Valuetainment - July 26, 2025


＂Newsom Caused This＂ - California NUKES 18,000 Jobs Over Minimum Wage Increases


Episode Stats

Length

16 minutes

Words per Minute

193.77428

Word Count

3,293

Sentence Count

269

Misogynist Sentences

8

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary

California's $20 fast food minimum wage has led to a decline in fast food jobs. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? And why is California the only state in the US that has a $20 minimum wage?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Let's talk about the number one state in unemployment, in homelessness, highest in taxes, and the one that keeps coming up with bad ideas.
00:00:11.380 Get the trophy ready.
00:00:12.740 California's $20 fast food minimum wage that they came up with that everyone's like, oh my God, revolutionary.
00:00:20.720 If California can do it, so can you.
00:00:23.960 Well, before you try to be California with this $20 an hour minimum wage idea, watch these numbers closely.
00:00:32.540 The $20 fast food minimum wage led to 18,000 fewer jobs.
00:00:38.140 A National Bureau of Economic Research paper reported that California's $20 an hour minimum wage enacted in September of 2023, effective in April of 2024, led to 2.7% employment decline.
00:00:52.300 That's a big number in the fast food sector compared to other U.S. regions with a median estimate of 18,000 jobs lost relative to counterfactual.
00:01:03.120 Adjusting for pre-AB-1228 trends, the decline increases to 3.2%.
00:01:09.660 The Employment Policies Institute estimated non-tipped restaurant workers lost 250 hours annually, equating to $4,000 in lost income or seven weeks of work per employee.
00:01:22.080 California Globe reported that thousands of fast food jobs were shed in anticipation of higher costs, including 1,200 drivers just at Pizza Hut.
00:01:31.460 Now, holy moly, after the law took effect, restaurant automated to avoid higher wages with some closing entirely.
00:01:40.720 Stanford University data indicated over 10,000 fast food jobs were lost by June of 2024, two years ago.
00:01:47.160 Despite the governor's office claimed job increase, a claim contradicted by federal data by the fall, California Gavin Newsom signed and defended the minimum wage law.
00:01:57.440 Well, Tom, so guess what? Cause, meat effect. So I take you back to New York City.
00:02:03.620 Was it Michael Bloomberg that said fast food workers in New York City were going to get like 15 bucks an hour?
00:02:08.480 This goes back, Rob, this goes back a little while, several years. We could find it really, really, really fast.
00:02:13.760 So Michael Bloomberg comes out and says, OK, minimum wage has to go up in New York and we have to go up for fast food workers.
00:02:18.980 You know, fast food workers have to get a minimum, a living wage. Really? 16-year-old kid flipping burgers part-time after school needs by law to have a living wage?
00:02:28.820 Are you kidding me? So anyway, guess what that led to? Kiosks. Kiosks.
00:02:35.380 So suddenly you went into McDonald's. You ever been to McDonald's?
00:02:37.800 It's a robot. Yeah, it's a machine.
00:02:39.080 You go up to the wall. It's like a kiosk. And by the way, it's the same thing that happens.
00:02:42.960 And everybody was screaming 20 years ago when Southwest Airlines was one of the first to put kiosks in airports.
00:02:49.940 Wait, what about the workers? To all of us who used to fly planes, what about the damn lines?
00:02:54.640 Yeah, exactly.
00:02:55.040 This is easier. I like this. So guess what's happened? California puts in this.
00:03:00.160 And guess what? You have cause and effect. Combination of Pizza Hut, some of them said we can't even operate.
00:03:05.100 So Group 1, Pizza Hut, we can't even operate. We're closing some of them.
00:03:08.420 And we also, and thanks to crime in Oakland, everyone closed all of them, right?
00:03:13.540 Then you would now have all of these other people where the decision in New York that led to the kiosks getting into McDonald's,
00:03:24.360 this accelerates adoption of kiosks. This accelerates automated food handling back on the grill.
00:03:32.000 That's what this does. Because capitalists go, if I'm going to be forced to take these workers and go to 20 bucks, I'm not, my cost structures aren't made for that.
00:03:44.060 And by the way, if property taxes are going on, what is that Pizza Hut sitting on?
