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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: 2) by Sir Garlon on Thursday June 05 2014, @01:15PM
If you're over 18 with no parents and making less than 11.5K a year, then you can apply for a hardship exemption [healthcare.gov], dumbass.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 1) by meisterister on Thursday June 05 2014, @11:53PM
Why does someone even need an exemption? Why can't we either move to price caps or a socialized system, like every other developed country?
Trying to solve the mess that we have with a massive kludge really isn't going to help much.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.