A Grateful State of Oregon Thanks You!

Washington Candidate Wants $15/Hr. Minimum Wage

Those in Oregon who are tired of hearing about how much better Washington’s business climate is have reason to watch the November election results in Seattle.

Several of the candidates are at least talking about the possibility of raising the minimum wage in the city, even though Washington already has the highest rate in the nation. And at least one City Council candidate — Socialist Kshama Sawant, who finished second in the May primary to qualify for the November ballot — is campaigning hard for a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

–       The Oregonian Editorial Board, August 25, 2013

Lane Solutions Responds

We say “Go for it! Why not $30/hr? Do we hear $40?”

We applaud our neighbors to the north’s attaempt to give Oregon a more competitive business environment! And if you’re joining us, keep it a secret that labor is, like anything else anyone buys, a commodity subject to a basic economic principle: lower the price – demand increases. Raise it – demand goes down.

Keep it between us that when the minimum wage goes up a McDonalds that could only afford the cheapest, least experienced labor (teenagers) can now afford to fire them and hire experienced workers.

If you keep these secrets, our buddies up north will keep their big, dark secret about why they really like minimum wage hikes. No, it’s not love of the “Little Guy.” It’s because a lot of union wage contracts are hitched to minimum wages. Raise them and union workers get automatic salary bumps.

Here’s what Socialist Sawant will never, ever tell you: When Washington, D.C. passed a  minimum wage law in 1938, hotels immediately fired dozens of (probably black) maids and other low skilled laborers.

Now that we think about the consequences for the real “Little Guys,” your humble editors will be governed by their better angels, face north and scream “Stop! Do you really know what you’re doing?”

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