I am a consumer in Seattle where the wage law is in place, and Seattle feels like it is thriving. Starbucks, McDonalds, Subway, are fine. To me, far more important, many small businesses are thriving, including those that hire low-wage employees.

That's data. Of course CB loves the singular of data: anecdote. So here is mine:

I in fact own a small business and I employ about 20 employees in downtown Seattle. Employment costs are rising, and they are a concern, but Seattle dropping back to the state min wage or (LOL) the federal minimum wage wouldn't change my bottom line that much. Believe me, I wouldn't mind a less liberal tax on business (taxed on revenue regardless of profit) so I'm not a total buy-in to the left mentality.

I don't know how much raising the min wage really helped (I really don't know, it may have), but I do know it hasn't hurt as much as the speculation in the article that is linked in the article that is linked in the original post suggests.