Any politician who makes money decisions should be forced to take Econ 101 before assuming office.
It’s like pretending to be a physicist without believing in gravity — except more expensive to the taxpayers.
From Investor’s Business Daily:
Economic Illiteracy: This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “swung by” to say goodbye to a restaurant where she used to work. What she didn’t say is that it is closing because the owners can’t afford New York City’s soon-to-be $15 minimum wage — the very job-killing policy Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democrats want to impose nationwide.
“The restaurant I used to work at is closing its doors,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday. “I swung by today to say hi one last time, and kid around with friends like old times.”
She was referring to the popular Coffee Shop in Union Square, which was frequented by A-list celebrities and featured on “Sex and the City.” Despite its popularity, the Coffee Shop is going out of business. Why?
Co-owner Charles Milite told the New York Post that the main reason was “the minimum wage is going up and we have a huge number of employees.”
In New York City, businesses that employ more than 11 people — the Coffee Shop had more than 150 employees — saw the minimum wage jump $2 an hour to $13 this year. And they face another $2 increase starting next year. For businesses like restaurants that hire a lot of unskilled labor, that means a government-imposed 36% increase in labor costs in just two years.
Even a successful business will find it hard to absorb a cost spike of that magnitude.
As a result, Milite’s 150 workers will soon see their actual wage drop to zero.
Many others will join them.