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Apr 9, 2014 at 4:00 am
I Believe Seattle's Restaurant Industry Would Suffer, to Say Nothing of What I Believe It Would Do to Job Prospects for Young People of Color
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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
This Tea Party crap claims that "The job creators deserve justice," and that "inequality is MORAL".
Boswell showed up to the 15 Now kick-off rally yelling things like "I am John Galt" for hours. Of course someone has to channel Ayn Rand in this debate. Sheesh.
Good Article!!
Look how the now15 angry mob descends on anyone who puts forth a personal experiance that doesnt fit their narrative. You know the one where Minorities and poor benefit from the jobs that no longer exist.
Now15..Jobs dont magically appear? Or do they..You need risk takers to go out and start business's(most fail) and then demand & supply meet and a Job is created. If your saying the job shouldnt be there unless it pays $15 then guess what your right some will not & then you have higher unemployment and race discrimination.
Just look at African Male Unemployment in Harlem after the MW was instated. It skyrocketed literally the year it came about..It promotes race discrimination.
Hey, aren't you the douchebag doing the sieg heil salute here? I'd tell you to stay classy, but you'd have to have class in the first place.
The man in that blogpost was simply mocking the people he was arguing against. Saying "yes, my furher" is typical of someone mocking someone else, i.e., calling him or her a "fascist", and most people with any semblance of intelligence could understand that. I guess that obviously doesn't define you.
Actually, most African-Americans do not stay in MW jobs but move on after having learned essential job skills that they couldn't learn in America's failing public school system that disproportionately fails African-American students. African-American economist Walter Williams talks about this at length in his classic "The State Against Blacks."
Here's a quick video of the man himself telling it like it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OIBOSJ…
The "real benefits" of a higher MW is racism, because historically MW has been used as a tool of state-sanctioned white supremacy. Source: http://nypost.com/2013/09/17/why-racists…
Finally, raising the MW has been proven to cause layoffs, as was the case in fast-food restaurants on military bases after Obama raised the MW federally. Source: http://www.militarytimes.com/article/201…
And when layoffs happen, who are the first people to lose their jobs? You guessed it: African-Americans and Latinos.
And 15Now itself has racist undertones: instead of patting a young African-American kid on the head and saying "you're only fit to flip burgers so let's give you more money to flip burgers," which is what 15Now is doing, we should be telling that kid that if they work hard and apply themselves they can own their own damn burger joint someday.
And of course everyone comes out and criticizes a person of African descent when they become successful. What a shame.
This industry is the only industry I know of with the exception of exotic dancing that you can make as much money as a lawyer without a college education - but rather from hard work and charisma. Unfortunately it will have to be in any other major city, because if this passes we will all have to move.
This is from Socialist Alternative, which is behind 15Now...nothing on the Sustainable wages website says anything about tea party, but the 15Now website has Socialist Alternative right there as a member. They are the American branch of the Committee for a Workers's International(CWI) From their own website: Leon "Trotsky was, next to Lenin, the main leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and one of the greatest theoreticians of the workers’ movement."
Source: http://www.socialistworld.net/view/19
Trosky was a mass murderer who massacred members of a democratic uprising in the Kronstadt rebellion and was just as ruthless as Stalin.
If you can find anything officially affiliated with Sustainable Wages that sings the praises of a mass murderer, you may have a point. Until then, consider yourself pwned.
What Sawant's Red Shirts don't realize is this: the more they talk, the more 90% of Seattle cringes and sees the opposition as being right. Look at the comments: no facts, no sources, just a shrill "black hitler ayn rand loving tea party poo-poo head die capitalist scum" dribble that makes anyone who has not swallowed the 15Now Kool-aid (i.e., most of Seattle) want to support whatever or whoever is against them.
Next time you see a Red Shirt, try to have a rational, fact based debate with them. They can't do it. I've tried. No matter how polite I am, no matter how I approach it saying things like "I understand your heart is in the right place and I admire your conviction, but here is another prospective" they just can't hold an intelligent, fact based conversation or debate.
