Money Matters
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 9th, 2014
Good morning!
Yay for Seattle raising the minimum wage!
From Think Progress:
An Idea Becomes Reality
Momentum Builds As Seattle City Council Unanimously Approves $15 Minimum Wage
Last month, we wrote about the tale of two Washingtons: just a day after 41 Republican Senators in Washington, DC prevented a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from even being debated, Seattle, Washington announced a plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
On Tuesday, the city made that deal official, with the city council voting unanimously to approve a $15 minimum wage. It will be phased in over the next seven years and will be the highest in the United States.
The minimum wage has been advancing in cities and states around the country, and not the halls of Congress, for some time. But the ambition of Seattle’s increase has sparked a particular flame for other cities and states considering a bigger increase. The Seattle Times reports that “organizers who pushed a $15 minimum wage in Seattle are looking at their next targets,” including Bellevue, Spokane, or an increase in the state minimum wage.
“It’s expanding the range of the possible,” said Paul Sonn, general counsel and program director for the National Employment Law Project. “Seattle was a breakthrough.”
Think Progress, meanwhile, has published a detailed investigative report on the fight to bring a living wage to Seattle, featuring a coalition of a millionaire, a socialist, and some Taco Bell workers. While it notes that “some things about that process may be unique to Seattle,” the ingredients for a $15 minimum wage “are completely portable, and could soon come to a city near you.”
At the same time, the ambition of Seattle’s increase — a full-time minimum wage worker making $15 per hour will earn over $30,000 annually — has generated broader discussion among national thought leaders and policy analysts. The Seattle entrepreneur and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, a prominent supporter of the $15 campaign, spells out the argument in favor of the increase in a New York Times column entitled “Well Paid Workers Strengthen Local Economies“:
If the minimum wage had tracked productivity gains since 1968, it would be $21.70 today; had it tracked the wages of us in the top 1 percent, it would be $28. Raising it to only $15 in a city as prosperous and expensive as Seattle isn’t a risky experiment. The risky experiment has been the 30 years of trickle-down policy that enriched a few of us while eviscerating the middle class.
The most insidious part of trickle down isn’t the idea that if the rich get richer, that’s good for the economy. It is that if the poor get richer, that will be bad for the economy. A $15-an-hour wage isn’t a risky and untried policy in Seattle. It is the natural evolution of common-sense economic thinking.
BOTTOM LINE: Conservatives really believe that the economy grows from the top down – that if we give more to CEOs and billionaires it will trickle down to the rest of us. But decades of trickle down policy has done nothing but give millionaires and billionaires more, leaving middle and worker class families with less and destabilizing our entire economy. Seattle’s $15 minimum wage is a bold alternative approach–one that will help the economy grow from the middle class out and build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. And it appears that the wave could be catching on.
*****
Blog me.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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June 9th, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Thank god there is a little common sense somewhere.
June 9th, 2014 at 11:23 pm
You can say ‘boys will be boys’ is bullshit but do you think if a man announced on here that they sit their sweet rump roast on their phone in their car that any woman here would say, pick me, sit on my face, nah…probably not…lol…
(& I’m not saying anything other than that so don’t go reading too deep into it…just observing…)
Though thank you for the hot thoughts from yesterday…
Hmm, I wonder if repugs will figure out a way to ‘trickle up’ that $15/hour to serve them, they always find an angle, don’t they? I’m happy for Seattle peeps on this one though.
Luv, Zen Lill
June 10th, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Okay I’m sitting my sweet rump on my phone. Any takers?
June 10th, 2014 at 12:48 pm
Forgive us males Zen Lill if we prefer your fine romp to that of some idiot who would attempt to follow suit. Personally I would love to help you discover your phone.
I mean the time I spent feeling around looking for it would not be something I can imagine I would complain about.
June 10th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Wait a minute Zen Lill you may just be stretching this reciprocal behavior thing a bit much. Women don’t usually like men to sit on their faces regardless of the situation.
Men on the other hand have been known to pay a woman to sit on their faces. So when a fine thing like you gives us an opening. How can we help but vie with each other to see who can express that desire to you the best.
No disrespect of any female is intended romantically expressing an appreciation of a woman from afar. I mean how threatening can a wish made on a blog be to a lady?
And Yes, I am not above admitting that you can sit on my face or elsewhere on my person as you please.
June 10th, 2014 at 1:00 pm
You guys do know that there is a bit more to it than just having the lady sit on your face. We would expect a little expertise in satisfying a female who would grant you such a pleasure.