The Coffee Shop in Union Square was iconic. It regularly made cameo appearances whenever Sarah Jessica Parker needed caffeine on HBO’s “Sex in the City.” The same Coffee Shop in Union Square became part of the national conversation this week after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez snapped a selfie in front of it.
This isn’t because Ocasio-Cortez has more star power than Parker. Hardly. It’s because the minimum wage policies that the socialist supports have put the Coffee Shop she loves out of business.
“The restaurant I used to work at is closing its doors,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “I swung by today to say hi one last time, and kid around with friends like old times. I’m a normal, working person who chose to run for office, because I believe we can have a better future.”
The restaurant I used to work at is closing its doors.
I swung by today to say hi one last time, and kid around with friends like old times.
I’m a normal, working person who chose to run for office, because I believe we can have a better future.
You can do it too. We all can. pic.twitter.com/WeNsFm4eTt
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 20, 2018
The owner of the restaurant, Charles Milite, broke the news to his 150 employees last week, telling the New York Post afterward that the beloved eatery just couldn’t keep up with the times.
“The times have changed in our industry,” Milite explained. “The rents are very high and now the minimum wage is going up and we have a huge number of employees.”
That wage jumped in New York City to $13.00 an hour this year, on its way to $15.00. It has been some time since Ocasio-Cortez waited tables, and apparently longer since she was taught anything about basic economics. When asked about the effects of a $15 minimum wage on the economy during an interview with Trevor Noah in July, the socialist candidate made two bizarre claims. First, she claimed that Seattle didn’t suffer when that city raised its minimum wage. She also said that 200 million Americans, supposedly 40 percent of the country, currently make less than $20,000 year.
The first claim shows an intellectual laziness. According to a study commissioned by the city of Seattle itself, the hike disproportionately harmed low-wage workers. The number of hours worked by that demographic dropped by 3.5 million per quarter. Ocasio-Cortez would know this if she just did the reading.
The second claim demonstrates a poor grasp on reality. According to the Census Bureau, the population of the country is more like 328 million and the median household income in 2016 was $57,230. Ocasio-Cortez would know this if she ever looked at the numbers. But she has a lot in common with other candidates who don’t bother to read or study when forming their ideas – perhaps that’s part of the procedure for becoming a socialist.
