you’d know it’s not glamorous or lucrative for most owners, but it certainly is for most who work in places like Liberty, who typically make $25-35/hr including tips.
while all of you huffing with accusations of him belonging to this or that political parties camp and yeah opening new bar, most of you know nothing of Andrew and his business practices…While at times OUR opinions are in polar different he is very logical and have better grasp in reality then most of you. People who criticizing him making unbiased statement from the 1 hour economic class provided by the whole so truthful internet. I can attest that he is struggling to stay afloat and provide employment to as many workers he can support while providing to his young small family…The concept of “well off” it is so far off-base when it is coming to describe Andrew financial situation …so you ask yourself why he does that? so now you might understand your flaw…he does it because he is independent thinker a nonconformist who will drive on till the bitter end believing in his dream. the amount of work he put into anything he does wether it is placing concrete into the foundation of his new location at 3 AM via hand mixing and 5 gal buckets to running around for supplies during normal business hours while juggling family life and all too precious sleep will leave anyone elses grasping to air and discouraged and all in order to pay the rent buy some diapers and put food on the table. Lucky for him if he makes $15/hour…he is trying to make the American dream through the concrete principals that this country was founded on, vision and hard work…thats how you get ahead in life ….not anyone is cut for that not everyone is ready to put all on the line do whatever it takes to earn more ….I was one of them …as it of me I should cry the loudest an immigrant no knowledge of the language and customs making something out of myself which led me to serve in the army learn trade and make something out of myself and earning more then the $15/hour, rightfully because the market dictated that I worth that much…no one got you to your situation but you go and make yourself valuable no one need to pay YOUR way or fund YOUR dream go get it make it happen; Andrew does every second of his existence stop being the victim and start kicking yourself in the ass. Present america lost its drive to succeed and looking for handouts start to act American again dream and go after it!!!!
@2 Why is it that business owners always think the solution to every business challenge is low wages?
“b) the proverbial ‘paycheck away from’ having a place to live and being out on the street.”
Eh? I paid my mortgage off. Who’s going to kick me out? Don’t get me wrong, I can and do empathize with those paying rent, because I did too, once upon a time.
It’s almost laughable that some of you refer to Andrew as an “anti-worker right winger.” You morons are making claims and false accusations with zero factual backing. Andrew is liberal…most definitely not a “right-winger.” Anti-worker? Ya ok. He is very involved in both the WA Bartenders Guild as well as the USBG and I have seen on many occasions his selfless help in finding jobs for colleagues in the hospitality industry.
Have any of you ever owned or operated a bar? $15 will be extremely difficult for many bars to swallow. And as someone already pointed out, this is being phased in and we still aren’t at $15 yet, so the actual effects are yet to be seen.
Lastly, if you idiots think that bartenders and servers don’t make a “liveable wage” you awfully naive and ignorant. Many make well over $30/hr. I am in hospitality industry and make about $40/hr. Somehow, I have figured out how to live an extremely comfortable life on that wage…
Oh look: Andrew has organized his own write-in campaign to defend himself in the comment thread of my shitty little blog. How cute. Next think you know he’ll be pressuring me to fire myself.
absolutely not organized just people telling something which is foreign and alien to your ignorant position…it is call the TRUTH!!!…who know Andrew will tell you that he is astonishing and firm Democrat (and I have no idea why) and will go the extra mile to provide to others on his account (not with other people money like Kashama Sawant and Ed Murray). you have no idea who is he …todays liberal camp has liberated themselves from logic and common sense and form themselves a camp of entitlement…that is why the state of affairs in this country is the way it is mediocrity and stupidity is celebrated as the new american god
I don’t know who these defenders are, but I remember Friedman from his days on SLOG. He’s not liberal. He’s a complete jackass. I’d never step a foot in one of his establishments, both of which sound like they took their name from an Ayn Rand novel.
@28…
@22. 23, 24, 25, 27, 29 all look like they were written (astroturfed) by the same person…
AN-drew??? ANDREW!!!
You can come out now…
Met AF maybe once, didn’t find out what his politics are, don’t care.
I think you all missed the beginning of my 5th paragraph: not organized by but certainly united by knowing the actual numbers.
@26 it’s an idiom. Most small business owners don’t own or have a mortgage on the property they have invested in.
@22…
If a ‘business’ can’t afford to pay employees the ‘business’ should close.
@33 Ha! So very simple and Capitalistic.
If a business model has been chipped away at for decades to subsidize and benefit larger and larger corporations and conglomerates, the entire system is the fault, not the small business. And the business model has ridden the backs of the workers while perpetuating a tipping paradigm that is actually one of the most lucrative ways for someone without a college education to make more (much more) than minimum wage. In fact, it’s how a majority people pay for college.
Do you wonder at all why independently owned bars and restaurants are disappearing? Do you really think they are all poorly run? Every single one? No other industry tolerates a 4% profit margin on a minimum 1/4 million dollar investment with no support system (other than a debt service.)
Everything is inflated and taxed. You may think your gin and tonic has a huge markup when you consider how cheap it is to buy at the store and wonder “why is teh math so haaaard?” You don’t even know a fraction of what you’re talking about.