CHANGE IT BACK: Missouri Republicans Lower St. Louis Minimum Wage From $10 To $7.70.

After St. Louis leaders raised the wage floor for workers within city limits, the state GOP recently passed what’s known as a statewide “preemption” law, forbidding localities from taking such matters into their own hands. On Friday, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) said he would let the law go into effect, thereby barring cities and counties from setting a minimum wage higher than the state level.

For low-wage earners in St. Louis itself, the new law will have a startling consequence: It will actually push the minimum wage back down, from the city-approved $10 per hour to the state-approved $7.70. The downgrade is slated to take effect on Aug. 28.

For someone earning the bare minimum, that’s a potential cut of 23 percent.

For someone who couldn’t get hired at $10, that’s a raise of $7.70.

On the other hand, I’m not so sure Jefferson City should be overruling St. Louis’s bad decisions, which could be used as a powerful lesson in what not to do.