Gov. Inslee names "Carbon Emissions Reduction Task Force"
Inslee’s Executive Order 14-04 attempts to jumpstart action on his climate change initiatives. But it’s not clear that the EO has any teeth. Nonetheless, it’s a clear statement of where the governor wants to take the state. The Governor’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Taskforce is hereby created to provide recommendations on the design and implementation of […]
30th of April 2014
Minimum wage, maximum hassle. Uncompromising activists threaten to take $15 to November ballot.
My column today’s looks at the ongoing wrangling in Seattle City Hall over how to get to a $15 minimum wage. What Seattle does matters statewide. So far, no one has devised a containment strategy to prevent Seattle politics from spreading. It’s not Vegas. What happens in Seattle doesn’t stay in Seattle. …Here’s what’s clear: […]
25th of April 2014
No recommendation from Seattle mayor on how to get to $15 minimum wage. Yet.
Yesterday’s press conference (video) had Seattle Mayor Ed Murray explaining why he was not announcing his proposal for a $15 minimum wage. Here’s how Publicola characterized it. At a press briefing this afternoon—the official press release read, “Mayor Murray to announce his proposal for raising the minimum wage in Seattle”—Mayor Ed Murray did not announce […]
10th of April 2014
Job loss from minimum wage hikes often less than expected, NCPA explains why. Increase is offset by reducing other compensation.
The National Center for Policy Analysis takes on one of the challenges posed by supporters of an increased minimum wage. Specifically, they answer the question of why job losses often come in lower than opponents predict. It’s a short, compelling research post. The gist: Both proponents and opponents of minimum-wage hikes do not realize that […]
3rd of April 2014
Amid a flurry of minimum wage actions across the country, Seattle's proposed $15 floor stands alone
The New York Times reports on the presidential push for a higher federal minimum wage. While this Congress is unlikely to approve it, the White House claims credit for the emergence of state and local actions to raise the minimum. In the last 14 months, since Mr. Obama first called for the wage increase in […]
20th of March 2014
How public policy supports low-wage workers and the high cost of the minimum wage
There’s no dearth of good analysis on the effects of raising the minimum wage. Let me call attention to a few of them here. First, a look at the income supports available to low-wage workers, as shown in this graph from a short and incisive AEI blog post. AEI fellow Robert Doar concludes, So […]
13th of March 2014
Economists wrangle over $10.10 minimum wage, CFOs say increase will slow hiring
Among the challenges faced by policymakers (and that includes voters) trying to determine the effects of raising the minimum wage is sorting through the flood of conflicting information. Much of the conflict comes because people who are supposedly talking about the same thing are not, really, talking about the same thing. There’s a difference between […]
6th of March 2014
Seattle's $15 minimum wage debate heats up; Jordan Royer article in Crosscut provides needed perspective
The Seattle City Council and the Mayor’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee held a joint public hearing last night on the $15 minimum wage proposal. The Seattle Times has the story. It sounds like quite a show. About 700 people, many wearing red T-shirts with “15” on the front, cheered calls to enact a pay increase […]
3rd of March 2014
Warren Buffet says $15 minimum wage would hurt jobs, Speaker Chopp says no vote on $12 minimum this year, and more
Warren Buffett weighs in on the federal minimum wage. “If you could have a minimum wage of $15 and it didn’t hurt anything else, I would love it,” he said. “But clearly that isn’t the case.” However, he added, he wouldn’t argue with President Obama’s proposal for a more modest increase, to $10.10 an hour […]
27th of February 2014
Minimum wage, the cost of living and the cost of doing business, even nonprofit businesses
As Mark Perry, AEI scholar and University of Michigan economist, points out, there’s no science to setting a minimum wage. But where does a minimum wage of $10.10 (or $9) per hour come from? Economic theory? Economic reasoning? Economic logic? Regression analysis? No. It comes from….. well it comes from….. OK, to be really honest, […]