Why has California set a minimum hourly wage of $20 ($22 next year) for hamburger helpers, and left the rest of its citizens exposed to the free market?

“Here you go, little one.”

Are they so rare that they should be paid more than they’re worth?

The new law will prove a pyrrhic victory when, as is inevitable, the burger flippers’ hours are cut, and robots will their jobs, but California’s Democrats have decided that, alone among low-skilled workers, fast food workers must be paid a “living wage” of $40,000, which is higher than, say, beginning teachers’ salaries in parts of the state. Gardners, pool cleaners, and secretaries have been deemed unworthy of the state’s paternal attention, while McDonald’s unskilled labor force (but not Panera’s — go figure) should get a pay raise, courtesy of their employers and customers. Color me puzzled.

While we’re on the subject, why is Los Angeles trying to attract more homeless drug addicts by building them $837,000 apartments, while its working citizens are left out in the cold? Is there some grand plan afoot to crush the middle class and make paupers of the elites’ subjects? Glenn Reynolds makes good case for that interpretation of the Left’s policies.