Too many jobs? There's a solution for that

Whenever you’re faced with an explanation of what’s going on in Washington, the choice between incompetency and conspiracy, always choose incompetence.

Charles Krauthammer.

The late Mr. Krauthammer was usually spot on, but I wonder about his use of “always” here; what he would have made of the now-revealed FBI/CIA/Obama conspiracy against a sitting president? And, for purposes of this post, is it just economic stupidity behind the national push to increase workers’ wages beyond the point of affordability? Three-month parental leave, three weeks of “any time, any reason” paid personal time off? Huge minimum wage hikes? The Democrats’ largest hurdle to unseating Trump this coming year and holding control in the future is the booming economy and record low unemployment. Anything that hurts that economy and boosts the numbers of the unemployed is a boon to the Democrats.

Regardless of the motives and intellectual capacity of Leftists, here’s a report from the front lines:

Seattle: “I’m a progressive, but the minimum wage law killed jobs, including mine”. She’s yet to figure out that there shouldn't be a “but” in that statement.

This city’s minimum wage is rising to $16.39 an hour on Jan. 1. Instead of receiving a bigger paycheck, I’m left without any pay at all due to the policy change. That’s because the restaurant where I’ve worked for six years is closing as a consequence of the city’s harmful minimum-wage experiment.

I work for Tom Douglas, one of the best-known restaurateurs in Seattle. Mr. Douglas is in many ways responsible for the city’s reputation as a foodie paradise, and he recently celebrated his 30th anniversary in business. He’s a great boss, and his employees tend to stay at the company for a long time.

But being an established chef and a good employer doesn’t save you from the burden of a sharp minimum-wage increase, up 73% from $9.47 in 2015. For large-scale employers like Mr. Douglas, there’s no separate rate for workers who earn tips. In Washington and a handful of other states, tips aren’t counted as income earned on the job. That means restaurateurs are expected to pay servers like me the full minimum wage in addition to our considerable tip income.

When rent is too high, labor costs too much, and customers don’t want to pay $40 for a roast-chicken entree, the only way for many operators to ease the pain is to close.

[…]

I’ve lived in this city for almost 20 years, supporting my family thanks to the full-service-restaurant industry. Today I’m struggling because of a policy meant to help me. I’m proudly progressive in my politics, but my experience shows that progressives should reconsider minimum-wage laws that hurt the very workers they’re trying to protect.