Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawgboy
...as far as economic stability is concerned, we don't necessarily have to be affected by an external economic downturn. I'd be more concerned about internal problems like housing stock, traffic, inadequate mass transit and a growing low wage workforce which can't afford to live in the city. If we don't do something soon about trying to alleviate those issues, we'll create our own economic downturn.
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San Francisco is a pretty good case study of the kind of scenario you're portraying, and if they're any kind of an indicator of what's in store for us then we're going to keep on booming while our problems keep on probleming. SF has been "unaffordable" for many decades, but where there's a need and a will, there's a way. Hopefully our state legislature won't follow the current trend of red states banning minimum wage laws at the local level (isn't it amazing how Republicans are all for local control, until that control turns against them?) In other words, I bet we'll [partially] deal with the affordability crunch by raising minimum wage.
But here's the real deal as far as how these crises work themselves out --- if it becomes impossible to find employees willing to work for $8/hour because it's too expensive to live in Austin, then employers will pay more. So the
de facto minimum wage is higher already in expensive cities. I'm not shrugging off the problem of affordability, I'm only suggesting that it's not going to slow down the local economy. There are so many benefits for businesses to locate in a city like Austin, we can't come up with enough problems to keep them away.