Just look at the comments in the Stranger from both sides. Who makes more ad hominem attacks and uses less facts: the Red Shirts or those who disagree? Don't believe me, just look for yourself.
In the end, 15Now will fail NOT because of "global capitalism", but because the 15Now supporters are irrational, emotion driven people who simply don't understand what they're talking about. I do give them credit for having good intentions, but good intentions have a habit of paving a road to...well...you know.
1) What about the people who presently have "stepping stone" jobs that pay above minimum wage but below $15 an hour? I am thinking about the recent highschool grad working at Dick's for the college tuition assistance and benefits. This worker is clearly at the top of the fast-food worker heap. He is probably higher skilled and better at his job. In my experience of actually going to Dick's that is almost certainly the case because they consistently do a better job. Why SHOULDNT he make more than the surly lady at McDonalds?
I also worry that a company like Dick's, which provides total comp of way above $15 an hour in the first place, will just cut benefits to make up the wage difference, which really isn't doing anyone any favors.
2) EVERY SINGLE TIME I hear one of these $15NOW people open their mouths I want to punch them. It is starting to become pretty clear that *most* of them couldnt actually get a job at Dick's or anywhere else that pays more than minimum wage because they all have serious personality disorders that would go over like a lead balloon at any employer that values service or professionalism.
If you add these two issues together it becomes clear to me that the 15now folks are people who are working minimum wage jobs, looking at the people who make a whole $15 an hour and are saying "Hey thats unfair!". The reason for the wage disparity is not unfairness, it is because some people are just better at their jobs and *earn* the higher wage. Regulating an entire class of workers into a common wage regardless of skills or abilities is what is unfair.
HAHA love it, and it sounds so true.
I do agree that the MW should be raised, because it really isn't a livable wage anywhere near where you can earn it in Seattle, but the way they are going about it is wrong. Most small business couldn't afford to stay in business with that kind of drastic change that the $15NOW people want. The downside is, the 15NOW people are unified where the small business people just say "We can't support that kind of increase". Some people came up with total compromise, which will help them, but most people don't understand how it works and just say it will short change the employees. The amusing part is, that most of the people that this effects, are in favor of it, while the people that this really doesn't have anything to do with them are saying it's a bad idea.
And just curious, when did the living wage include a single parent raising 1 child? Why are we encouraging people to have kids when they can only hold a job paying MW?!?! We're encouraging a whole generation to be happy working for MW because you can support yourself and raise a child on it...
Get an education, get a decent paying job, then have a child, don't think "I can work at a MW job all my life and still do well!!!"
Rather than celebrate this man's journey from poverty to following a dream and becoming successful, you try to tear him down for not conforming. Not to mention that your policy ideas would have kept him down and removed the bottom rungs of the ladder that he has worked so hard to climb.
If you all want to help people by decreasing the cost of living, creating more jobs at all levels, and increasing wages, the first place we could start is by decreasing the salaries of the City Council. I may disagree with Sawant on issues, but at least she has the integrity not to rob the city blind with a $120,000 salary. Then we can look at other public "servants" and their salaries and benefits. Then we can cut employers' costs by cutting the taxes they have to pay to cover all of the waste and fraud, and exorbitant salaries and benefits of public officials and administrators. When we cut the employer's costs, they can lower prices and pay more.
All it takes is 1 job and 1 opportunity for the kids and they can build those skills.
15Now does not get this. It is about equal opportunity. 15Now makes the job market unequal and suffocates opportunity. Especially for those new immigrants, youth, and all the other people that need entry-level positions.
"If you all want to help people by decreasing the cost of living, creating more jobs at all levels, and increasing wages, the first place we could start is by decreasing the salaries of the City Council. I may disagree with Sawant on issues, but at least she has the integrity not to rob the city blind with a $120,000 salary. Then we can look at other public "servants" and their salaries and benefits. Then we can cut employers' costs by cutting the taxes they have to pay to cover all of the waste and fraud, and exorbitant salaries and benefits of public officials and administrators. When we cut the employer's costs, they can lower prices and pay more."
