Rendell Proposes Ending Dollar Menu

...But not in so many words. Ever since Ed Rendell fast-talked his way into the Pennsylvania Governor's mansion, he has been trying to destroy Pennsylvania businesses and make the state even poorer at encouraging new companies to start up. What a good little socialist. The sad thing is, he may have finally found a way to succeed, by hitting the state lawmakers at their most vulnerable spot: their own wallets.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday he favors increasing state judges' pay "no matter what," but would not approve a raise for state lawmakers unless they agreed to boost the state's minimum wage.
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"If they're interested in revisiting the pay raise bill, they have to make it clear to me that they'd approve a minimum-wage increase," Rendell told reporters after speaking before about 2,000 AARP members outside the Capitol.

Well, that is just peachy. Nothing gets a socialist's rocks off like mandating ridiculous policies whose only purpose is to hurt successful businesses. Usually once a week I go to a nearby McDonald's for lunch, because I can fill myself up with three items from the Dollar Menu (which is $3.18 after our sales tax). The McDonald's here is staffed almost entirely by high school and maybe college students, with an adult manager running the place and babysitting them. Most of these kids earn minimum wage during their four hour shifts; even those who are above the minimum level likely do not earn the $7.15/hour Rendell is proposing demanding.

So, let's say that my local McDonald's increases everyone's pay to a minimum of $7.15/hour. Suddenly their expenses jump way up, and there is NO compensating surge in income or business to make up for it. Wow! Who didn't see that coming? I mean, it's great that the high school kids have a few more bucks each week for their weed and cell phones, and whatever other unnecessary and worthless pursuits in which they may engage, but McDonald's will need to do something to offset their new expenses. You can bet the items with the lowest profit margins will disappear pretty quickly; there goes the Dollar Menu. It takes little imagination to see similar scenarios play out all across the state in nearly every aspect of business.

Fortunately there is one state lawmaker who calls Fast Eddie on this garbage.

But House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, said he wasn't interested in making such a trade-off.

"If we consider a pay raise, it'll be on the merits of a pay raise itself, and if we consider a minimum-wage bill, it'll be on the merits of minimum wage," Smith said. "I'm not linking them, and I think it's wrong for the governor to do so."

I just hope that Representative Smith can avoid Rendell's reeducation.