Seattle passes $15 Minimum Wage

[ksen]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/

Recent raises in MW.

Meanwhile, states and cities are taking up the issue. On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C. City Council voted to raise the capital city’s minimum wage to $11.50/hour from $8.25 by 2016. Last month, New Jerseyans voted to raise their state’s minimum wage to $8.25/hour and index future increases to inflation. Massachusetts’ state Senate voted last month to raise its hourly minimum wage to $11.00 from $8.00.

...............
Part of this is politics. It is popular with independents and democrats and may bring people out to the voting booth.

.....
Though raising the minimum wage is broadly popular, there are clear partisan differences. Back in February, a Pew Research Center survey found that 71% of people favored an increase in the federal minimum to $9.00/hour from $7.25. But while large majorities of Democrats (87%) and independents (68%) said they favored such an increase, Republicans were split.

So the GOP is fighting higher MW, which means people cannot have a living wage. The this shifts people to food stamps et al, which the GOP is trying to slash. Good politics, yes? And what party gave us a smoking crater economy and 10% unemployment?

I just wonder why the Democrats are not pounding on this day and night.

And .......
http://politic365.com/2014/05/31/california-senate-approves-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-13hr/

I suspect there are loots of other bills to raise MW in play.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/

Recent raises in MW.

Meanwhile, states and cities are taking up the issue. On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C. City Council voted to raise the capital city’s minimum wage to $11.50/hour from $8.25 by 2016. Last month, New Jerseyans voted to raise their state’s minimum wage to $8.25/hour and index future increases to inflation. Massachusetts’ state Senate voted last month to raise its hourly minimum wage to $11.00 from $8.00.

...............
Part of this is politics. It is popular with independents and democrats and may bring people out to the voting booth.

.....
Though raising the minimum wage is broadly popular, there are clear partisan differences. Back in February, a Pew Research Center survey found that 71% of people favored an increase in the federal minimum to $9.00/hour from $7.25. But while large majorities of Democrats (87%) and independents (68%) said they favored such an increase, Republicans were split.

So the GOP is fighting higher MW, which means people cannot have a living wage. The this shifts people to food stamps et al, which the GOP is trying to slash. Good politics, yes? And what party gave us a smoking crater economy and 10% unemployment?

I just wonder why the Democrats are not pounding on this day and night.

And .......
http://politic365.com/2014/05/31/california-senate-approves-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-13hr/

I suspect there are loots of other bills to raise MW in play.

I did something today, I have not done in a long time, i listened to a progressive talk radio station.

Charlie, you are not alone in your question. most callers to the shows today also wanted to know why the DP was playing the "MW Rag" on a continuous loop.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Charlie, you are not alone in your question. most callers to the shows today also wanted to know why the DP was playing the "MW Rag" on a continuous loop.

It's because their corporate masters will stop giving them money if they do.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

and when the increases in other parts of the country take shape, will there be other reasons why they don't descend into economic breakdown and plummeting unemployment rates?

 

[coloradoatheist]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

I'm a little surprised at your answer but I agree in part that Seattle can handle this increase better than other places but we'll see what happens. It's phased in over time and I think it included a teenager lower minimum wage.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

Unlike Boston, NYC, Chicago, San Fran?

 

[Petrel]

How many people will this promote to tax-payer status?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

How many people will this promote to tax-payer status?

Everyone pays taxes except the homeless who don't work. Social Security and Medicare are always taken out and that amounts to 9ish% of our salary.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

How many people will this promote to tax-payer status?

Everyone pays taxes except the homeless who don't work. Social Security and Medicare are always taken out and that amounts to 9ish% of our salary.

the homeless pay taxes everytime they buy something at a store.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

But they don't die, so they only have to face one inevitability.

 

[Jet The Cat]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

I hear that all the good capitalists who lived in the city have mysteriously disappeared!

 

[Petrel]

Everyone pays taxes except the homeless who don't work. Social Security and Medicare are always taken out and that amounts to 9ish% of our salary.

Then what was all that outraged FUX talk a while ago about 50% of Americans paying 0 income tax - just because they opted to be poor?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

I'm a little surprised at your answer but I agree in part that Seattle can handle this increase better than other places but we'll see what happens. It's phased in over time and I think it included a teenager lower minimum wage.

I'm saying it's not going to have much effect, not that I think it's a good thing.

 

[ksen]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

The start of The Great Backpedal.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm saying it's not going to have much effect,

Funny, that's what most of us have been saying too!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Everyone pays taxes except the homeless who don't work. Social Security and Medicare are always taken out and that amounts to 9ish% of our salary.

Then what was all that outraged FUX talk a while ago about 50% of Americans paying 0 income tax - just because they opted to be poor?

It is in the qualification of your own statement: Income tax. The working poor don't pay income tax. But they certainly do pay the FICA taxes, which is a Payroll tax.

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-minimum-wage-20140602-story.html

I look forward to seeing the burning crater that is left of Seattle once the MW is done with it.

It's not going to have much effect because it's already such an expensive city.

I'm a little surprised at your answer but I agree in part that Seattle can handle this increase better than other places but we'll see what happens. It's phased in over time and I think it included a teenager lower minimum wage.

I'm saying it's not going to have much effect, not that I think it's a good thing.

I do like the right-wing argument cycle on a higher minimum wage. It starts with "lost jobs", "higher prices", then cycles over to "not that many make minimum wage" and "raising it won't make much of a difference". It goes round and round, endlessly.

 

[Petrel]

It is in the qualification of your own statement: Income tax. The working poor don't pay income tax. But they certainly do pay the FICA taxes, which is a Payroll tax.

Yes. My first post was half-facetious; I thought my meaning of income tax was self-evident. I didn't know payroll deductions for pension, etc. (which, in my Canadian working life, were called 'contributions') are called tax. But, of course, they would be!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It is in the qualification of your own statement: Income tax. The working poor don't pay income tax. But they certainly do pay the FICA taxes, which is a Payroll tax.

Yes. My first post was half-facetious; I thought my meaning of income tax was self-evident. I didn't know payroll deductions for pension, etc. (which, in my Canadian working life, were called 'contributions') are called tax. But, of course, they would be!

Well, it is hard to gauge if a Canadian actually understands our political process and the partisan arguments which are absolute shit (they don't pay any income TAXES!!!!). You live in Canada. All you folks have to worry about are unfulfilled political promises and if Ford can't keep his crack supply in check.

 

[nogods4me]

This increase is phased in over a rather lengthy period IIRC. San Jose just over a year ago raised their minimum wage to 10 bucks an hour, dire predictions were made: business cutting hours, closing down and moving away, increased unemployment, dogs and cats living together, the basic gnashing of teeth you generally get when the topic is discussed.
So 1 year later what do we find?

The unemployment rate dropped in the San Jose metro area from 7.6 percent in February, 2013 to 5.8 percent in December, the last month available. Part of the reason for this almost two-point drop in unemployment is that the 40,000 minimum wage workers in San Jose have pumped more than $100 million into the local economy this past year, stimulating the economic growth of Silicon Valley.

The city reports that business is growing, with 84,000 businesses registered at the start of 2014 compared to 75,000 the previous year. Importantly, the leisure and hospitality industry -- the sector that includes food services, and where many minimum wage employees work -- experienced a net increase of 4,000 jobs in San Jose in 2013, according to the California Employment Development Department.

In the city center, the San Jose Downtown Association reports that businesses grew by 3 percent in the past year, with the retail sector, which includes restaurants, increasing to 19 percent of all downtown businesses, up from 15 percent in 2012.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_25315215/san-jose-minimum-wage-year-old-success-story