Seattle has its heart in the right place.
—  It really does.   Best intentions… but we all know where that path leads.

Newsflash everyone –
The mandatory minimum wage to $15 does not promote spending.  It does not help uneducated single parents feed their children.   It does not mean people get what they want – not even a little bit.

I know it looks great on paper.  More money.   If I was a working teenager in Seattle – heck yeah!   Sign me up.  If I was the parent of the teenager – I would endorse the raise.  Hehe, you’re paying for your own gas and car insurance buddy.  If I was a single mom, yes, of course.  Money = food for the children.   It’s not a difficult equation.    Well, it’s not difficult from our side.

Consider all the small businesses suddenly having to pay their dishwashers $15 per hour.  Some moms and pops can’t afford that.  Well, what about the bigger places like Wal-Mart?  A while ago, Wal-Mart and some big companies voluntarily raised their wages and provided some employees (like my brother) with insurance that they didn’t have to do before.  Starbucks- huge in Seattle- pays about 44% of the college tuition for part-time and full-time employees.    Sure.  It’s a great idea to toss paying their employees an additional amount that wasn’t required before.   Awesome.
—  I don’t think some companies saw this coming.

Two opposing forces – what happens?  Something has to give.  The yin and the yang do not connect.

Logically, since business couldn’t afford their staff, people had to be cut.  Downsized.   We all know that term, right?   The people who where left had to do more… but at least they where paid more.  More opportunity to branch those part-time jobs into full-time…. yes no.   If the companies can’t afford – and I’m really thinking about the moms and pops – $15 per hour there is — no way — they could pay for the potential insurance that’s supposed to come with full-time work.

Okay, so part-time stays part-time, but gets a lot of OT.  Haha – that doesn’t work either.   Insert one of my sorry situations.  I worked part-time for a college.  Over the course of a year, I completed more hours than a full-time instructor.  (Since I was under contract, no OT for me!)  Because I did so, the law was still new, and the college stupid, they had to offer me insurance – which I accepted and started going to the doctor and dentist.

After those first couple of years, full-time part-time employees are a no-go.  Companies did not want to remotely pay part-time people full time wages and be penalized for not treating those people as full-time.  And that was the first time ever I was dumped by a college, but that’s another story.

Seattle’s situation – good intentions – looks great on paper – sure to get voter turn out…. is in the slow lane on the highway to hell.

To compensate for the higher wages, people are laid off.  New jobs are not created. …  getting back on topic.  Downsizing!  The people who are working there make more, but work more.  In essence, it’s pay cut, more stress, more and more aggravation.   For some jobs, like fast food, you need stable people for every shift.   When those people aren’t there, those who are left could be forced into working shifts that they don’t want.  After all, companies are not going to joyously rehire people at $15 who were once working for $10.

The people who are working at $15 have probably figured out that taxes take a bigger share and the checking account might have a drop, but not the drizzle they where hoping for and -in some cases – politically promised.

So, people are unhappy.  Companies are unhappy.  Consumers are probably unhappy.   The struggling mom-pop stores waiver and could close.   Big places like Wal-Mart start closing underperforming stores… which are usually in the poor neighborhoods… which means even more people are unemployed.

Oh yes.
Excellent work.

———  PLEASE never never ever ever offer two year college degrees to all eligible Americans.   You really wanna see the sh*t hit the fan?

The brain should not follow the heart.
The heart should follow the brain.