When an economy is more inclusive, the democratic process seems to be more inclusive as well.
By Zach Silk, Civic Skunk
The Fight for $15 turns a decade old this year, which means we have a decade of receipts for fear-mongering from minimum wage opponents, as well as a decade of results to put their sky-is-falling claims to rest once and for all. Sometimes it’s valuable to go back and check the record in order to remember how far we’ve come, and how much the argument has changed. Consider my home city of Seattle. More than eight years ago, the Seattle Times editorial board warned Seattle’s incoming elected leaders that their plans to adopt a $15 minimum wage “could undercut the economy’s resurgence” from the Great Recession. Less than two months later, they harrumphed that the Fight for $15 was “good political theater, but bad public policy.”

Once it became clear that city leaders were about to adopt $15, the Seattle Times editorial board tried to bargain the price down, warning that Seattle’s minimum wage could “rise to, or even slightly above $10.74 — San Francisco’s top-in-the-nation rate — without harming the local economy. But the higher it goes beyond historic precedent, the higher the risk,” they warned.
Of course, Seattle did adopt a $15 minimum wage — San Francisco would do the same not very long after — and despite the cries of critics like the editorial board, the sky did not fall. More workers made more money, restaurants continued to open, and consumer spending rose.
Last week, a Seattle Times columnist named Gene Balk — known locally as “The FYI Guy” because of his data-driven approach to journalism — published a new column with some very interesting findings. Despite the fact that Seattle is home to multiple billionaires and tens of thousands of wealthy tech workers, our city’s income inequality is much smaller than other cities of equivalent size and wealth, like Boston, Atlanta, and Washington DC.
How can Seattle keep inequality so much lower than our peers? “One factor keeping Seattle’s income gap in check is the city’s famously high minimum wage,” Balk explained. “Seattle passed its wage law in 2014, which gradually increased the minimum wage citywide. It’s now as high as $17.27 per hour for some workers — the highest in the nation. The average income for the lowest 20% of households in Seattle ($18,800) is the third-highest among the 50 largest U.S. cities.”
Recent Posts
Mamdani’s Massive Victory Should Show Democrats Where The Party’s Future Lies
June 26, 2025
Take Action Now NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has thrown the drowning Democratic Party a life vest. Will its leaders use it?By Sam…
India Walton’s Advice For Zohran Mamdani
June 26, 2025
Take Action Now “I think that for him, the race ’til November needs to be staying on message—we can’t start to water it down…
AIPAC Has Too Much Influence On Congress, Says Rep. Ro Khanna
June 25, 2025
Take Action Now The antiwar California House Democrat answers tough questions from Mehdi and a live DC audience about Trump’s attack on Iran.By…
Zohran Mamdani’s Win Is the Beginning Of The End Of The Old Democratic Party
June 25, 2025
Take Action Now Mamdani’s NYC primary victory shows that the old tricks of the political establishment are dying out—and something new is being……