Week in Review: Kshama Sawant, the legislature, and Microsoft

Bill Radke discusses the week’s news with Publicola’s Erica Barnett, Seattle Channel’s Brian Callanan and Seattle Times David Kroman

On Thursday, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant announced that she will not run for reelection in 2023. She said her plan is to form Workers Strike Back, a new movement to further the causes she has championed. She also called out Democrats, saying the party is moving further to the right. What impact did she have as a Seattle City Councilmember?

A proposed State “wealth tax” already has support from two-thirds of Democratic lawmakers. The wealth tax proposed by Washington Democrats this week would impose a one percent tax on people with more than $250 million in financial assets. It is widely agreed that any wealth tax would be challenged in court. Why would it be challenged?

Other proposals in the legislature include “middle-housing” bills, which would let cities build denser housing in traditionally single-family neighborhoods, a proposal for guaranteed income for low-income people, and a proposal to lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers from .08 to .05. How likely are any or all of these to pass?

Microsoft announced that they will be laying off roughly 10,000 workers, which amounts to five percent of their workforce. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Wednesday that this was to ““align our cost structure with our revenue and where we see customer demand.” Fewer than 900 of the layoffs were in the Seattle area. How big of a deal is this?