minimum wage in seattle

Some thoughts about this, with appreciation for the fact that insisting on more is what has made a victory like this possible.

1) It is a victory - an extraordinary one, and extraordinary if only definitionally: it has not happened anywhere else. There's an article in Slate - which you should read cautiously, because it is written in apparent obliviousness to its bias - that suggests this is the highest minimum wage in the world. In any case, it's certainly the highest in the united states. That's worth claiming as a victory, even if its not complete. 

It presents an opportunity to demonstrate that higher wages need not come at the expense of economic well-being. It might fail on that accout, btw, primarily because of  the local nature of the statute - jobs may flee to Redmond or Everett or Tacoma (in a way they can't when tied to an airport, or when the minimum wage is national or statewide or even regional. It presents on opportunity to show, if you will, that a tide rising from the bottom lifts even more boats. 

3) $15 is kinda huge, even 7 years from now. Well, it seems likely to be huge. Inflation being as low as it is, and with no strong reason to expect a near-term change, there's reason to believe this will not meaningfully increase workers' take-home pay substantially now and in the future. 

4) The loopholes are giant, but it's worth keeping  in mind that the availability of a certain number of higher-paying entry-level or unskilled jobs is likely to push wages higher across the board. At least it seems to me. Workers are going to gravitate to higher-paying employees; in order to attract the same talent, employers not covered by the law are going to have to respond at least to a degree. And this holds true across the board, and has an effect even on skilled laborers and office workers already making more than the minimum. 

5) It shows the path to higher wages to other places contemplating it. It changes the conversation about what's possible, politically and economically, in places like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. 

6) When a former version of me was watching football, I watched a lot of Ohio State. Their coach used to say the most important play in football is the punt. Which I take to mean, you need to be able recognize that you have gained the ground you can gain at that particular moment, consolidate it, and regroup for another go at them when the opportunity is better. I think everything that shifts the status quo in our direction is a victory, and we should take it, and then keep going. I offer this not to convince you but just to say where it is I tend to come from. 

I think those on the right tend to be much better at doing this than those of us on the left (whatever those terms mean). 

7) I work for a giant bank. That undoubtedly skews my vision.