The Chicago city council passed a minimum wage and benefit standard ordinance for Wal-Mart and other “big-box” retailers who want to develop an abandoned steel plant property (I wonder who came up with that idea – I’ll bet it has something to do with why the steel plant property is now abandoned). Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart (and so far everyone else except a Lowe’s store that apparently was on the hook before the ordinances passed) are taking a pass. “If this is the effect that big-box ordinances have on business,” one City Council-member says, “we’re probably cutting off our noses to spite our face.” Duh.
