I really think Obama should come up with a 21st century version of John Adams' Alien & Sedition Act and use it to shut down spewers of corrosive misinformation.
Like FOX News.
Back when Seattle passed its $15 minimum wage hike, FOX News came up with a totally bogus story which quickly spread to all the conservative nonsense purveyors of the talk radio sort, such as Rush Limbaugh.
FOX News claimed that four Seattle restaurants had closed due to the new minimum wage.
There were two problems with this piece of FOX propaganda. Number one was the fact that when contacted by legitimate journalists all four restaurant owners said their restaurant closures had nothing to do with the new minimum wage, and, in fact, they supported the $15 minimum wage.
Whoops.
It gets worse.
It was not possible for the new $15 minimum wage to cause a Seattle business closure because the new minimum wage had not yet gone into effect. The increase to $15 is being phased in over a three year time span.
Whoops again.
And now a new bogus FOX News story about Seattle's $15 minimum wage has become fodder for the doddering right wing chattering chicken head types.
The new claim is that Seattle's $15 minimum wage is causing minimum wage workers to ask for fewer hours because making more money will cause them to lose their welfare handouts, like food stamps and rent subsidies.
The reality is the Seattle minimum wage is currently around $4 shy of that $15 mark. Legitimate journalists were again unable to find any worker who was asking for fewer hours so as to be able to keep getting food stamps.
And, as was the case with the first bogus FOX News story about this subject, the Seattle minimum wage has not yet been raised to $15. Yet the FOX "news" story falsely makes the $15 claim.
FOX News online has now pulled their latest Seattle $15 minimum wage story.
Doesn't anyone at FOX News ever get embarrassed at some of the garbage they spew? Shepard Smith seems like a decent fellow. Why does he continue working for FOX News? They must pay him a lot.
And another thing. Right wing conservative naysayers opine that Seattle's $15 minimum wage is economic idiocy. And that Seattle is a socialist hell on earth.
Well, Seattle does have a socialist mayor, along with one or two socialist city council members. Seattle is one of the most liberal, if not the most liberal city in America. Along with being one of the most progressive.
Socialist Seattle also has the fastest growing economy in America. I read today that there are so many construction projects under way in Seattle that there is a shortage of construction workers.
I suspect construction workers in Seattle are paid a wage much higher than the minimum.
Maybe towns like Fort Worth should try the socialist, progressive approach and see if that produces better results than the current construction crane free skyline of downtown Fort Worth....
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