00:03:48.600 California dirt that has California property tax.
00:03:51.840 So you start adding it all up, and suddenly, if you're just looking for votes, you put the $20 minimum wage out there.
00:03:59.840 But if you're looking for burgers, that's not what you want to do.
00:04:02.600 Because pretty soon, burgers are harder to find because they're closing.
00:04:06.220 That's what's happening here.
00:04:07.400 And you're also seeing faster adoption of kiosks, like when New York City came out and said,
00:04:14.520 Michael Bloomberg, president of SCAD 2020, supported $15 minimum wage, but his stance on minimum wage has evolved over time.
00:04:20.980 Because donors have said, hey, man, I own 10 McDonald's.
00:04:23.880 You're not going to see a penny in your election fund, Shorty, unless we can do something about this minimum wage.
00:04:28.860 It's hurting me.
00:04:29.740 And so that's what happened.
00:04:31.620 But the kiosk accelerated in McDonald's after New York came out and said this because capitalists look, hey, man, I'm not trying to run these kids out of my McDonald's.
00:04:42.260 Whatever is the best, most cost-effective way to get burgers to the person standing there with their $10 bill, I want to do it.
00:04:49.220 And if you're going to make me do minimum wage here, then I'm going to look at it and say, well, the airline's putting kiosks.
00:04:54.220 Maybe I'll put in kiosks.
00:04:55.440 That's all that happened.
00:04:56.400 And suddenly this is some evil capitalist thing, and no one's talking about the National Bureau of Economic Research.
00:05:04.100 All they needed to do was to point out who was the guy that led this.
00:05:09.600 So they're saying fast food leads to fewer jobs.
00:05:12.940 So they're talking about fewer jobs and are talking about this impact.
00:05:16.360 Talk about the leader that has caused this.
00:05:18.980 And this is Gavin Newsom.
00:05:20.180 Gavin Newsom is reduced, and he'll come out, take credit, to healthier California because I've been slowly eradicating the scourge that is fast food on our diets.
00:05:31.320 He'll take credit for it in some way.
00:05:33.180 Adam, your thoughts on this?
00:05:34.120 So minimum wage.
00:05:35.480 This is a discussion, I think, that gets people very riled up and emotional because this is one of those issues where emotionally I was like, pay these people more.
00:05:44.240 Years ago, when I first started doing all the Save That Money content, I went down to downtown Miami.
00:05:50.940 There was a Fight for 15 parade, basically, about fighting for 15.
00:05:56.500 Now it's interesting the conversation has shifted to the Fight for 20.
00:06:00.220 And I felt so bad for these fast food workers.
00:06:03.480 They're the people that work at the airports.
00:06:05.100 They're the people that work, you know, sort of the medial jobs that nobody wants to do.
00:06:08.960 And I felt so bad for these people.
00:06:10.280 But interestingly enough, this is what Pat always talks about, not a lot of them spoke English.
00:06:15.960 I didn't see a lot of them who were looking to improve or basically saying, I'm trying to do better in my life.
00:06:20.120 They just said, pay me more, pay me more, pay me more.
00:06:22.840 So on the surface, you're like, oh, okay, I feel bad for these people.
00:06:25.800 But when you peel back the onion, you peel back the layers, and you actually look at it from the small business perspective, which I appreciate.
00:06:32.200 I've learned so much sitting next to PBD.
00:06:34.460 You realize this, all these raises are just going to get passed on to the consumer as a tax, basically.
00:06:43.380 So your hamburger is going to cost more.
00:06:46.860 Prices to basically go out and eat at restaurants are going to cost more.
00:06:50.400 The small business owner will probably cut staff or cut hours, reduce hours.
00:06:54.260 You talked about automation.
00:06:55.660 You talked about kiosks.
00:06:57.240 There's also a ripple effect of why it leads to inflation.
00:06:59.580 Because let's say you're making 20 right now, and there's people who are at 15 that are fighting for 20.
00:07:04.900 And the people at 15 get the 20.
00:07:07.680 You're at 20.
00:07:08.640 You're this person's manager.
00:07:09.760 You're going to say, all right, well, you just gave this guy 20.
00:07:13.060 I want 25 now.
00:07:14.500 I want 30 now.
00:07:15.940 And because now this person got for their 15 to 20, now your 20 is going to go to 25.
