“Nothing ever changes around here. It’s the same-old people making the same-old deals.”

That’s a common refrain, but is it true?

When we arrived in Spokane nine years ago, the Fox was open; the Davenport was closed. The Lyons, Lincoln Heights and Magic Lantern cinemas were open; the downtown AMC theaters were just a rumor. We shopped downtown at Baby Depot inside the Burlington Coat Factory and Toytropolis in the basement of the Bon Marche. Sunday breakfast was at Waffles N’ More, on Brown and Third. That’s a paint store now.

No Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Ben & Jerry’s, Sawtooth Grill or Red Robin. No city of Spokane Valley. No Spokane Valley Mall.

Spokane’s mayor was Jack Geraghty. Since then, we’ve had John Talbott, John Powers, Jim West and Dennis Hession. The City Council is all new. Gone are such players as Orville Barnes, Roberta Greene, Phyllis Holmes, Rob Higgins, Steve Eugster, Steve Corker, Cherie Rodgers and Jeff Colliton.

Steve Tucker has replaced Jim Sweetser as Spokane County prosecutor. The police chief baton has been handed from Terry Mangan to Alan Chertok to Roger Bragdon to a chief to be named later. Spokane County will soon have a new sheriff, with Mark Sterk resigning. Gone from the County Commission are Kate McCaslin and John Roskelley.

In Congress, Slade Gorton and George Nethercutt have been replaced by Maria Cantwell and Cathy McMorris.

Idaho has seen a huge turnover in players, too. Gone are Phil Batt, Helen Chenoweth-Hage, Dirk Kempthorne, Al Hassell, Steve Judy, Dick Panabaker, Dick Compton and Ron Rankin. Headed out the door are Gus Johnson and Katie Brodie.

Metropolitan Mortgage is in bankruptcy. Paul Sandifur Jr. is powerless.

Talk radio is no longer ruled by Richard Clear, Steve Corker and Rick Miller. The Spokesman-Review is no longer led by Chris Peck, Peggy Kuhr and Scott Sines.

So when are things going to change around here?

Minimum damage. Every time the minimum wage rises in Washington state, we’re told that it will kill businesses, especially restaurants. Now comes the news that the bonds for Safeco Field may be paid off three to four years early. Why? The booming restaurant business in King County.

Money to pay off the bonds comes from three sources: a 2 percent car-rental tax, a small bump in the overall sales tax and a half-cent tax on food and beverages, which is by far the largest source.

“If people are dining out more these days, we get that half a percent tacked onto the food and beverage tax,” Bob Cowan, King County finance director, told the Seattle Times. “Restaurants are booming in King County, and that’s helping.”

Now, I realize there are factors beyond the minimum wage that affect businesses, but I wonder whether that’s true of those who sound like Chicken Little every time it’s bumped up.

Wages of fear. A historical look at the federal minimum wage is revealing. In terms of buying power, the high-water mark was 1968, which in 2005 dollars was $9.12 an hour, according to an Oregon State University study. It’s $5.15 now and has been for nine years, which is the longest period ever between increases.

Because the feds have failed to adjust the wage for inflation, some states have set their own rate. Washington state’s is the nation’s highest at $7.63.

“Aha!” say minimum wage opponents. “And isn’t that the reason the state has been at the top of the nation’s unemployment charts?”

This correlation-is-causation point doesn’t withstand scrutiny. In 1968, the minimum wage was at its most burdensome for businesses. The national unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, which is an unheard of level these days.

Washington state is in its 34th consecutive month for job growth, even though the minimum wage has been raised each year. In March 2004, the unemployment rate in Spokane County was 7.9 percent. Last month it was 4.7 percent, even though the minimum wage rose 47 cents.

“But what about Idaho?” ask opponents. “Its unemployment rate and minimum wage are lower than Washington’s.”

True, but the nation’s highest unemployment rate is found in Mississippi, which has the same minimum wage as Idaho: $5.15. With Hurricane Katrina, that comparison probably isn’t fair, so let’s go to the third-worst state for employment. That’s South Carolina, where the minimum wage matches Idaho’s, but the unemployment rate is 6.5 percent.

Yes, that’s higher than Washington’s.