Restaurant Owner Details Real Impact of “Living Wage” on His Employees

On Jan. 1, San Francisco will mandate a minimum wage of $10.24 per hour. The “living wage” hike is a winner for those who say they want to help the poor. But when you look further into the impact of the “living wage” concept, the reality isn’t so rosy. A San Francisco restaurant owner explains who gets hurt– something many supporters of minimum wage laws don’t want to acknowledge. Here’s a sample of the story, but the entire piece is worth your time.

Daniel Scherotter, chef and owner of Palio D’Asti, an upscale Italian restaurant in theFinancial District, said the city’s minimum wage hike from $9.92 to $10.24 means that his highest-paid employees — the waiters who make most of their income from tips — will see more money in their pockets while his salaried kitchen staff will have to take the hit.

If Scherotter raised menu prices to make up the difference, he’d risk going out of business in this economy.

They Know This Can’t Be Enforced and They Don’t Really Care

Durham County, get ready. Next summer is the target date for the county to expand its anti-smoking ordinance to prohibit smoking on sidewalks outside county and city buildings. Predictably, county commissioners are engaged in a discussion of what/who should be exempted and what/who should not. According to the Herald-Sun, when a smoker walks down a street that includes public and private property, the smoker would be required to put out the cigarette while walking by the public building and then could light up once he/she passes.Why more regulations? The county health director says tobacco smoke is so unsafe that no exposure is acceptable. So why then aren’t cigarettes illegal in this country? We know why: most public officials want the tax revenue derived from the sales.

Over in Chapel Hill another bureaucratic nightmare awaits. Commissioners are having the same silly conversation about their effort to regulate behavior and ban talking on a cell phone while driving. Since state-owned streets are interspersed with town roads, a driver would be allowed to talk on the phone here, but not there, and then here, but not there, etc. This hopscotching of rules is what occurs when government officials attempt to regulate activity they personally don’t like. I don’t smoke and I don’t talk on the phone while driving in heavy traffic or bad weather. I use judgment; I don’t need ordinances.

Spotted on Durham Freeway

Yesterday while driving on the Durham Freeway I spotted yet another car festooned with multiple bumper stickers. Among the five or six leftist messages slapped on the back bumper were an Obama “Hope” decal and a feminist victimhood message that was so vulgar I won’t even post it.