Something "Unexpected" Happened When Seattle Raised The Minimum Wage

[Draggingtree]

Zero Hedge:

Something "Unexpected" Happened When Seattle Raised The Minimum Wage

 

by Tyler Durden Aug 24, 2016 5:20 AM

Seemingly no amount of empirical evidence can convince progressives that raising minimum wages to artificially elevated levels is a bad idea. Somehow the basic idea that raising the cost of a good ultimately results in lower consumption of that good just doesn't compute. Though it does seem odd that progressives in states like California lean heavily on higher taxes as a way to curb, for example, fuel consumption. Could it be that the left actually does understand the basic economics of the minimum wage debate but don't find the math behind it to be particularly "politically expedient" in certain instances?

 

Despite the motives behind it, one thing is certain, the calls for a federal minimum wage hike are growing louder. Hillary recently endorsed a federal minimum wage hike and Bernie has proposed the "Pay Workers a Living Wage Act" in the Senate that proposes mandating a federal $15 minimum wage to be phased in over just 4 years (see "Dear Hillbama, $15 Federal Minimum Wage Equals 7 Million Job Losses"). Perhaps Bernie forgets that not everyone lives in extremely expensive cities like New York and San Francisco.

[Geee]

Facing High Labor Costs From Minimum Wage Hikes, Chicago Restaurant Closes

 

A Chicago restaurant abruptly closed this week, with ownership blaming the “rapidly changing labor market” and a 27 percent increase in base minimum wage costs over the last two years as culprits for the collapse.

 

Cantina 1910, a farm-to-table Mexican restaurant located in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood, opened in September 2015.

 

Former Cantina 1910 employees said they were shocked to find out late Sunday evening of the closing, DNAinfo reported.

 

“We are unable to further raise prices in this competitive restaurant market in order to sustain the labor costs necessary to operate Cantina 1910,” Mark Robertson and Mike Sullivan, Cantina 1910’s owners, said in an emailed statement to The Daily Signal.

 

http://dailysignal.com/2016/08/23/facing-high-labor-costs-from-minimum-wage-hikes-chicago-restaurant-closes/

[SrWoodchuck]

@Geee! @Draggingtree!

 

Progressives have a fantasy riddled brains. The elite Progs have so indoctrinated the proles, with "living wage" that they have no concept that the "living wage" must come via capitalism from some consumers pocket. They are not capitalists. Most depend demand the hand of the Government remove money from someone else to make up any shortfall, so their fantasy can become reality. Growing up as a boy in two small towns in southern Illinois, I remember 3rd & 4th generation welfare recipients living the Progressive Democrat dream. Reality & plain hard fact determine that two can eat as cheaply as one...as long as one doesn't eat. In Barky's America, where black welfare has increased 52% over his 8 year rule...tragedy & even death await the collapse of the social security network. The only thing worse would be if the Progs owned all the guns...

[Valin]

Wait...wait...wait! Before even reading this I'm gonna take a WAG!

 

Jobs "magically" disappeared.

 

How close was I?

[Draggingtree]

D.C. Restaurants Lose Eight Jobs a Day as Wage Hikes Take Effect

Nation’s capital lost 1,400 jobs in six months as suburbs gained jobs

 

BY: Bill McMorris August 24, 2016 1:16 pm

 

Restaurants in the nation’s capital experienced their worst hiring period in 15 years, fueling speculation that wage hikes are reducing employment opportunities.

 

Employment in the food service industry fell in Washington, D.C. even as it continued to increase in the region.

 

Restaurants shed 1,400 jobs in the first six months of 2016, a three percent decrease and the largest loss of jobs since the 2001 recession, according to an analysis from American Enterprise Institute scholar Mark Perry.

 

The steep drop was isolated to D.C. Neighboring suburbs in Virginia and Maryland added nearly 3,000 jobs over the same period, a 1.6 percent increase in hiring.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/d-c-restaurants-lose-eight-jobs-day-wage-hikes-take-effect/

[Valin]

Seattle Discovers Gravity Is Not Socially Constructed

Steven Hayward

June 26 2017

 

Well not quite gravity, but close enough for post-modernist work. You know how liberals like to attach taxes on cigarettes so we’ll buy fewer of them, and on alcohol so we’ll drink less, etc? Funny, though, how the basic lesson of supply and demand and price sensitivity falls by the wayside when it comes to the minimum wage.

We’ve commented on this invincible ignorance repeatedly (such as here, here, here, here, and here), but can’t resist doing so again. The Washington Post reports today on the results of the mandated minimum wage hikes in Seattle:

A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals

By Max Ehrenfreunde

(Snip)

 

Congratulations Seattle—you’ve managed to lower wages by $1,500 a year for the people who can least afford it. But I’m sure you feel good about how you’re fighting again inequality.

 

(Snip)

 

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