When you elect a socialist, expect things to go badly and quickly. That's what voters in the Emerald City are learning after electing socialist Katie Wilson, who has never held a real job and is driving Seattle into the ground with her policies. She not only told businesses like Starbucks and others to leave if they didn't like her policies, she's going to let the city enact a minimum wage hike that will kill off whatever businesses remain, as they're struggling to stay open under current conditions.

Wilson made a name for herself by vowing to block grocery stores from closing up in crime-ridden, high-tax Seattle neighborhoods. What's she going to do when pretty much every business leaves? We've heard from locals that parts of downtown Seattle are empty, populated only by the homeless and criminals, instead of thriving businesses and residents.

Democrats and socialists know what happens. But they'll blame Republicans and corporate greed for the failures of their policies.

Here's more:

Seattle’s minimum wage will increase from $21.30 to $22.14 per hour, starting Jan. 1 -- giving the city one of the highest minimum wage rates in the country.

Annual minimum wage adjustments have been established in Seattle law since 2015, according to the Seattle Office of Labor Standards Director Steven Marchese.

KIRO 7 spoke to Marchese before an event Wednesday.

The event highlighted new protections for domestic workers.

The office announced the latest rate increase, as the local economy faces rising expenses, including higher fuel costs.

Worker advocacy groups praised the upcoming wage increase.

CJ Garcia, organizing director for Working WA, noted that workers are navigating ongoing economic pressures.

“I think especially, in this moment, where the economy continues to be, you know, firsthand, one of the things that workers are navigating,” Garcia said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”

Seattle resident Donna Flook also supported the policy, emphasizing the economic benefits of increased worker pay.

They're going to learn the real minimum wage is always zero, and there are no protections for domestic workers on the unemployment line.

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"Are you kidding me? Seattle's going to raise it's minimum wage again?" he said. "But what the heck, man? How much does a nurse or a teacher or someone like that need to make if a 15-year-old kid is making $22.14 to push a shopping cart around or flip a burger or take your order at the drive thru?"

This undermines affordability, because the prices of everything go up to offset the wage hikes.

Gregorian notes that 450 Seattle restaurants closed in the first half of 2025, citing rising labor expenses as part of the reason for closures, with one restaurant owner saying, "If the servers are making $20 an hour, then I gotta pay the cooks $35."

The city lost 500 local businesses from 2020 to 2023, and another 543 storefronts were vacant by 2024. Job openings dropped by more than one-third, and businesses are getting applications for barista gigs from people with master's degrees. 

More than 35 percent of Seattle's downtown offices sat vacant by the end of 2025, and Starbucks is moving out of the state.

And once these businesses are gone, it's hard to replace them and rebuild the economy. But the poverty, the lack of jobs, and the crushing economic malaise is the point of socialism. The middle class has to be wiped out in favor of a rich ruling class that lords over an impoverished class. That's the endgame of socialism.