00:07:21.460 So everything is going to get inflated, inflated, inflated.
00:07:24.820 And the small business owner is going to say, what the hell is going on here?
00:07:27.580 They're either going to pass the higher pricing on to you, or they're going to go out of business,
00:07:33.140 which you've seen so many times in California.
00:07:35.860 And then you had that one lady in California who said basically, fight for 15, fight for 20.
00:07:41.700 I'm fighting for 50.
00:07:43.300 And do some simple math.
00:07:45.300 $50 an hour is $100,000 a year.
00:07:49.740 So now you're flipping burgers, making 100 Gs.
00:07:52.660 And a happy meal is a very unhappy 22 bucks.
00:07:55.560 It's very true.
00:07:57.780 Very sad.
00:07:58.480 Yeah.
00:07:58.720 I mean, look, it's so funny.
00:08:00.360 A guy sends me a man act about, well, let me tell you, you know, here's what I'm going through.
00:08:04.100 And this is what I'm doing.
00:08:05.340 I'm like, read these four books.
00:08:07.760 Yeah, but aside from reading those books, what can I do to make more money and all this?
00:08:11.540 I said, go to business conferences.
00:08:13.820 Yeah, but aside from going to the business conferences and what do I need to, I want to know the real secret.
00:08:17.800 I said, have better friends that, you know, offer better peer pressure to you where you're the lowest earner out of all your friends.
00:08:24.840 Never be the biggest earner.
00:08:26.260 Yeah, but I want the real secret.
00:08:28.460 Excuses.
00:08:29.180 I'm like, buddy, listen, I'm not the guy for you.
00:08:31.900 Yeah.
00:08:32.340 There's no secret.
00:08:33.140 If you want minimum wage to increase and you're making the argument about it being unfair, how are you recreating yourself and improving yourself?
00:08:40.640 What new skill set are you picking up?
00:08:41.960 How are you getting better?
00:08:42.720 How are you changing this mindset of it's everybody else's fault instead of you taking responsibility?
00:08:47.680 What are you doing about it?
00:08:48.700 I had a guy I was talking to.
00:08:50.340 He said, man, what do I do to make more money?
00:08:51.980 This guy's over 300 pounds.
00:08:53.260 I said, lose 60 pounds.
00:08:55.420 You're 60 pounds away from making more money.
00:08:57.440 What do you mean?
00:08:58.460 I said, dude, you realize your body was built to be 180.
00:09:03.400 Yeah.
00:09:04.840 You know how impossible, what you're doing is called doing the impossible.
00:09:08.060 How many people whose body was built to only have 180 pounds can go around all day carrying a 120-pound dumbbell?
00:09:18.440 That's what you're doing.
00:09:19.540 Yeah.
00:09:19.860 I said, you're doing the impossible.
00:09:21.700 I said, it's impossible for you to compete with somebody else that's 60 pounds lighter than you.
00:09:26.160 You want a career promotion?
00:09:27.540 Yes, lose 60 pounds.
00:09:29.540 Oh, that's harsh.
00:09:30.780 No, no.
00:09:31.180 It's the truth.
00:09:31.740 It's the truth.
00:09:32.720 I'm having a hard time finding girls.
00:09:34.500 Are you surprised?
00:09:35.060 Are you surprised?
00:09:37.600 And you know what's always a confusing thing?
00:09:39.420 It's like, hey, why doesn't she like me?
00:09:41.840 Can we introduce her to me?
00:09:43.580 I'm like, bro, you're 300 pounds.
00:09:46.700 Yeah.
00:09:47.000 What do you mean she doesn't like you?
00:09:48.240 Well, Biggie was 300 pounds.
00:09:49.880 Biggie was a rapper.
00:09:51.080 Biggie was the best rapper alive.
00:09:52.640 Biggie was a rapper.
00:09:53.840 You broke three of her ribs giving her a hug.
00:09:55.660 Did you see the types of girls they got?
00:09:59.480 But Biggie.
00:10:00.000 Yeah.
00:10:00.420 No, no.
00:10:00.840 Bro, you're not Biggie.
00:10:02.400 Okay?
00:10:02.900 No, you're not.
00:10:03.620 You're a hugey.
00:10:04.480 But listen, as much as I'm having fun with this, I'm 23 years old, $49,000 in debt, nothing's
00:10:16.540 going right in my life, bad relationship, the girl I wanted to marry doesn't work out, and
00:10:22.960 I'm by myself asking me, would you allow your future daughter to marry you?
00:10:28.300 And the answer was a unanimous, hell no.
00:10:32.600 And then what happened?
00:10:33.440 Then I changed.
00:10:35.540 I made changes.
00:10:36.760 What was the most basic change?
00:10:38.100 I wouldn't stop reading business books.
00:10:40.500 What was the other change?
00:10:41.540 I kept going to business events.
