Blaze Media columnist Auron MacIntyre recently observed, "The liberal mind identified cause and effect as an existential threat and decoupled the two long ago." This is how California legislators were able to increase the fast food minimum wage to at least $20 per hour without being concerned by what would happen afterwards.
In this column we warned, "in the future, many of the current California fast food jobs will be held by robots. Other jobs will simply disappear when small owners can’t stay in business with the government setting the pay scale.
"Or, customers refuse to pay the new prices resulting from the wage edict."
Right on time the price increases are coming California’s way.
The New York Post reports (just as we predicted, not that we’re gloating or anything. We eat burgers, too), "McDonald’s and Chipotle said they will raise menu prices in California to pay for the minimum wage hikes the Golden State recently passed into law."
Cause followed by effect.
And even companies that make a habit of hiring illegals are feeling the pinch.
"Meanwhile, Chipotle’s chief financial officer, Jack Hartung, told analysts on a company earnings call last week that the chain will likely raise prices by a 'mid-to-high single-digit' percentage."
McDonalds varies the pricing according to the location of the outlet.
In Connecticut, for example, customers ordering a Big Mac Meal are charged an eye–watering $18.00 ibefore taxes.
But don’t worry, EMTs are just a phone call away for customers who faint after receiving their bill.
What the ignorant ideologues in the California legislature didn’t realize is that passing that bill trapped them in a cause and effect spiral that is inescapable.
As we wrote earlier, Forbes calculates the new minimum wage will raise the yearly salary of fast food workers to $41,600 from the current high of $34,530.00.
The real irony here is that after the latest wage hike and the resulting price increases, fast food workers still won’t be able to afford to eat at fast food outlets.
Even McDonalds admits, "Fewer Americans earning $45,000 or less have been frequenting McDonald’s locations this past quarter, according to the company."
And that was before the legislative induced price increases.
That puts California fast food workers $3,400.00 short of a stress-free Happy Meal after the pay raise!
Happy Meals, though, will be the least of the fast food worker’s worries.
Keeping their job will be the real problem after they meet the kitchen’s new robot overlords.
At the pre-$20 per hour wage the kitchen robot called the "Wingman" was already cheaper than carbon-based employees.
It rents for about $3,000/month. While the people it replaces, under the new wage scale, over a 16-hour day would cost $9,600 per month. And that doesn’t include the meager benefits provided by fast food outlets.
And the Wingman isn’t the robot breathing down their necks.
"Flippy" is a hamburger–making robot happy to make the food the Wingman can’t handle.
We wrote it earlier and our conclusion is just as valid today for the cause and effect ignoramuses in California: We wonder if the people who were cheering Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., (or Gruesome, if you prefer) as he signed the bill will still be applauding a few years from now when fast food jobs are very well paid and very much fewer.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.