Californians FA'd. Now They're FO'ing at the Drive Thru.

Ed Morrissey

Well ... duh. When you artificially inflate business costs, those will get passed along to consumers and workers in one form or another. Either prices go up, jobs get destroyed, or a combination of the two. Casual food stores are now shifting rapidly to kiosks for ordering and payment, only keeping cooks employed, in order to limit exposure. The artificial wage increase also means that these employers will be much less likely to take chances with teenagers or applicants with a spotty employment record. 

Every single one of these outcomes was not only predictable, but predicted. Raising minimum wage levels is inflationary and does nothing to increase overall buying power or wealth.