A7
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, July 13, 2019
PRO-CON
Raise the federal minimum wage?
Pro: Maybe company
wasn’t doing it right
S
EATTLE — A Seattle restaurant
partly because I found this approach so
chain that just declared bankruptcy
heavy-handed. When City Light raises
is blaming it in part on our city’s
power rates, restaurants don’t add an
experiment in higher minimum wages,
“electrical rate surcharge” to your bill.
which I see has whipped conservatives
So why for this, except to make a state-
ment? Just roll it into the food prices and
into a full “told you so” lather.
be done with it.
“Over the past three years, the com-
pany’s profitability has been signifi-
The charges were so unpopular in
cantly impacted by progressive wage
Portland that this same restaurant chain
laws along the Pacific coast,”
rolled them back down there.
said a court filing for Restaurants
Local restaurateur John Howie
Unlimited, which runs 35 dinner
did the same last year, after he
spots, including seven in Seat-
had levied a wage surcharge at
tle such as Henry’s Tavern and
John Howie Steak. One day he
Stanford’s.
was playing golf and saw a $3
Wait a minute, says I, paging
“water fee” appended to his bill.
through old photos on my phone.
You have to pay extra to water
DANNY
That rings a bell.
the grass?
WESTNEAT
I had occasion to eat once at
“Oh, it’s kind of like what
the Stanford’s outside North-
you’re doing” with the wage sur-
charge, his wife told
gate Mall. It’s
him.
described as a
I’d SAy SEATTlE’S
He canceled the
“polished casual
surcharges
gastropub.”
EXPERIENCE SO FAR menu prices, and he raised
later
According to my
SHOWS IT’S A NET
wrote on his blog,
bill, which I took
because he was con-
a photo of because
POSITIVE, THOuGH vinced
the fees “felt
it irked me at the
time, I went all in
NOT uNIFORMly SO. like an unpleasant way
to end an otherwise
and had the sirloin
CONGESS SHOuld
lovely evening.”
steak.
The point is: Go
Dinner was
GO FOR AT lEAST
ahead and charge Seat-
fine — until
tleites for our expen-
that bill arrived.
THE $12 lEVEl.
sive progressive poli-
Because tacked
cies. We get it: Higher
onto it was some-
thing called a “4.9% LWgSC.” Fine
wages mean higher costs. So roll it into
print at the bottom explained: A “living
the menu prices, but don’t make some
wage surcharge has been added to off-
big politically aggrieved show about it.
set the cost of Seattle’s minimum wage
All of this is happening in a super-
heated political atmosphere, as Congress
... This is not for services provided and
is talking about a vote to raise the fed-
is not paid directly to the service staff of
eral minimum wage to $15.
our guests.”
On Monday, the Congressional Bud-
My reaction then was: Well who is it
get Office put out a new study summa-
being paid to?
rizing the research on the effects of $15,
My reaction now is: This is a com-
pany that’s making a big political state-
$12 and $10 minimum wages. It said
ment that it can’t afford to pay the
what Seattle already knows — that there
increased wages of its workers. But
are pros (higher wages, more stability
that sneaky fee it charged me at the end
at the bottom of the economic ladder)
of the meal was supposedly to pay the
and cons (higher prices, as well as some
increased wages of its workers!
loss of jobs and working hours in certain
So one wonders now, where did my
industries.)
LWgSC actually go.
I’d say Seattle’s experience so far
Many of the Restaurants Unlimited
shows it’s a net positive, though not uni-
formly so. Congress should go for at
joints around town levied a similar liv-
ing-wage charge. The company’s bank-
least the $12 level.
ruptcy filing makes no mention of it,
As for our restaurant bankruptcy, one
though, only blaming progressive wage
thing is certain: There now will be bales
hikes at length for increasing “aggre-
of political hay made from it in the days
gate wage costs” by more than $10 mil-
ahead (Fox News will be on it for sure,
lion (out of the company’s $176 million
and maybe we’ll even rate a Trump
in revenue).
tweet). So consider one other data point:
“The wage hikes ... have significantly
As Restaurants Unlimited was going
increased our labor costs and have had
bankrupt, 111 new restaurants opened in
a serious impact on the economics of
Seattle and surrounding areas just since
the business,” the company said in a
May.
statement.
