Free Money!
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 while the economy is in the doldrums and employers are reacting by cutting hours, benefits, and in some cases relocating out of the city.
This is PROOF that employers are robber barons who will do anything to go on exploiting the workers. Plainly, the minimum wage must be set at a higher level of government so employers cannot move to escape it. And benefits mandated, too. With free parking, and overtime. And more vacation.
I’ve noticed the celebratory coverage from Seattle has been really light on impacts.
June 4th, 2014 at 10:13 am
This just in: Starbucks in Seattle to raise the cost of a latte to $15. Enjoy!
June 4th, 2014 at 10:19 am
….and don’t forget to leave a little gift in the jar for the barista. She’s hoping to upgrade her tattoo menagerie before entering law school.
June 4th, 2014 at 11:37 am
Barista is Latin for stationary waiter.
New(s) to me, also on the West Coast economy, according to the July ’14 Motor Trend Toyota Motor Sales USA will be moving its headquarters from the LA area to the Dallas (Plano TX) area.
Toyota had been in LA since 1957, but elected to move to be closer to its US production facilities. It also cited CA’s taxes and its cost of living. LA is the 9th most expensive place to live in the US compared to the Dallas area’s 19th place.
Overall job loss to CA will be approx. 4000 by the time the move is completed in 2017. Unfortunately for TX, this move will result in the relocation to their state of thousands of Californians. Could be a rough assimilation process …
June 4th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Union bosses in Seattle are smiling.
June 4th, 2014 at 12:38 pm
Yea, it looks like they are offering re-lo packages to most of the workers there. If I were Rick Perry, I would offer tax incentives to Toyota to hire locally and to keep CA libidiots from coming to my state. But, that’s just me!
June 4th, 2014 at 1:00 pm
POD: Since so many union contracts are tied to the minimum wage, Boeing bosses are probably plotting – NOW – how many boats they would need to relocate to Singapore.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:08 pm
my sources tell me its probably going to be in the southeast US.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:10 pm
The news coverage on this is abysmal, as usual. One question can be asked, and all the other questions asked by “journalists” are moot: “Where will the money come from?”
June 4th, 2014 at 2:26 pm
I swear at some point these journalists will have to be bought and paid for from the government, even more than they are now. The free market’s invisible hand is about to bitchslap them.
June 4th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Say POD? Can you arrange a few Strib hacks to catch fire “spontaneously” *wink*? They’ve been begging for it and the market’s invisible hand isn’t as quick as some would wish.
June 4th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
The demand for a big mac is a function of its price. The demand for big macs @ $3.50 each includes the demand for big macs at $5.00, $4.50, $4.00, all the way down to $3.50. Charge $4.50 for a big mac instead and and you lose the demand for big macs priced from $3.50 to $4.49. The demand for $3.50 big macs will always be smaller than the demand for big macs at $3.50.
McD’s can deal with this problem in a number of weighs. Reducing profits is not in the mix. Increased efficiency will cost jobs or reduce the quality of the product. The people who will pay will be the workers or the consumers.
Or McD’s can simply move out of Seattle, and suburbanites and working folks will have to drive further for their $3.50 big mac.
June 4th, 2014 at 3:27 pm
Oops! Should be: “The demand for $3.50 big macs will always be smaller than the demand for big macs at $4.50.”
June 4th, 2014 at 3:30 pm
Oops again! Should be: “The demand for $4.50 big macs will always be smaller than the demand for big macs at $3.50.”
June 4th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Maybe with higher wages, the bikini baristas will finally be able to buy some clothes!
June 4th, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Bikini baristas? Where? Now you’re talking about a reason to open the wallet a little bit.
June 4th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
Bikini baristas? That seems like an injury lawsuit or a healthcode violation waiting to happen
June 5th, 2014 at 10:22 am
Go visit them quick, Paul, before they’re either fired or finally rich enough to afford a shirt.
POD: exactly. And enlightened Seattle is having trouble figuring out how to shut them down, exactly what you would guess if a region started requiring that fast food joints pay their workers like an entry level tradesman.
June 5th, 2014 at 10:36 am
The coffee shops better hope the bikini baristas never join a union, because then jobs would be filled by seniority. The young hot women would be sitting on the bench in the union hall while you’d be getting your latte from my grandma wearing her bikini. Sales would sag.
.
June 5th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Joe: Bad pun. Is that a sexist comment or an acknowledgment that gravity eventually takes its toll on everyone? Be careful how you answer. NSA will monitor.