24 June 2024
California's Minimum Wage Hypocrisy
California has been raising its minimum wage for a while now to be among the highest in the country, with a big boost signed into law in 2023 by Governor Gavin Newsom. That particular piece of industry-specific legislation raised the minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast-food workers, and also put health care workers on track to make $25 per hour by 2033.
California is an expensive place to live—as fans of the minimum wage increase point out—so it makes sense that wages there would have to be higher, either organically or by government edict. Whether the cost of living has been increased by minimum wages laws is a chicken-or-egg problem I’m not remotely prepared to address.
What I want to point to today is this article I ran across: California Democrats agree to delay health care worker minimum wage increase to help balance budget.
It turns out that the State of California actually has to pay the wages of a lot of health care workers out of the state budget, either directly or via Medicaid. And if the first step in wages takes place on July, as scheduled, it would cost the state—which is very deeply in the red—$2 billion.
Oops.
As a result, the increase for health care workers is being “delayed.” Note that this is being done by Democrats, who fully control the state legislature. I’m not sure whether to call it backstabbing or bait-and-switch or simply a self-serving and hypocritical act.
Note also that fast-food workers—who already got their full increase to $20 per hour in April—are far less important to the well-being of all Californians than health care workers are. But the cost of that minimum wage increase is being borne by businesses and their customers.
When it hits the state in the pocketbook, suddenly it’s too much.
Thoughts?
Wanted to share something interesting, sort of tangentially related to my mind at least and truly inspirational. If you haven't heard of Baldasrre Forestaire and his underground orchard in CA you might find this doc link fascinating. For me he is a perfect example of American immigrant ingenuity and the ability to literally make lemonade from real lemons. He took hard luck and made something enduring and incredible from it. Not a bunch of money, but something even better imo--- a proven ability and determinaton to survive and thrive in the face of disaster and impossible odds. Talk about refusing to be a victim and a good reminder that the idiots at the top do not ultimately control us, regardless of whatever policies they impose from the top down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUKRPoQKynk
Very few minimum wage workers can afford even semi decent housing here anymore. Even better paid workers can barely make it. Obviously hypocrisy and stupidity are rife at every level of government now. The Dems happen to be the ones in charge in this case but the Reps have done their share of damage. I don't think any system, including capitalism is foolproof and the fools are definitely running the show. All functioning social systems depend on a majority of folks working together in good faith. Too many on both sides of the aisle at the top are just out for what they can get now. Not sure what we can do about that. It's so much bigger and broader than just the minimum wage thing. Sadly I have come to expect idiocy from all levels of governmemt corpratocracy.