Maybe the minimum wage drove
OK, but ... how much money did
them under. Or maybe they weren’t
the living-wage charges bring in? They
doing it right.
don’t say.
danny Westneat writes for the
Seattle Times.
I haven’t been back to Stanford’s,
Con: Minimal help
through minimum wages
I
f you’re thinking of raising the
their operations, a deprivation not just
federal minimum wage to $15 an
to them, but to other employees and the
hour, you need maximum compas-
community. Another issue is that a fed-
eral minimum wage of $15 might seem
sion, and liberals don’t have it. Prom-
appropriate for the economy of one
ises of more money for lots of peo-
ple can make voters ridiculously happy
state or area while it would be malware
if they don’t understand that more for
for another.
some always means less for others. So
But never mind. Right now, as
the liberals get elected, do their thing
you might have noticed, we’ve got a
and ruin lives of the poorest and
bunch of Democrats running in
most disadvantaged of our fel-
a primary that they hope will
low citizens.
advance their cause of White
Here’s a big issue just under-
House residence. On this issue,
lined in a report by the bipar-
they could opt for a lower min-
imum wage to help reduce the
tisan Congressional Budget
negatives, but at least 19 of the
Office. It says increasing the
candidates like $15. An argu-
current $7.25 minimum wage by
JAY
ment is that the current min-
that much could fatten the wal-
AMBROSE
imum wage has been squat-
lets of 17 million workers. That
ting in a corner for years while
sounds great except that, maybe
wages in general
for 1.3 million oth-
ers, it could bring
have been stag-
TO HElP FIX
nant. Some would
their pay checks to
you know it’s
zero. They could
EVERyTHING GONE have
all because of the
lose their jobs,
CRAZIly AMISS,
greedy rich exploit-
knock on doors and
ing workers with
probe the internet
THERE WOuld BE
Republican aid.
for maybe weeks
Nope. A Repub-
and months and
THEIR MINIMuM
lican named Presi-
then possibly retire
WAGE HIKES ANd,
dent Donald Trump
to watching TV and
has raised wages,
sighing a lot.
SOON ENOuGH,
with unemploy-
Such calcula-
tions are, of course,
THE PuBlIC WOuld ment rates reach-
ing historic lows
just educated
REAlIZE THEy ARE
even as cheers of
guesses that other
halleluiah fail to
guesses of higher or
ON THE TITANIC
reach Democratic
less erudition may
ears. Trump’s tool
dispute. The Heri-
EVEN AS AN
tage Foundation, for
was not govern-
OPPORTuNISTIC
mental impositions
instance, says that a
making businesses
wage boost to $15
CAPTAIN KEEPS
seek a place to
would affect a third
SAyING dON’T
hide, but deregula-
of those earning
tion and tax reform.
wages and salaries
WORRy.
The economic sys-
and could put a dev-
tem was free at last,
astating 7 million
or headed that way, and corporations
of them on the streets. The chief bene-
ficiaries would be suburban teens and,
expanded and created jobs.
some economists say, entrepreneurs
Oh no, it didn’t happen, say the
would be made more timid.
Democrats who lately have been giv-
ing socialism a hug and want to raise
The point is that businesses would
taxes on all those corporations, thereby
have to come up with the extra money
undoing what Trump accomplished.
one way or the other, an obvious means
Their other plan is to spend like crazy.
being to lay people off, usually the less
And look, one of Trump’s major weak-
skilled sometimes replaceable by tech-
nesses has been ignoring the debt, but
nology. The fired then don’t get the
these people could rush us to a crisis in
experience leading to better jobs in the
a minute. To help fix everything gone
future and won’t wish liberals a place
crazily amiss, there would be their min-
in heaven.
imum wage hikes and, soon enough,
Businesses may also raise prices,
the public would realize they are on the
thereby reducing purchasing power
Titanic even as an opportunistic captain
for people who often can’t afford the
keeps saying don’t worry.
squeeze. The owners could also sub-
stitute part-time jobs for full-time jobs
Jay Ambrose is an op-ed columnist
or, if nothing worked well, close down
for Tribune News Service.