Dennis Prager argues LA's $5 hero pay mandate forced Kroger, Ralphs, and Food 4 Less to close stores, leaving workers jobless. He claims minimum wage rules ignore regional cost-of-living differences and serve Democratic interests, not workers.
The callousness. That's the perfect word. Ah, you know, hitting the perfect word is one of the great joys of life. The callousness of the Democratic Party and the left which it serves. NBC Los Angeles, Food 4 Less, and two Los Angeles Ralph's stores. Ralph's is a major supermarket chain here. To close in May. The Kroger Company announced 3 store closings in Los Angeles following an earlier decision to close a Ralphs and a Food 4 Less in Long Beach. Now, why would that be? The move follows the Los Angeles City Council's grocery store workers hero pay vote on March 3rd. That's an ordinance that requires large grocery and pharmacy retailers to offer employees an additional $5 per hour in hazard pay amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So you see, it worked. We are forcing you— I don't know what right they have. The whole thing is so amazing. We are going to tell private companies how much they have to pay their workers. They may not be able, and they will close, and the workers will be then unemployed, but we don't care. That's what I mean, the callousness. The left lives to feel good about itself. This is the self-esteem movement. As a monster. Self-esteem movement was founded by a liberal Democrat, John Vasconcellos, I think in the 1980s, in, as a member of the California State Senate. So this is it. I feel good about giving people working in markets supermarkets. I feel good about forcing the supermarkets to give them more money. The supermarkets cannot afford it and they will shut down. We don't care. Same with the minimum wage. The whole idea of a national minimum wage is callous. It is saying to people in Mississippi, where the standard of living is much lower— I should say the cost of living, I shouldn't say the standard of living. I think the standard of life is higher in Mississippi than in New York. I truly believe that. But the standard of income is lower. So you are telling Mississippi restaurants you have to pay what New York restaurants pay. New York restaurants charge far more money and are better capable of handling those payments. So what? So what? We feel good about ourselves because we did two things. We raised the minimum wage of workers so we feel we are moral. And second, that's what the unions told us to do, which is all the Democratic Party does is what unions tell them to do. I was told this by the most prominent Democrat in California about 20 years ago. I will not mention his name because I promised him I wouldn't. And that's the way it works. So there'll be fewer stores. The number of store closures is frightening. All right, I would like you to hear some of Joe Biden's speech. Let us begin with cut 79.
Denials for days, weeks, then months that led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness.
Okay, a couple of things. First, it's a pretty common thing that presidents blame the previous presidents, so this is I don't care that he does it. I care that he gives this facade of I am above this disunity talk. What were the denials of months? What did President Trump deny for months? They never specify. It is the world of generalizations without examples. I give generalizations all the time and always with examples. Now wait a minute though, that led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness. No, the lockdown led to more stress and more loneliness. I don't, I don't think that the, uh, the denials led to more deaths. The states that had the most deaths were in the least denial. But it's been a phenomenon of the last year, what's been blamed on COVID and not been blamed on the lockdown. COVID does not cause loneliness. Lockdowns have caused loneliness. Severe, I might add. Number 80.
So many of you have had to make that same walk this past year. You lost your job, you closed your business, facing eviction, homelessness, hunger, a loss of control, maybe worst of all, a loss of hope. Watching a generation of children who may be set back up to a year or more because they've not been in school because of their loss of learning.
Right, exactly. All caused by the lockdown. It's, it's just a world of make-believe. The world of the left is a world of make-believe. It was caused by the lockdown, the greatest mistake in history, and more and more people realize it. I said that in March or April. I was roundly vilified for it, but it turned out right. Then he is going to speak— well, I won't give the plot away. Mr. Unity will have more disuniting ideas for us in a moment. In the meantime, go to my website, click on our cruise for June and the Israel trip for October, and you will be a happier human being coming with me.
The Dennis Prager Show, live from the Relief Factor Pain-Free Studio.
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