I’ve been watching the wage/cost of living doom loop in Seattle since minimum wage kicked into high gear in the mid-2010s. The cost of labor has driven up the cost of things and services, this long before COVID accelerated it all. Ratcheting up min wage to $30/hour will only present more of the same.

The problems that need to be solved are 1) income inequality - highly compensated workers who also get regular infusions of company stock money can weather the inflation storm just fine, and push up housing prices and rents, among other costs. And 2) Shortage of housing and especially AFFORDABLE housing exacerbates the housing problem.

An income tax and an infusion of housing would go a long ways to release some steam here on Seattle economic pressure cooker. I have doubts that throwing more money on the fire to drive up the costs of everything will get it done. But I understand the intent.

"Kshama Sawant famously led "the Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage."

I believe Sawant is more accurately characterized as an opportunistic follower. Stating she "led" on this issue is minimizing the contributions of others who really made this happen.

@1 Why would an income tax change anything? The state is literally rolling in money right now why do they need more?

@3, to redistribute the buying power. It may have the added benefit of discouraging high income workers from living in Seattle (the driver of housing prices). Seattle is a victim of its own economic success, and the treadmill of increasing minimum wage isn’t working. Open to other approaches, but NO TO NEW IDEAS isn’t a legitimate policy.

Sigh, recent high inflation was caused by an exogenous shock, Covid, which caused massive supply disruption. The issue resolved itself as supply stabilized, and is now reversing in some areas. See the rapid drop in the automobile markets for example. Both the Fed and Mudede are/were wrong.

2024 will see further price stabilization. Some drops.

"And for two reasons made clear by the Fed's 2023 fight against post-pandemic inflation.

One. The interest rate hikes of the 1980s had the appearance (or what in German philosophy is described as schein . . . ."

Charles, pro tip: when using signals like "one" to orient readers, it's generally a good practice to keep it up for your subsequent points. A "two" would have been a great way to signal when you were articulating the second reason. As currently drafted, it's difficult to tell where your discussion of the second reason begins, because you follow the "one" signal with subsequent paragraphs articulating three distinct (albeit confusing and poorly worded) ideas.

I know you like to blame readers for not understanding you, but even you have to admit your approach here created an unnecessary challenge for readers.

This is invisible to most readers but regulation and policies unchecked by logic and promoted by special interests is killing our housing market. I yearn for the 90's.

@4 I've discussed this is another thread. Using an income tax (or any tax) as some sort of wealth redistribution plan is one of the most inefficient things you can do. You will never fully capture the wealth and what is captured will mostly be eaten up by the bureaucracy. Higher taxes would be useful for reducing demand by shifting workers elsewhere but that would go against the progressive/urbanist vision where we all need to be packed in like sardines to fight climate change. Honestly one of the silver linings of Covid is it dispelled the myth that workers had to be centralized in some urban hub to be productive. If we really wanted to solve the housing issue we would encourage companies to spread their workforce out (reduce demand) while building more housing (increase supply). I just don't think that will happen because the city wants all that tax revenue and the urbanists who control planning want to turn Seattle into Hong Kong.

Actually, it should be around $42 an hour, based on what I made in 1978 at a starting salary.

Mind you, that was when unions were around.

@2: Not only was Sawant a follower, she took a Faustian bargain to grab credit for the minimum wage increase. She sold then-Mayor Ed Murray’s concessions to the bosses to ‘her’ working-class constituency. SeaTac’s voter-approved minimum wage, like Washington state’s voter-approved minimum wage, allowed for no tip credit, and was not phased-in over time. Sawant’s version in Seattle contained both of those needless sell-outs to the bosses.

Charles’ mythical version of Sawant can’t co-exist with her shameful sell-outs, so Charles simply shoves them, along with SeaTac’s voters and their minimum wage, straight into his Memory Hole.

What #2 said (and #11)
Sawant was late to the $15 per hour party. Yes, she did support it, but late in the game.
Kinda like all the UW fans who have only appeared this last week.

Chuckles,
Your POV needs an update. You are starting to sound like an alcoholic bolshevik.
I bet you have a smoking jacket. Be careful, the revolution does not permit such a luxury.
And yet, you remain an amusement. Party on…

@10 now do commercial RE rent