D.C. Council Approves ‘Living Wage’ Bill Over Wal-Mart Ultimatum
11th July 2013
D.C. lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill requiring some large retailers to pay their employees a 50 percent premium over the city’s minimum wage, a day after Wal-Mart warned that the law would jeopardize its plans in the city.
If it were truly a ‘living wage’, everyone would be required to pay it. It’s just a blatant attempt to pick the pocket of Walmart. All the politician hot air can’t disguise what everybody knows.
“The question here is a living wage; it’s not whether Wal-Mart comes or stays,” said council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), a lead backer of the legislation, who added that the city did not need to kowtow to threats. “We’re at a point where we don’t need retailers. Retailers need us.”
Even if that were true, it’s still stupid. A ‘living wage’ doesn’t mean a damned thing to somebody who doesn’t have a job, and can’t get a job because of all this politician posturing. These guys are doing it so that they can fell self-righteously virtuous, a distinguishing characteristic of ‘progressive’ assholes.