You have a point in that the cycle will be:
More people out of a job/living on handouts = Demand for more revenue for the Federal Government = Higher taxes on the people still working at Wendy’s (including senior management who made this call).
It’s a tangled web of unintended consequences.
What I’m saying is that I don’t think it will mean more people on the dole. Those folks getting wages that don’t sustain them are still collecting handouts. Because they can get that slight “work subsidy” they have NO incentive to get a real job. Life for folks who need handouts should not be better than what one can sustain with a real job.
Are you certain that it is 'unintended'?