JMHO Loc: Utah

Seattle is about to embark on a civic experiment that most experts predict will be an economic disaster; a $15 an hour minimum wage is set to go into effect on April 1st. And some restaurants in the city have already shuttered their doors and are either going out of business or moving to friendlier climes.

This was entirely predictable - and was predicted when the measure passed the Seattle city council. Restaurants are particularly sensitive to this sort of increase in wages since most of their employees are paid at the minimum, and such a large percentage of their operating costs go to labor.

“Washington Restaurant Association’s Anthony Anton puts it this way: “It’s not a political problem; it’s a math problem.”

“He estimates that a common budget breakdown among sustaining Seattle restaurants so far has been the following: 36 percent of funds are devoted to labor, 30 percent to food costs and 30 percent go to everything else (all other operational costs). The remaining 4 percent has been the profit margin, and as a result, in a $700,000 restaurant, he estimates that the average restauranteur in Seattle has been making $28,000 a year.

“With the minimum wage spike, however, he says that if restaurant owners made no changes, the labor cost in quick service restaurants would rise to 42 percent and in full service restaurants to 47 percent.”

Restaurant owners, expecting to operate on thinner margins, have tried to adapt in several ways including “higher menu prices, cheaper, lower-quality ingredients, reduced opening times, and cutting work hours and firing workers,” according to The Seattle Times and Seattle Eater magazine. As the Washington Policy Center points out, when these strategies are not enough, businesses close, “workers lose their jobs and the neighborhood loses a prized amenity.”

A spokesman for the Washington Restaurant Association told the Washington Policy Center, “Every [restaurant] operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like… Seattle is the first city in this thing and everyone’s watching, asking how is this going to change?” The Washington Policy Center,

Oakland is seeing similar problems as it has raised its minimum wage from $9 to $12.25:

For 27 years, Sandy Vuong has supplied towering cakes and fluffy Vietnamese pastries to residents of Oakland Chinatown. Now she might shut her doors.

Vuong’s Delicieuse Princesse Bakery isn’t the only business that’s foundering after a new law raised the hourly minimum wage in Oakland from $9 to $12.25 — pushing the bakery’s payroll costs up by 36 percent overnight. According to Carl Chan, a board member of Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, four restaurants and six grocery stores in and around Chinatown have already shuttered since January, at least partly for fear that the wage increase was going to put them over budget.

Among them is Legendary Palace, one of two banquet restaurants in the neighborhood.

“If it doesn’t reopen, then a lot of business in Chinatown is gonna go back to San Francisco, or down the 680 corridor to Milpitas and Fremont,” said George Ong, an attorney representing Legendary Palace’s landlord. Legendary Palace closed for a variety of reasons, not solely the wage hike, said Ong. Another reason had to do with internal disputes among the old owners. Now, Ong worries that higher labor costs might inhibit a new owner from coming in.

“There’s no question it’s gonna have an effect,” Ong said. “The question is how much.”

There is a method to this madness. Labor unions and far left activists don't care how many restaurants are forced to close, or how many workers lose their jobs. As long as there are some workers who make the "living wage" and some businesses willing to raise prices and try to make a go of it, they think their point is proved and the drive for a $15 minimum wage will sweep the country.

Urban centers are in danger of becoming vast wastelands. Many smaller businesses will not be able to jack their prices up high enough to pay the new wage. So the rich get richer and the poor simply disappear.

Meanwhile, the people least able to afford it are losing their jobs. I guess that's the price we pay to enact "progressive" policies.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/03/seattle_restaurants_going_dark_as_15_an_hour_minimum_wage_goes_into_effect.html#ixzz3USSJZTR4

Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

Why do you hate poor people?

JMHO Loc: Utah

Why do you hate America?

Anigav6969

No one knows what's going to happen...even experts disagree....it is very possible the $15 is too much for the market to absorb....we'll see

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/catherine-rampell-seattles-bold-minimum-wage-experiment/2014/06/05/a48dd19e-ecdb-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

JMHO Loc: Utah

Yep, We'll see...wanna make a wager on the results? If the consumer has a lot of discretionary income, higher prices may absorb some of the extra costs, but now that Washington is a marijuana legal state, a lot of their discretionary income goes for pot. You ever live in Seattle? If you haven't, you haven't a clue what the area is like, pal.

Ckevix7

"No one knows what's going to happen...even experts disagree....it is very possible the $15 is too much for the market to absorb....we'll see."

See that most who'll elect to close will re-open in a better business climate.

No different than the thugs at Ferguson, MO who said there'd be "hell to pay" if the stores (that they burned down) didn't re-open soon.

Anigav6969

Why do you constantly talk like a complete as#hole..?...first, I've been to Seattle many times..PAL .....and I wasn't even disagreeing with you....I said...many economists disagree on the probable impact....which is true...we won't know the full impact for years....it's a good place for the experiment...it's in a boom....but $15 just may be too much...so we will see.....but you being the cranky old fart that you are can't even read what's in front of you, so you go looking for an argument when theres not even one there....what a di#k

JMHO Loc: Utah

Oooooohhhhh, did I get someone's panties in a wad? Better go take your meds.

Anigav6969

No meds here PAL....I'm way too young.....im just amazed how this site is smothered in old cranky farts.....I try to stay on the subject, but it's impossible....you, as well as most here are just miserable people....thankfully, and a good thing for us, is that most here are dying off quickly, so the country can move on

JMHO Loc: Utah

Well, maybe when you get a little older and gain more knowledge and experience you will be able to give more intelligent responses, instead of getting one's panties in a wad and blurt out a bunch of juvenile blather. Hang in there and keep learning, you may get there yet...you still have a lot to learn. Oh, and don't worry, I'll be around, as well as many like me, for many more years yet. And, we'll be heavily involved in the 2016 election and getting a conservative elected president and get this country back on track.

BTW, when you supposedly visited Seattle, did you try some of that legal pot? Just curious.

Ckevix7

Sorry dude.

Polls are showing the millenials are trending pro-gun and pro-life, with little respect for any "collective" (ie labor unions).

It seems they have a little respect for what they've earned.

Bad Bob Loc: Virginia

Wacko Birds hate America.

:thumbdown:

Anigav6969

Now you're being dishonest.....I answered your post straight and on point...No attitude...just my take......you, then answered with total attitude and looking for a personal argument.....all I did was point that out.......it doesn't have to go that way.....if you stay on point, so will I .....if you insult...so will i

I don't think a republican will win the White House...For a number of reasons, one being demographics...I just don't see it, but of course anything can happen....possibly Scott Walker....If it was a republican, I would rather see Rand Paul.

I'm not that into weed....Ive smoked many times...in Vancouver cafes and such...no big deal...people I know that " wake and bake" have no incentive...not good

Oh....and I'm not that young.....I did not mean to give that impression....everything is relative I guess

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

ATTENTION EVERYONE!! Bad Bob admits he hates America. He IS one of the whackiest birds out there, so he would have to be part of the hate America slime.

Anigav6969

I can see that.....personally, I'm not against people owning guns...legally...I would like to see ( as most would) better control on who can purchase a gun...background check, mental health , etc

As for pro-life, I'm not sure what you're getting at.....are you claiming that abortion will be illegal in the future....never happen....we're not going backwards.

As for Unions...you seem to be correct.....I think it's unfortunate....unions did have a very important role in this country...they gave us weekends off ! But every year, there are less and less Union workers...not much we can do about that