California minimum wage shocks fast food workers as restaurant closes: 'Only the beginning,' ex-manager warns

This reminds me of a few years back when Seattle announced $15 minimum wage. The highest in the nation at the time. Conservatives were terrified but had they looked at the data they might have felt different. After all, "facts don't care about feelings." We don't have to speculate about what would happen if minimum wages went up. Every single state in country, along with the Fed has raised min. wage multiple times. We can look at history to see that every time it leads to an improved economy.

So what happened in Seattle? Are all the restuaurants closed? Are low wage workers out of jobs? Has Seattle failed? No quite the opposite. Washington, like all 'blue' states has a stronger economy than most other states. That's why Fox doesn't talk about it anymore. There was a 'Foster Freeze' in Seattle too that conservatives loved to trot out at the time. Forced to close because the mean old government demanded that people pay living wages. Of course we later learned that the owner wasn't able to retain employees due to poor scheduling, wasn't paying taxes and wasn't paying vendors all long before the wage increase. Fox for some reason didn't provide that update.

And now they have found a new martyr to trot out. Of course this one even admits up front that the restaurant is EXEMPT from the law, and laments that she wasn't given any warning! Somehow the rest of the nation knew this was happening. It seems the real issue is this: Why on Earth would anybody continue working at Foster Freeze when the Mcdonald's next door is paying a living wage?

19 comments

Restaurants are a luxury. Either the pay reflects that and they get paid a decent wage or the market will react somehow.
- Everyone's cost of living has increased post-pandemic, minimum wage need to rise. The restaurant could have raised their price as well but chose not to, either because they think their clientele can't afford it (increased cost of living, which is what rising the minimum wage can offset), or because the market is already saturated and they're no longer competitive.
  Something/someone has to give in when there's inequality.
  
  ThE fREE mArKeT
This reminds me of a few years back when Seattle announced $15 minimum wage. The highest in the nation at the time. Conservatives were terrified but had they looked at the data they might have felt different. After all, "facts don't care about feelings." We don't have to speculate about what would happen if minimum wages went up. Every single state in country, along with the Fed has raised min. wage multiple times. We can look at history to see that every time it leads to an improved economy.
So what happened in Seattle? Are all the restuaurants closed? Are low wage workers out of jobs? Has Seattle failed? No quite the opposite. Washington, like all 'blue' states has a stronger economy than most other states. That's why Fox doesn't talk about it anymore. There was a 'Foster Freeze' in Seattle too that conservatives loved to trot out at the time. Forced to close because the mean old government demanded that people pay living wages. Of course we later learned that the owner wasn't able to retain employees due to poor scheduling, wasn't paying taxes and wasn't paying vendors all long before the wage increase. Fox for some reason didn't provide that update.
And now they have found a new martyr to trot out. Of course this one even admits up front that the restaurant is EXEMPT from the law, and laments that she wasn't given any warning! Somehow the rest of the nation knew this was happening. It seems the real issue is this: Why on Earth would anybody continue working at Foster Freeze when the Mcdonald's next door is paying a living wage?