You know, what the headline says. Really.
No doubt there are local business owners who genuinely fear for their own profit margins, but nationally, this is an ideological conflict. And if the economies of cities like Seattle and San Francisco continue to thrive despite imposing the highest minimum wage in the nation, it would strike a substantial blow against free market dogma.
No, just because a $15 minimum wage works here in Seattle doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for Yakima. But this is about more than just the minimum wage. This about undermining the deregulatory, low-tax, supply-side orthodoxy that has guided US economic policy since the Reagan administration, and that has played a major role in creating the crisis of income inequality we face today.
It’s also about being proven right or wrong. And everybody hates to be proven wrong.
I don’t think it is clear cut as either ideological side would like to make it out to be. Raising the minimum wage is needed, no doubt, but by 60% it will have both negative & positive consequences. The higher the increase the more of both consequences. Anyone who argues that one side or the other without acknowledging either the benefits or consequences is an ideologue more interested in politics than a nuanced discussion.
Seems to me I should get a byline on this post topic.
Capitalism as we see it in its current manifestation is succeeding brilliantly. It is feeding itself and its rapacious benefactors and sucking the rest of the population dry. This is unsustainable. Even the excerable Lloyd Blankfein acknowledges such…although his motive is to protect his obscenely large slice of the pie.
Wages need to go up and taxes need to go up. Public services and infrastructure needs to be funded and supported. A massive social overhaul is in order and although the $15/hr wage is a good start, it is ONLY a start.
Whether big minimum wage hikes “work” is immaterial. Free market dogma has repeatedly, consistently, demonstrably been proven catastrophic to the economy and everyone in it (except to the very wealthy) over the past 30 years. Those facts have made zero difference to either wingnuts (and their sponsors) or the he said, he said media coverage. Seattle’s success – or failure – won’t influence that a bit.
Sloppy Travis Bickle,
“Seems to me I should get a byline on this post topic.”
Mentally ill much?
As long as I get my $25+ per hour! I’m OK with the increase.