Minimum wage

The issue of the city's interpretation of whether it falls under Missouri's new minimum-wage law is one thing. The law itself is another. In short, it is a bad law, not because it raises the pay of some hourly workers, but because of provisions in the law that automatically increase the state's minimum wage based on annual cost-of-living reviews.

Moreover, the state wage cannot be lower than the federal wage. And if congressional Democrats follow through on plans to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, Missouri's annual cost-of-living increases would be on top of that, harming the state's position in recruiting industry and forcing marginal workers into unemployment.

The city many have misstepped in originally deciding not to recognize the new state minimum wage, but the law itself remains a bad one.