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In a perverse way, raising the minimum wage is speeding up investment and progress in the robotics industry.

Look for automated fast-food joints and improvements in other low-skilled, repetitive labor.

Clearly, many people know little about the Seattle economy. No one could afford to live here on less than $15 an hour without collecting welfare or similar benefits. The rent here is ridiculous, and it wasn’t this way five years ago. Unfortunately, Amazon moving in downtown has had a hugely negative impact on housing prices and traffic with so many people having to move farther away and commute in. So, if you want to keep wages lower, fine. But we have to put caps on rent! Or build a lot of affordable housing, and enact policies to keep them affordable.