Washington's minimum wage—indexed to inflation by a voter approved initiative—will rise to a highest in the nation $9.19 an hour at midnight tonight. The federal minimum wage is just $7.25. That's about $19,000 a year for Washington minimum wagers working a full time job, compared to only $15,000 for those full-timers earning the federal minimum wage.

Republicans argue that the minimum wage is a job killer, yet Washington's unemployment rate is a middling 7.8 percent. Go figure.