SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The NYT reports that in a unanimous vote, the Seattle City Council went where no big-city lawmakers have gone before, raising the local minimum wage to $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum, and pushing Seattle to the forefront of urban efforts to address income inequality. "Even before the Great Recession a lot of us have started to have doubt and concern about the basic economic promise that underpins economic life in the United States," says Council Member Sally J. Clark. "Today Seattle answers that challenge." High-tech, fast-growing Seattle, population 634,535, is home to Amazon.com, Zillow, and Starbucks. It also has more than 100,000 workers whose incomes are insufficient to support their families, according to city figures and around 14% of Seattle's population lives below the poverty level. Some business owners have questioned the proposal saying that the city's booming economy is creating an illusion of permanence. "We're living in this bubble of Amazon, but that's not going to go on," says businessman Tom Douglas. "There's going to be some terrific price inflation."
(Score: 5, Informative) by hoochiecoochieman on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:52AM
That will be good, then they'll be pressured to invest it, instead of sleeping on it, which is what they're doing now.
Modern society is tailored to favour the unproductive ultra-rich at the expense of everyone else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:39PM
they'll be pressured to invest it
One hopes, but a lot of that is offshore in tax havens because the tax savings are greater than what legit investment would bring.
Only when countries stop bidding down their tax rates will this stop.
The race to the bottom works for some nations. 8-(
Now, if you, Mr. Working Stiff, are investing, keep your money as *local* as possible.
Get the Multiplier Effect working for *your* community if at all possible.
...and when you make PURCHASES, try to buy as locally as possible.
If the item itself isn't produced locally, try to get the one that uses raw materials|partial assembly|whatever that are supplied by your municipality|county|state|region|country.
OTOH, if you go to WallyWorld to buy your stuff, most of your cash leaves your locality and goes to the fat cats in Bentonville.
The local multiplier effect is minimal.
The Multiplier Effect is what everybody in this thread so far has missed.
These workers are NOT going to sit on their pay increase; they are going to SPEND it.
In turn, the people who get the money from that purchase are going to SPEND it. etc. etc.
If done right (see above), this can snowball nicely in your locale.
-- gewg_