[quote=livinincali]Just go to Aspen, CO and walk into the McDonald’s. The prices are higher and the workers aren’t making minimum wage. The free market will figure out the correct balance of number of businesses, wages, rent, and prices. It’s only when the government tries to help that you end up with imbalances and hand picked winners and losers. In many respects the single mom getting food stamps, housing assistance, tax credits, and child care making the 7.25 minimum wage is better off than the same person make $18/hr.[/quote]
Correct … and the median sales price for a resale living unit in Aspen (SFRs + condos but there are a LOT more condos there) was $1,071,675 and the average PPSF was $865 for Apr to July 2014. The average listing price there as of 7/2/14 was $4.44M.
There are actually thousands of service workers who live in Aspen both year-round and seasonally. The vast majority of these seasonal workers (ski season) are put up in condos (4 workers to one unit) owned by their employers as part of their wage pkg. Many of the year-round workers who don’t live with relatives live in nearby towns which are much cheaper to live in. Aspen is a great example of “letting the market find its way,” livincali!
