Advocates of command economies argue that government regulation of wages, prices, and production will lead to a more equitable allocation of income and wealth.
But that’s hardly the case under California’s new fast-food command economy. An unusual exemption from California’s new $20 minimum wage requirement for fast food workers appears aimed at propping up at least one billionaire friend and donor of Gov. Gavin Newsom at the expense of the wages of bread bakers.
In September 2023, California created a Fast Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations and tasked it with developing minimum standards for fast-food employment related to training, working conditions, health and safety, and wages.
The same law that created the council—Assembly Bill 1228—set a $20 per hour minimum wage for fast-food restaurant workers, beginning April 1, 2024….
