Report: Low Seattle hotel wages amount to 'hidden subsidy'

Another example of how America is becoming a third-word nation:

A new report from a Seattle non-profit group says that downtown Seattle's hotels are projected to enjoy tidy profits this year - at the expense of hotel workers and local taxpayers.

The report called "Our Pain, Their Gain: The hidden costs of profitability in Seattle's downtown hotels," notes that between 2006 and 2010, the State of Washington spent more than $44 million to cover an average of 4,224 uninsured hotel workers per year.

"There is a hidden subsidy to this industry," says Howard Greenwich, research director of Puget Sound Sage, a regional economic policy advocacy group.

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