00:10:43.620 You know, I'm talking to Tony last week, Tony Robbins.
00:10:45.420 I said, Tony, you know I went to UPW at 21 years old.
00:10:48.380 Long Beach.
00:10:49.360 I went to a Tony Robbins conference at 21 years old, 25 years ago, and let me tell you
00:10:54.540 what happened.
00:10:54.960 I go to this event, and I'm attending it, right?
00:10:57.060 I'm like, oh my God, what am I going to do?
00:10:58.340 I'm going to this place, and so I go, I'm at Long Beach Convention Center, and I'm sitting
00:11:03.020 next to a guy.
00:11:03.840 Craziest thing happens to me, I'm sitting next to a guy.
00:11:05.540 So I'm trying to, so, you know, why are you here?
00:11:07.740 And I'm learning how to speak, so I'm kind of like a little awkward.
00:11:10.740 That's mechanical.
00:11:11.660 It's a very awkward thing.
00:11:13.160 You don't know how to do this.
00:11:14.480 It's like one of those things, like, so it's like, so I sit next to this guy, and I said,
00:11:21.800 so what's your outcome of being here?
00:11:24.940 What brought you here?
00:11:26.240 He says, man, I'm just trying to have a breakthrough, bro.
00:11:28.440 I'm like, wow, that's pretty impressive.
00:11:29.600 How old are you?
00:11:30.180 45 years old.
00:11:30.900 How old are you?
00:11:31.200 I'm 21.
00:11:32.200 He's trying to have a breakthrough.
00:11:33.040 Yeah, I've just hit a wall.
00:11:34.300 Like, damn, you know, now he starts sympathizing with the guy.
00:11:37.120 I'm like, seriously, you've hit a wall?
00:11:38.300 So now I'm trying to help him out.
00:11:39.940 I'm like, oh, wow, it's pretty, listen, I mean, life is good.
00:11:42.000 Yeah, I said, what caused you to hit the wall?
00:11:44.240 He says, three years ago, I sold my business for $400 million.
00:11:46.760 Ever since then, I've been a little bit lost.
00:11:49.500 I'm like, dude, can I hit a wall?
00:11:51.600 Where is that wall?
00:11:52.940 Help me.
00:11:53.840 I want to find that wall, Doug.
00:11:55.780 I want to hit that wall.
00:11:57.720 Find that wall for me.
00:11:58.780 Let me hit it.
00:11:59.360 Bam, I hit the wall, right?
00:12:00.760 I need the coordinates.
00:12:03.460 I'm looking for a wall.
00:12:04.680 So then I'm like, wow.
00:12:06.760 There are people that are at $400 million with a standard of,
00:12:13.080 if you want to recreate yourself, that's when I realized this is a never-ending process in life.
00:12:19.440 There are billionaires that are going through trying to find the next phase in their lives.
00:12:24.460 And unfortunately, people that are fighting to raise minimum wage,
00:12:27.600 you're being screwed.
00:12:29.920 You really are.
00:12:30.820 Instead, you know, for me, what was the biggest saving grace was the books, was the relationship,
00:12:36.240 and I went to four to ten business conferences every single year.
00:12:39.860 That 21-year-old guy is now putting a conference called Vault Conference.
00:12:42.880 Nearly 12,000 people are going to be there in the keynote speakers.
00:12:45.020 Tony Robbins, Martha Stewart, and David Falk, where you saw Michael Jordan negotiations.
00:12:50.200 And now this is leading to us.
00:12:53.100 Today, we're about to get on a plane to go to Arkansas to sit down with a couple clients
00:12:56.140 that we have an engagement with.
00:12:57.720 We're literally going to be with their employees.
00:12:59.280 These guys got now, we started working with them three, four years ago.
00:13:01.980 They had an EBITDA that was making 2-3%.
00:13:04.500 Right now they have an EBITDA of nearly $7 million for the first six months of the year.
00:13:07.780 Let's go.
00:13:08.200 And we're going to go hang out with these guys, Morgan and Sean.
00:13:09.860 We're going to have a good time with those guys when we go to Arkansas.
00:13:11.740 Healthy double-digit percent.
00:13:13.020 Healthy double.
00:13:14.160 It's a couple hundred million-dollar company.
00:13:15.600 Serious, even.
00:13:16.240 We're going to get on the agenda.
00:13:17.080 We're going to go spend some time in Arkansas.
00:13:18.600 I told them, I said, I can't wait to see the beach in Arkansas.
00:13:20.420 It's incredible.
00:13:21.440 It's beautiful.
00:13:22.160 The waves, when they hit the side, it's beautiful.
00:13:23.800 It's just an incredible experience.
00:13:26.540 What's the moral of the story?
00:13:27.880 What's wrong with Arkansas?
00:13:29.080 If somebody is watching this, arguing for $20 minimum wage, and you're seeing the consequences,
