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Hey, New York! How's that $15 an Hour Minimum Wage Working for Ya?
PJ Media ^ | 08/07/2019 | Rick Moran

Posted on 08/07/2019 9:41:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The lede from this Wall Street Journal article says it all: "More than six months after the $15 minimum wage went into effect in New York City, business leaders and owners say the increased labor costs have forced them to cut staff, eliminate work shifts and raise prices."

Duh.

Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books, says, "There’s absolutely no benefit to being a retail business in New York." The unions, the conniving politicians, the anti-capitalist activists who were the driving force behind the "Fight for 15" movement have done a great job. They have all benefited while the workers and businesses have suffered the consequences.

Susannah Koteen, owner of Lido Restaurant in Harlem, said she worries about the impact raising wages could have on her restaurant, where she employs nearly 40 people. She hasn’t had to lay off anyone, but the increase has forced her to cut back on shifts and be more stringent about overtime. She said she changes her menu offerings seasonally and raises prices more often since the wage boost.

“What it really forces you to do is make sure that nobody works more than 40 hours,” Ms. Koteen said. “You can only cut back so many people before the service starts to suffer.”

Ms. Koteen said she shelved plans to move her restaurant to a larger location. That would require her to hire more staff, and she isn’t willing to take the risk with the unpredictability of her business. “You would just have no choice but to cut people at the bottom,” she said.

All of this was predicted. There are no surprises whatsoever in the way that businesses are suffering.

Perhaps most poignant of all, we can look back at the demonstrations by the poor, deluded workers who actually believed the propaganda that no jobs would be lost, no hours cut, and that businesses wouldn't suffer if wages were nearly doubled.

It was possible for the promoters of "Fight for 15" to trick the workers because they were incapable of understanding one of the most basic, underlying principles that make a capitalist economy work. That being, a workers' labor is worth no more and no less than the value they deliver to the company that employs them. Even unions eventually understood that concept -- too late, as it turned out for many of them.

For advocates of the $15 an hour minimum wage, it doesn't matter:

Anthony Advincula, spokesman for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which advocated for the $15 minimum wage, said there are other factors beyond higher wages that result in unsuccessful businesses, and owners shouldn’t blame the boost for their struggles.

“Increasing to $15 would reduce income inequality, and the number of individuals living in poverty now is ridiculously high,” he said. “This is not just a business issue, this is a race, gender, pay-equality issue.”

Hear that? He is parroting the same crap that was used to sell this snake oil in the first place. And when in doubt, always play the race card.

"Pay equality" doesn't mean squat if you're out of a job, or can't get one because businesses like Lido Restaurant in Harlem don't expand because it's too costly and the business climate too uncertain. Fat chance it will change anything at this point, anyway. Even if New York's economy tanks, politicians and advocates will still be spouting the same nonsensical gibberish that got them in this trouble in the first place.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: economy; employment; jobs; minimumwage; newyork; wages
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1 posted on 08/07/2019 9:41:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

It saved me money.

I wont wait on the ridiculous lines at fast food places.

The 15 minimum has been a great thing to me.


2 posted on 08/07/2019 9:45:41 AM PDT by dp0622 (Bad, bad company Till the day I die.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Next up: Making it illegal to fire marginal workers and spread their work among the more productive.


3 posted on 08/07/2019 9:47:42 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s not that high yet Upstate, but Upstate is suffering even worse than NYC for the same reason.


4 posted on 08/07/2019 9:49:05 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: JimRed

Funny you should mention that. Albany finished their legislative session screwing with other labor laws, too.

God help employers.


5 posted on 08/07/2019 9:50:14 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds)
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To: All

This was designed to hurt the elderly economically. Like Chicago, New York want the middle class gone. Then they can claim there are only the wealthy and the poor so we need communism.


6 posted on 08/07/2019 9:56:39 AM PDT by Retvet (Retvet)
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To: dp0622

Saved you money? Then you haven’t seen price increases at fast food places?


7 posted on 08/07/2019 9:56:59 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

Doesn’t really affect me, at least when I go out to eat. A couple of months ago, I was in California, and I simply no longer tip in places with a $15 minimum wage, since the tip is now built into the price.

So when I totaled up the bills I had and compared them to several years ago, before this crap started (and when I did tip), the prices came out about the same.

Basically a push for me, at least for those type of places - obviously other joints, like McDonald’s (as if I would ever go there) or department stores, never had tipping, but then they’re costs are much less driven by labor.


8 posted on 08/07/2019 10:07:59 AM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: dp0622

“It saved me money. I wont wait on the ridiculous lines at fast food places. The 15 minimum has been a great thing to me.”

Actually, that has been one of the benefits of the $15 minimum - the much shorter lines for fast food, due to so many customers now being priced out.

And that will probably be the case for another few years - but after that, the spare capital of these chains will start running out, and probably half of them will close. At that point - guess what, the lines will be back!


9 posted on 08/07/2019 10:11:19 AM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: SeekAndFind

If one must set minimum pay for NYC wouldn’t it be more like $40 an hour? What can you do in NYC on 15? Someone get DB on the phone and freed up the billion dollars his wife has stashed.


10 posted on 08/07/2019 10:13:55 AM PDT by morphing libertarian ( Use Comey's Report, Indict Hillary now; build Kate's wall. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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To: BobL

$7.12 for a McD’s “Big Breakfast” and medium coffee; power was out at home or I would have eaten there ...


11 posted on 08/07/2019 10:21:00 AM PDT by _Jim (Save babies)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

The increase in the minimum wage cause the price of the hamburgers at these fast food places to go Skyrocket so he doesn’t go there


12 posted on 08/07/2019 10:21:11 AM PDT by Rj Snows (Some years back Sacramento area used to be the capital of tomatoes)
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To: JimRed

Agree


13 posted on 08/07/2019 10:22:00 AM PDT by pangaea6
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To: SeekAndFind
raises prices more often since the wage boost.

Never hear the media upset about rising costs to consumers when it's their policies, but when Trump has tariffs is 24/7 sky is falling because of price increases "passed on to the consumer". The Left's hypocrisy makes them look foolish, facts don't matter, to them a lie is OK if it's for their cause.

14 posted on 08/07/2019 10:25:50 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: SeekAndFind
deluded workers who actually believed the propaganda that no jobs would be lost, no hours cut, and that businesses wouldn't suffer if wages were nearly doubled.

cuz, you know, wealthy people and corporations just pull the money straight out of their arses.


15 posted on 08/07/2019 10:30:23 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: BobL; All

With few exceptions, the crap they serve at “fast food” places isn’t food... it’s filler.


16 posted on 08/07/2019 10:33:40 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isnÂ’t common anymore.)
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To: Cobra64

Yep, total trash at McDonald’s. Don’t know how anyone could step in to one of those horrific places, much less eat there.

As it is, I’m about to step into something simmering under the radar, but will soon be the biggest health-related story in our lifetimes, that being the destruction that carbs are doing to humans.


17 posted on 08/07/2019 10:45:41 AM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ask the owner of the place where AOC used to work.


18 posted on 08/07/2019 10:46:28 AM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: BobL
Looking forward to your info release. 👍
19 posted on 08/07/2019 10:49:58 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isnÂ’t common anymore.)
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To: Cobra64

Thanks! Just starting now, on my “About” page.


20 posted on 08/07/2019 10:51:38 AM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
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