Yeah, nobody could possibly have seen this coming

Unless, of course, you're asking whether I could have seen this coming, as I did here and here and here. And those aren't the only times I made the argument on this blog that dramatically increasing the minimum wage hurts minimum wage earners. Nonetheless, the wizards of smart in New York paid no attention to me. How's that working out for them? Not so great:

New York City’s minimum wage jumped more than 15 percent overnight on January 1, and employers are already cutting workers’ hours as a result.
CBS has the story.

Jon Bloostein operates six New York City restaurants that employ between 50 and 110 people each. The owner of Heartland Brewery and Houston Hall, Bloostein said the effect of the higher minimum wage on payroll across locations represents "an immense cost" to his business.
"We lost control of our largest controllable expense," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "So in order to live with that and stay in business, we're cutting hours."
Cutting hours was not Bloostein’s only option, one might say. And it’s true. But cutting hours was not the only option he took.
Bloostein also cut staff positions. For example, instead of being greeted by a host or hostess, customers are greeted by a sign. He also increased menu prices.
“[It] will cost more to dine out," Bloostein said. "It's not great for labor, it's not great for the people who invest in or own restaurants, and it's not great for the public."

Bloostein is just one restaurant owner, you might say. But he is not alone. A New York City Hospitality Alliance survey shows that 75 percent of restaurants said they planned to cut employees hours in response to the wage hike. Nearly half (47 percent) said they’d cut jobs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell me all about how people working for minimum wage can't live on it. Businesses can't stay in business if it costs them more to pay their employees than they make from the work of those employees. It's simple math. The one true minimum wage is zero. And that's what a bunch of New York restaurant employees will be making soon. Oddly enough, even liberal media outlets (but I repeat myself) know that once upon a time:

However pure the intentions of New York politicians might be, the minimum wage will have a dire impact on those who can least afford it: young, poor workers who will not be afforded important job experience. It’s a terrible way to fight poverty, The New York Times (once) observed:

The idea of using a minimum wage to overcome poverty is old, honorable – and fundamentally flawed. It’s time to put this hoary debate behind us and find a better way to improve the lives of people who work very hard for very little.

If $15 is a great idea for a minimum wage, then tell me this: how many people can live in New York City on $15 an hour? Why stop there? Why not make the minimum wage $50 an hour, and do it everywhere. Wouldn't that instantly make the poor no longer poor? Of course not, and everyone knows it, because no business would hire any unskilled schlub for $50 an hour. Most can't afford to hire highly skilled people with advanced degrees at that rate and still make money. Hint: $50 an hour is almost double what contract attorneys make. People with law degrees, not just high school diplomas.

But hey, keep raising that minimum wage, libtards. Let me know how that works out for you.

You want a higher minimum wage? This is what you get

Faced with economically illiterate progressives pushing for a higher minimum wage, the companies that actually employ people at minimum wage are taking steps that are totally predictable -- automating jobs out of existence. Wendy's is among the first of the biggies, but it won't be the last:

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Wendy's says it plans to install self-ordering kiosks at about 1,000 locations by the end of the year.
A typical location would have three kiosks, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Higher-volume restaurants will be given priority for the kiosks.

Sounds like a lot of Wendy's cashiers are looking at unemployment which, regardless of the minimum wage, pays nothing. And for those of you who think this is the worst development ever, think again:

Customers will still be able to order at the counter for now, although Tristano predicts that mobile ordering and payment via smartphones will one day overtake self-ordering kiosks and cash registers.

And believe it, automation will replace a lot of people in the kitchen, too. Want to Fight for 15? The hundreds of people who still have jobs with the minimum wage at that level will thank you. So will the makers of automation systems that will replace the millions of unskilled former employees who are making the true minimum wage -- zero.