I agree with you completely, and want to add one clarification-
Sawant IS still accepting all of her $120k salary. If she were not, that money would still belong to the city. She accepts all of it and then allegedly puts most of it into causes like 15now... which seems more than a little self serving, no?
Anyway, whether she chooses to donate her money or to whom isn't the point. The point is that she does receive and accept the same salary as every other council member. We the taxpayers are not paying her any less than her full salary.
If those in Seattle were not aware of the debate hosted by 770 KTTH last night, they should take time and watch it on their website. Any sensible person on the fence about this issue would listen to Sawant's "answers" and realize this 15 NOW is being pushed by someone who has 0 clue about basic economics.
2. $15 is probably too high, but some kind of substantial minimum wage raise is definitely needed.
3. Focusing on "getting those in entry level jobs into better jobs" isn't that productive.
Ultimately the reason you and I cannot agree is that we have different priors. I cannot agree to disagree, but understanding that your priors are different than those of many of the other people in this argument. If you have different priors, arguing about the end result of those priors may make for entertaining political theatre, but won't accomplish anything else.
two possibilities:
A)he's a big time drunk about to "hit bottom"(the red wine had just been shoplifted from Safeway, in this scenario, and he found the flute at Value Village).
Next, it'll be Ripple out of a paper bag...after that vanilla extract shots(if he still has a liver by then).
B)Dude's a vampire and that's the blood of a Rockefeller.
Small business provides that opportunity that corporations do not. My employees have grown with me and for those who I see no growth, I encourage them to find something, even at a lesser wage that can lead them upward because I can only offer a dead-end. It isn't all about the money. It is about the opportunity.
A minimum wage job is an opportunity, a chance to prove yourself. Employers aren't stupid, if they see someone with potential they work with them as seen in this story.
Who are restaurant owners? They are typically previous minimum wage restaurant workers.
America is about freedom, and freedom to choose. Imposing a particular minimum wage on businesses flies in the face of that principle and substitutes coercion for free choice.
That may sound silly, but he reality is that this is what happens EVERY TIME a 16 year old kid gets hired to do a job. They have no skills, but they get hired because they are willing to work for less. This is how they gain the skills that they need to make more money later.
Establishing such a high minimum wage means that there is no longer an incentive to hire lesser skilled workers at all and even if I were willing to take a low wage in order to get my foot in the door or gain needed skills, that is an opportunity that is denied to me by this law.
That's not fair. If we go by the terms of the article, you only need half-black faces.
Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a nice restaurant that didn't have a few African Americans working there.
And I love how anyone who disagrees on methods for fighting poverty is an "asshole."
Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a nice restaurant that didn't have a few African Americans working there.
And I love how anyone who disagrees on methods for fighting poverty is an "asshole." Yep, that's Seattle tolerance right there.
I've been to A LOT of nice restaurants, and I've yet to see one without a few African Americans working there.
And I love how anyone who disagrees about the way to go about fighting poverty is an "asshole." Yep, that's Seattle "tolerance" for you.
As I said earlier, there has to be a better way. Decrease the cost of living - not only will all citizens benefit but so will the businesses (small and large).
As I said earlier, there has to be a better way. Decrease the cost of living - not only will all citizens benefit but so will the businesses (small and large).
I didn't get tips. I worked 6am-2pm at least once a week, all year round, including winter, opening freight, sticking price labels on products in a loading dock freezing my fingers. By the end, I would be covered in dust. The bus doesn't run that early so I walked. I climbed precariously stacked merchandise, load so much stuff into customers' cars that they visibly sink, balance conflicting instructions from the 6 managers we have.
If you weren't full time and business is slow, you're sent home. During the biggest snow storm of the year, I spent two hours getting there, worked 4 hours and then the management decides we should close the store after one customer skied in for a look. Two of my co-workers were on food stamps. Oh and if you're sick, you have to find a co-worker to take your shift. The managers will not do it unless you are seriously ill even though they have EVERYONE's availability.
Let me try to understand. In your utopia, we all just receive from the government rather than work?
Not only is that unsustainable, that's not the sort of life I would even WANT. But maybe I've misunderstood your meaning.