Gavin Newsom’s Failing New Minimum Wage Law is Further Proof the Left has Nothing to Offer the Middle Class

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. While Joe Biden is the left’s latest failed leader, and the current president has moved the party further to the left with his extreme policies, we are seeing the same trends we saw when Obama was in office. The war on the middle class continues. When Obama was president, as even Hillary Clinton admitted, nearly all of the economic gains went to the top one percent. That pattern is continuing with Biden. The left’s continual war on the middle class, which as usual, consists of trying to destroy the energy and fossil fuel sector, an open the border, and the rampant inflation that government spending has caused, continues to degrade America.

This is why Gavin Newsom’s decision to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour, an action supported by most Democrats at the state and national level, is yet another important sign of how pathetic the Democratic Party’s economic policies are. The current minimum wage in California is $16 an hour. Every single study, including recent work coming from the left leaning Congressional Budget Office, shows the same pattern when the minimum wage is raised. Employers fire workers, restrict the hours for retained employees, and raise wages at a slower rate. Newsom’s recent decision to raise the minimum wage on fast food companies is yet another example of the fact that the left simply has nothing to offer middle and working class people. The CBO said in late 2023 that even raising the minimum wage to $17 an hour, which is what the Democrats support, would cost the US 1.4 million jobs. This is in addition to employers cutting workers hours, raising wages less, and many companies also accelerating investments in automation and other forms of technology to replace human workers. These laws also lead to further inflation in an economy where price levels are already very high for most working class families.

The impact of Newsom’s absurd law is already being felt by Californians across the state. Chipotle and McDonalds have announced price raises, while Pizza Hut announced they will be cutting 1,200 jobs. Some companies have also had to eliminate previous service offerings such as lunch service with cut backs because of this law, and other restaurants have also stated that they are reluctant to hire anyone who doesn’t have significant experience in the industry since most even new workers in the restaurant industry want more than $20 an hour for even entry level jobs. Nearly 60% of fast food workers are 24 or younger, and 63% of fast food workers have only a high school diploma or less education. Most of the work in this industry is intended for younger workers who are transitioning into better jobs that require more training or formal education, not for full time employees trying to support families.

The middle class had their best years in decades when President Trump was in office. The former President secured the border, cut taxes, and spent money in more targeted areas such as national defense. The left wants to raise taxes on businesses and individuals, increase regulations, and spend at completely unrealistic levels on wasted projects such as worthless green energy plans. Middle and working class families have been leaving California, a state where the average price of gas today is over $5, for some time. The state has lost over a hundred thousand people a year since 2022, while states like Florida, Texas, and Georgia, continue to gain residents coming mostly from failing blue states. The Democratic party’s soft on crime policies, high taxes, and over regulation of industries, are all factors driving middle and working class families to red states. Gavin Newsom’s minimum wage law is another example of the failing Democratic party’s economic agenda.