Posted on 07/21/2017 10:35:29 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Seattle leaders are displaying shocking bias by turning over a study on their minimum wage increase to Michael Reich, a left-leaning economics professor at the University of California Berkeley, after their initial sanctioned study with the University of Washington (UW) proved their decision to raise the wage was having adverse effects.
Seattles 2014 legislation called for a gradual increase of the citys minimum wage until it reaches $15 an hour. Following the vote, commissioners recruited a team of UW researchers to find the effects of the steady rising minimum wage. Not to the surprise of fiscal conservatives, the study found the last minimum wage increase ($10.50 to $13 an hour) resulted in a 6 percent drop of what employers are able to pay their employees an adverse effect on both employment rates and the hours workers are able to pick up.
Despite the study receiving bipartisanship acknowledgment, Seattle city leaders abruptly pulled the UW study and turned it over to a well-known raise the wage activist. Seattle City councilwoman Kshama Sawanat critiqued the methodology and abruptly cut funding. The moment we saw it was based on flawed methodology and was going to be unreliable, the Vigdor study no longer speaks for City Hall, said Sawant, who ran for her current councilwoman position as a socialist.
Councilwoman Sawants dislike of the studys methodology seems disingenuous and suspicions surrounding a bias on the part of Sawant and other city leaders deepen when looking at who city leaders sought out as a replacement for evaluating the effects of Seattles minimum wage.
Sawant and Mayor Murray contacted Professor Reich of UC Berkeley after retracting funding from the University of Washington team. Professor Reich is most well-known for being a founding member of the anti-capitalist group, the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE). URPE states on their website that their mission is to construct a progressive social policy, and a human-centered radical alternative to capitalism.
Professor Reichs clear personal opposition to capitalism coupled with his past studies revealing the benefits of raising the minimum wage leave one wondering if Seattle city leaders sought him out for his politics rather than his economic expertise.
Just goes to show that it’s not “Settled science” until the politburo approves of the results.
You mean something like global warming?
Por supuesto!
Not Settled Science, but Seattle Science.
The hysterical left is the enemy of poor people, but the simple dots never get connected.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act ~ George Orwell...
Bkmk
The French would say, 'Quelle suprise!'
Oh, brother. They didn’t like YooDub’s take so they went to Bezerkeley? That’s actually pretty funny in a bitter sort of way...
They voted for socialism, let them have it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.