00:13:35.300 the market is going to do something very simple to you.
00:13:38.700 If you're not worth the money, they'll fire you.
00:13:42.460 Either the customers will fire you, the company will fire you, and the market's going to say,
00:13:45.860 go lie to somebody else and see if somebody hires you.
00:13:47.740 And if they do, see if you'll keep the job.
00:13:50.240 Half the battle is if you can keep the job.
00:13:52.600 And some guys can land a good girl, but can you keep her?
00:13:54.920 Some girls can land a great guy, but can you keep them long-term?
00:13:57.120 It's a lot of work.
00:13:58.300 Maybe you are worth what you think you are.
00:14:00.020 Market will say, no, you're not.
00:14:01.820 If it's saying, no, you're not, and you want to do something about it, or if you want to
00:14:04.400 have a complete different recreation phase for yourself, breakthrough, go to the vault
00:14:10.040 conference in Orlando.
00:14:11.960 Come join us.
00:14:13.100 We're all going to be there.
00:14:13.820 My family's going to be there.
00:14:14.660 Kids are going to be there.
00:14:15.360 Wife's going to be there.
00:14:15.920 Everyone's going to be there.
00:14:16.660 And it's exciting times that we're doing at this event.
00:14:19.820 We got some special, special things that will be announced at that event, but that's the
00:14:24.800 $20 minimum wage argument.
00:14:26.520 Oh, my God.
00:14:27.700 Let's raise that $20 to a real number instead of just $20 minimum wage.
00:14:31.600 You know what's back?
00:14:32.920 You know a fun fact about Tom Ellsworth that you all need to know about?
00:14:36.860 Tom, how many Yetis do you have in your kitchen?
00:14:38.820 I believe I have about 30 of these Yetis.
00:14:43.720 Tom has 30 Yetis.
00:14:45.800 Question is, how many Yetis do you have in your kitchen, right?
00:14:49.140 How competitive are you?
00:14:50.580 Can you keep up?
00:14:51.400 Can you keep up?
00:14:52.800 So guess what?
00:14:53.360 The Yetis are back, Rob.
00:14:54.280 If you want to put it up and play the video, we have the pink ones for the ladies.
00:14:57.920 Fellas, go buy your wife the pink or the white one.
00:15:00.480 Press play, Rob.
00:15:01.100 And you can lower the audio a little bit, but you got the white ones, the Future Look Sprite
00:15:05.020 with the Vitamin logo.
00:15:06.640 You got the blue, Fellas, black, Future Look Sprite, takes it to your office.
00:15:11.180 You got the small ones, the big ones, all of them.
00:15:14.280 So if you're somebody that drinks a lot of coffee or you drink a lot of tea or you drink
00:15:18.980 a lot of protein, whatever it may be, or you're Adam, you are somebody that's constantly,
00:15:24.180 what does Adam do with his bottle of water?
00:15:26.080 He's always blowing it.
00:15:27.740 He does the bubble thing.
00:15:28.680 He does the bubble thing for his voice.
00:15:30.180 That's why I got the pink Yeti.
00:15:31.860 You know what we have, ladies and gentlemen?
00:15:33.460 Pay attention here.
00:15:34.500 These are the taper bottoms that fit in all cars.
00:15:38.000 See the taper bottom?
00:15:39.360 Don't have to worry about it.
00:15:40.280 Regardless of the car you have, it fits in a cup holder in the front.
00:15:42.740 Here's what I'm going to do right now.
00:15:43.820 And look at this.
00:15:44.700 The pink and the white one.
00:15:46.600 You know what?
00:15:47.320 This one in there.
00:15:48.180 Bigger, better.
00:15:49.320 L'chaim, BBD.
00:15:50.800 And Pat, you know the pink and the white one?
00:15:52.740 Yeah.
00:15:53.060 Bigger, better insulated than the Stanley.
00:15:55.100 Your wife will love these better than Stanley's.
00:15:57.700 Again, remember, when we do these, guys, we don't do a big order, okay?
00:16:01.360 We even have the one Yeti all the way at the bottom for dogs, okay?
00:16:06.040 The Yeti pole.
00:16:06.840 Can you imagine?
00:16:07.420 Your dog's even going to be optimistic about the future, guys, if you get this form.
00:16:10.940 So go place your order.
00:16:11.880 We want a million future looks bright pieces all over the world.
00:16:17.580 And if you support the brand, go support future looks bright.
00:16:20.620 Get yourself a Yeti.
00:16:21.480 And while you're there, maybe pick up a hat or two for yourself as well.
00:16:24.220 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:16:26.880 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:16:29.660 And if you want to watch more videos like this, click here.