I oppose the $15 an hour minimum wage, not for the same reasons that a greedy CEO with the Fortune 500 would oppose it, but rather for humanitarian reasons.  Do we need a minimum wage?  Yes!  Of course!  You bet we do!  But this proposed wage-hike is like the dog chasing its tail because it will set off a round of inflation in which the value of the dollar will fail to keep pace.  INFLATION IS A MAJOR CAUSE OF POVERTY.
A $15 minimum wage is over twice the federal minimum of $7.25, and Washington already has the highest minimum wage of any state: $9.32 per hour. The $15 minimum wage has been proposed by Council member, Kshama Sawant, a socialist and relative new-comer to Seattle; and it is a very ill-conceived idea because it will lift one segment of society at the expense of so many others and will wreak havoc with our city.  This increase in the minimum wage will be matched with inflation that will devastate so many people who are economically down-ladder from minimum wage workers.
The socialist misconception is that everyone is either a capitalist or a laborer: a well-to-do employer or an employee receiving paychecks on a regular basis.  It would not surprise me to learn that half the people in this country don’t fit into this employer/employee relationship.  This may include struggling artists, writers, craftspeople, historians, musicians looking for a gig, artisans of all kinds, and caregivers tending to elderly or disabled family members.  It includes self-employed people trying to eke out an honest living.  It also includes out-of-work laborers seeking employment; and this hike in the minimum wage would throw a lot more people into that category.

The $15 minimum wage will be very bad for retired people on fixed incomes, especially the elderly living on just social security.  Social security comes from the federal government, so this hike in the municipal minimum wage would not be matched with an increase in social security benefits.  Many retired Seattleites worked when the minimum wage and cost of living were much lower, and may be forced from their homes due to the inflation this wage hike will cause.
A minimum wage worker in Seattle can currently earn nearly $19,400 per year.  A lot of skilled workers from the above-mentioned categories don’t make this much because they don’t have an employer and are considered self-employed.  At $15 per hour, a minimum wage worker would make over $31,000 per year.  This would be so unfair to elderly people living on a few thousand dollars per year social security.  This hike in the minimum wage could create an insurmountable economic gap between generations.
Small businesses will suffer and even fail with this 60% wage hike.  When small businesses fail, it transfers more power to the big corporations that can withstand this wage increase.  Not all employers are wealthy capitalists.  Some even have to settle for less income than what they pay their employees just to stay in business.  Socialism does not take this into account.  Karl Marx (I took a history class on Marx) may have had some good ideas for his time (1818-1883) but his world was so different from today’s world of global corporations, and not all his ideas would work well in today’s market place in which small businesses have to compete with global monstrosities.
Even the segment of society that would benefit by this wage hike would not benefit for long, owing to subsequent inflation.  This increase would not only be the dog chasing its tail but possibly catching it and biting it off.  And this proposed wage hike with its corresponding inflation will reach deep into the pockets of even the middle class.
Also, becoming the Maximum Minimum Wage capital of the nation will bring droves of unskilled laborers here, competing against Seattleites for jobs and housing.  This will further fuel inflation and cause more unemployment, poverty and homelessness.  Just as millions of illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. seeking higher wages, so, too, will people migrate to Seattle seeking higher wages.  Please don’t misinterpret this as a racist statement.  I’m just trying to argue that people go where they think the money is: think “gold rush.”
In recent decades, Washington State has had to cope with more than its share of population growth, so much so that we have gone from seven Congressional districts to ten in just thirty years.  In the 80’s, Californians came here in droves and drove up the cost of real estate, which doubled and redoubled in short time and have caused traffic problems to which we were not previously accustomed here.  We don’t need more population growth.  We need to revive the spirit of Emmett Watson’s “Lesser Seattle.”  I, for one, would gladly give back these three congressional districts to the states from whence they came if they would also take back their people.
Since raising the minimum wage is not the solution to the disparity between economic classes, then what is?  The answer: We must stop inflation and stop population growth and this means we must reject the $15 minimum wage..
Since Washington already has the highest minimum wage in the country, why has Sawant, herself a recent transplant, chosen to pick on our city?  She does not know or care about the history of Seattle, as do those of us who have been here for many decades.  And I personally resent someone coming here with the arrogance to try to take over our city.  If you choose to move here and don’t like the city the way it is, then just keep moving.  There’s something to be said for electing native son/native daughter.  This said, I expect that the minimum wage will increase to $15 because voters tend to be two-dimensional: they tend not to look beneath the slick surface to the consequences of their votes.
About me: I began working straight out of childhood and have often worked seven days a week.  This has included highly schooled and skilled work in the fine arts, menial labor work, teaching, sales work, and more.  I am currently a caregiver for a disabled family member (unpaid, of course).  I have never had an annual income of even $19,400 (current minimum wage) let alone over $31,000 (proposed minimum wage).  Where do young, inexperienced people get off thinking that they are entitled to have so much more than those of us reaching the other end of our lives?  It is the over-consumption and wastefulness of younger generations that have caused so much inflation (aggravated, of course, by population-growth.)  Again, the $15 minimum wage may create a gap between younger generations making $31,000 per year and older generations living on a few thousand a year in social security.  Sawant will hurt a lot of people here.

Summer’s Eve