The Far Left May Be Going Too Far

Last week's City Council (Chicago) vote to increase the minimum to $10/hr plus $3 in benefits is making some waves across the nation. The liberals I know are cheering, however I really believe they are forgetting the ramifications that this type of change will have on the poor in the inner-city. Article from today's WSJ:

Last week the City Council voted 35-14 to impose a hyper-minimum wage on "big-box" retail stores with more than $1 billion of sales. The new law will require the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot to pay every worker -- regardless of experience, education or skill -- a minimum wage of $13 an hour by 2010 ($10 in salary and $3 in health benefits). At least another dozen cities, including Washington, D.C., are considering copy-cat laws.

This means major U.S. cities are preparing to require minimum wages more than double the national minimum of $5.15 an hour. Incredible. The very places with the highest unemployment and lowest skilled workers are enacting laws designed to destroy their pool of entry level jobs. Not so long ago, desperate cities were trying to lure businesses by declaring themselves low-tax and low-regulation enterprise zones. Now with these wage and benefit mandates, the cities are declaring themselves anti-enterprise zones.
But losing these jobs and businesses appears to be the very intention of bill supporters. Left-wing activist groups such as Acorn are crowing that this hyper-minimum wage is so prohibitive it could keep out such corporate villains as Wal-Mart. Be gone you lousy $6-, $8- and $10-an-hour jobs!

What we have here is what liberals used to call the "red-lining" of poor neighborhoods, though this time by the left itself. Liberal advocates have long complained that banks, grocery stores and retailers charge higher prices or refuse to do business in inner cities. But now the very superstores that offer lower prices are being treated as unwelcome.

This seems to be another attempt to push an agenda that sounds great, but has a horrible impact on many. I know too many people that like to dream up wild ideas and argue and argue and argue that they are right without getting dirty and actually thinking about all of the potential outcomes. There are so many other things that could be done to help the poor in our major cities. I would post more, but have little time. Wild stuff...