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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Re: Twilight of the Good Times

posted by on July 31 at 9:28 AM

If you live in Seattle, it might be time to ask for a cost of living increase. The city has the highest inflation rate in the country.

RSS icon Comments

1

Slog commenters probably don't overlap into the Forbes readership that much, I suspect. This is the same magazine that claimed greater Indianapolis as one of the best places to raise a family.

Posted by mackro mackro | July 31, 2008 9:40 AM
2

early bird parking has gone up from $9/day at peak summer rates last year to $12/day this year.

someone please explain that - garages don't burn gas.

Posted by max solomon | July 31, 2008 9:44 AM
3

Raise your hand if you have had a raise AT ALL in the last 5 years.

Posted by Jeff | July 31, 2008 9:47 AM
4


Kent rules...Seattle drools.

Posted by John Bailo | July 31, 2008 9:57 AM
5

So basically they're saying, since we don't have this problem, we should have this problem so that we don't have the problem now, and we just need to swap problems.

Posted by tabby | July 31, 2008 9:57 AM
6

You're right, @1 - I subscribe to Fortune and the Wall Street Journal, not Forbes.

As to explanations - land values. You're paying for the future developed land cost over 40-60 years when you park in a garage, and with the deferral of construction due to the worldwide mortgage (CBO) failures which has impacte

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 31, 2008 9:58 AM
7

I just got a job paying roughly double my previous job (and just got my first paycheck today!), my wife's gotten 5 raises in the nine or ten months she's been at her job, and rent is going up for everyone in our building but us, because our landlady totally loves us.

I'm having a hard time getting real worried.

Posted by Ben | July 31, 2008 10:01 AM
8

max solomon; opportunity cost and increased living expense for the owner.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | July 31, 2008 10:10 AM
9

"Ben" @7, you are in an unusual economic situation, you are a prick, and you are a walking advertisement for why an income tax is needed in this state.

Posted by roland | July 31, 2008 10:19 AM
10

This could end up being a fairly big story in the legislative session. The COLA for teachers is tied to the inflation index in Seattle, and this year that COLA was kicking the financial ass of a ton of districts:

http://ithoughtathink.blogspot.com/2008/05/crisis-on-infinite-districts.html

With a $2.7 billion dollar hole in the budget already, that leads to two equally stinky options: dig the hole deeper to come up with any COLA money, or suspend the teacher COLA, like Dino Rossi and Gary Locke did in 2002-2003.

I'll be curious to see how it plays out.

Posted by Ryan | July 31, 2008 10:26 AM
11

I work for the UW. I actually just learned this morning that effective as of July 1, we were given a 3.0 across-the-board wage increase under something called COLA, or Cost of Living Adjustment.

Posted by adam | July 31, 2008 10:27 AM
12

that would be 3.0 percent.

Posted by adam | July 31, 2008 10:29 AM
13

that's just B average.

Posted by infrequent | July 31, 2008 10:52 AM
14

Roland @9: Sorry if I come off as a prick, but having come from a lower-class family in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest, working my way through five years of college accruing crippling debt, and spending two years bouncing from job to job at time-limited contracts and companies that got bought out four months after hiring me, I'm having a hard time not taking ten fucking minutes to enjoy the first time in my entire fucking life that things were looking up for me financially.

Posted by Ben | July 31, 2008 11:01 AM
15

i've had a raise every year since 2001. a nice one, too.

but this summer the whole office is taking a 10% cut so we don't have to lay 20 people off.

Will, BA - this is the Pike Place Munincipal Garage!

Posted by max solomon | July 31, 2008 11:12 AM
16

@3:

Me!

That's the great thing about writing your own budget - I can factor in COLA's every Fiscal Year, so long as I meet the overall benchmark set by my national office.

Of course, one could argue that a COLA isn't exactly a raise, since, if you're just upping wages to match the inflation rate, you're really not increasing overall earnings, but simply holding the line, and I can certainly see that point.

But, still, it's better than slipping behind.

Posted by COMTE | July 31, 2008 11:30 AM
17

7. C- troll: Way too obvious. Be more subtle, advertise a more neutral tone before taking your cheap shot.

Posted by Gomez | July 31, 2008 11:42 AM
18

@11 - so there's a 3 percent raise and real inflation is triple that ... isn't that a PAY CUT?

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 31, 2008 11:50 AM
19

in that case it's because the city mismanaged their money.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | July 31, 2008 1:55 PM
20

My girlfriend got a 13% raise last year. She totally deserves it and I love her for earning it.

So I was still OK with my 5.5% raise last year (at a non-profit) UNTIL I learned that the phony prick that sits next to me makes more! He does a different job, but reads celebrity news half the day and spends the other half talking to the overweight women in the office, complimenting them on their looks or dress. I can't believe the phony shit that falls out of his mouth... And then they just lap it up!

OK, rant over.

Posted by Doh | July 31, 2008 2:06 PM

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