EDITORIAL: Mugged by reality

California’s minimum wage jumps to $10.50 an hour on Sunday, on the way to $15 by Jan. 1, 2022. A number of the state’s municipalities have implemented even higher wage floors — San Francisco’s hits $14 next week.

The progressive Democrats who dominate the state routinely dismiss concerns that such edicts kill jobs and hinder opportunities for low-skilled workers and teenagers looking to gain valuable employment experience. But if entrepreneurs and small business owners can easily absorb these wage hikes, why not eventually order employers to pay $30 an hour?

The answer should be obvious even to the most strident “Fight for $15” protester. These types of regulations do indeed have real-world consequences.

All this brings to mind George McGovern, the stalwart liberal Democrat who secured his party’s presidential nomination in 1972. After losing to Richard Nixon, Mr. McGovern returned to the U.S. Senate as a representative from South Dakota before losing his bid for a fourth term in 1980. Upon leaving public life, Mr. McGovern tried his hand at a number of endeavors and even owned a New England inn for a time. The experience was an eye-opener for him.

In a 1992 oped in the Wall Street Journal, he lamented his contribution to expanding the administrative state. His turn as a hotel operator had been a failure — in part, he argued, due to burdensome federal, state and local rules that “were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc.”

All of these interventions, he wrote, “take no account of other realities, such as profit margins, labor intensive vs. capital intensive businesses and local market economics.”

A similar epiphany has apparently hit some members of the Los Angeles theater community when it comes to California’s minimum wage law. Turns out that many aspiring performers are happy to work for small stipends at so-called “99-cent” theaters in return for the experience and exposure. For decades, such L.A. venues were exempt from wage requirements.

But a new contract with the Actors’ Equity Association imposes state wage floors on these productions. Supporters of the city’s small theater scene, including activist Ed Asner — yes, Ed Asner! — have filed suit contesting the deal and arguing that it could force certain small venues to close.

Absent relief, “several theaters said they will trim shows from their schedules to save costs,” the Wall Street Journal reported this week. One producer told the paper that, “You’re probably going to see a lot more one-person shows.”

What’s the old saying about a liberal mugged by reality? Because in the end, good intentions and wishful thinking can’t alter the laws of economics.