Agreed. And that's the reason Seattle was able to raise their minimum wage without major disruption -- not because their economy doesn't rely on cheaper labor, but because they've outsourced it.
I'm not assigning a moral value to outsourcing, though I agree with intel founder Andy Grove that outsourcing high tech like chip fabs can backfire after a generation. Just making the point that raising wages is easy if cost of living / labor deltas has already offshored part of your economy.
But the point is moot because whether or not minimum wage is $8.00 or $15.00 we've offshored the major aspect or our labor to other countries. You aren't wrong, but it's moot. You're literally making an argument that we could have a $15.00/hr minimum wage everywhere in this country because most labor exists in China or other less developed nations.
You're right, but that's not exclusive to Seattle.
