Free Market Focus: Wal-Mart and D.C.'s Minimum Wage Increases

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July 17, 2013     |    Discover more at Heritage's Enterprise and Free Markets webpage

Wal-Mart and D.C.'s Minimum Wage Increases The D.C. city council recently approved legislation raising hourly minimum wages in retail stores to $12.50 an hour under the Large Retail Accountability Act (LRAA). On the surface, it looks like the bill would simply create a very high minimum wage. However, a closer look shows the LRAA targets a very specific subset of D.C. retailers: those with more than 75,000 square feet. The proposal also exempts businesses with collective bargaining agreements or less than $1 billion in revenues. Going forward, the bill would not apply to any existing stores for at least four years. That leaves only one company immediately affected by the bill: Wal-Mart and its plans to build six stores in the District. READ THE FULL ARTICLE  >>

Airline Safety: The Good News The July 6 crash landing of an Asiana jetliner that killed three passengers and injured dozens more was a tragedy. The accident is rightly being thoroughly investigated by federal safety officials as well as aviation industry experts to determine how it happened and prevent such a tragic accident from happening again. But hidden between the lines in the news coverage of the event is a remarkable story: the breathtaking, long-term improvements in safety in the airline industry. It is exactly the sort of good news that is too often ignored by the media. FIND OUT MORE >>

What the House Farm Bill's Passage Means House Republicans passed a farm bill today with a vote of 216 to 208. When the House leadership first announced it would separately consider the food stamp and farm components of the “farm” bill, it looked like they got the message that current farm policy was in dire need of reform. With separation, real reform to rein in market-distorting programs and special interest handouts could finally happen. But now that separation has occurred, they’ve forgotten the very reason why separation was needed in the first place. Supporters of this farm-only farm bill wasted the golden opportunity that separation could have provided: the ability to promote policies that benefit taxpayers, farmers, and consumers in a fiscally responsible way. With the passage of this bill, the House has gone even further to the left than the Senate bill. It would spend more money than Obama on the largest farm program, crop insurance. CONTINUE READING >>

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