INSANITY: LA Lawmakers Hope to Raise Minimum Wage to $15

05.20.2015 | News | Jerome Hudson |

The thing about liberalism that I find intriguing is that no matter how awful an idea is, no matter how much misery a policy may bring, liberals remain committed to it.

Minimum wage is one of those pain-inducing policies that the American Left just loves to force down everybody’s throat.

In just about every city or county that a minimum wage increase is implemented, fantastic amounts of failure follow.

In Oakland, California for example:

The Employment Policies Institute released a report Thursday showing many Oakland businesses have scaled back operations in response to the recent minimum wage hike.

In Seattle, Washington:

It may be one of the first casualties of Seattle’s new minimum wage law. The owner of Z Pizza says she’s being forced to close her doors, because she can’t afford the higher labor costs.

Devin Jeran was happy to get a raise, when Seattle’s minimum wage went up to $11 an hour at the beginning of the month.

“I definitely recognize that having more money is important,” he says, “especially in a city as expensive as this one.”

Unfortunately, he’ll only enjoy that bigger paycheck for a few more months. In August, his boss is shutting down Z Pizza and putting him and his 11 co-workers out of work.

And now, the misery of minimum wage will soon be shared by businesses in Los Angeles:

The Los Angeles City Council tentatively agreed Tuesday to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, joining a trend sweeping cities across the country as elected leaders seek to address stagnating pay for workers on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

The ordinance would boost the $9 an hour base wage to $15 by 2020 for as many as 800,000 workers, city officials say, and make L.A. the largest U.S. city to adopt a major minimum-wage increase. Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle already have adopted similar laws.

It’s the unbelievable faith that minimum wage increases won’t force smaller businesses to close up shop that amazes me most.

How many times do these dummies need to see this model of Marxist redistribution of wealth fail before they wake up?

It’s the definition of insanity.

Jerome Hudson

Managing Editor

Jerome Hudson has written for numerous national outlets, including The Hill, National Review, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was recognized as one of Florida’s emerging stars, having been included in the list “25 Under 30: Florida’s Rising Young Political Class.” Hudson is a Savannah, Ga. native who currently resides in Florida.

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