The Unintended Consequences Of Getting What You Wanted

Well, well, well - what have we here?  It seems that people are just a tad dissatisfied with a raise in their "minimum" wage.

For those who don't know, a small town of roughly 27,000 people, located in Washington state, raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour starting on the 1st of January this year. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Who wouldn't want to make that much per hour as they're just starting their working life, or a new job? Well, people should be careful what they wish for sometimes, as often they get far more than they bargained, and that's not always a good thing.

A number of people are now complaining about being the recipients of such a large raise. Why would anyone complain about making $15/hr., you ask? In a terrible (not really) turn of events, the beneficiaries of the raise are now, by virtue of making more money, being asked to pay for things that they used to get for free. They've also lost out on discounts due to their higher pay. Absolutely horrifying, isn't it?

Some workers are losing out on overtime, some have lost benefits like their 401K, one has even complained that she's now expected to pay for her own parking now.  *GASP*

This is a classic case of unintended consequences, and it proves what conservatives posit when taxes on corporations are raised, or businesses are mandated to pay higher wages - the business then goes on to tighten its "belt" to keep the profit margin it needs to make providing whatever services and/or goods it sells actually worth providing.

It's a simple concept, really - if a business lays out more money via wages, taxes, or other increases, such as a price hike from a supplier, it necessarily passes those increases on to the consumer.  In the case of Sea-Tac businesses, it seems a good portion of that ridiculous minimum wage increase is getting put on the backs of the workers who were supposed to benefit from it.

Funny how that works, isn't it?  Be careful what you ask for; you might just get it, and maybe some things you didn't ask for as well. ~ Hunter