Democrats do some of the craziest things. They come up with some of the most insane ideas on how to make everybody feel equal but in reality, this is going to exclude some by default.

Last month we learn that the Los Angeles City Council enacted a policy which would force certain grocery store chains to pay their workers an additional $5 per hour in calling it hazard pay or hero pay.

As a result, Kroger announced that they would be closing two stores because they were already giving more to their employees due to the pandemic, but now to demand that they pay them more, they’re throwing in the towel.

Kroger announced that it would close two stores in the city, Ralphs and Food 4 Less, on April 17, citing the ordinance.

“As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass an ordinance mandating Extra Pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-struggling store locations in Long Beach,” a Kroger spokesperson said in a news release. “This misguided action by the Long Beach City Council oversteps the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in the city.”

Last month, the city unanimously approved the wage boost to be paid by private companies, with Mayor Robert Garcia (D) tweeting victoriously, “Taking a moment in-between watching inaugural events to sign a $4 an hour pay increase for grocery and supermarket workers. You have earned this hero pay. Thank you for your hard work.”

What the heck is hero pay for a grocery store clerk? Showing up? Is it really an act of heroism to go to work?

At first, this was only a theory this was something that was being discussed well the City Council went ahead pushed it through and now Kroger is making good on their promise to shut down the stores.

Kroger is shutting down stores instead of simply paying the people who are *putting their lives on the line* to strengthen its bottom line.

This kind of greed makes me sick. https://t.co/l555e5Kytv

— Joe Sanberg (@JosephNSanberg) March 10, 2021

This is what happens when you allow the government to dictate how much a business can pay its employees.

So now as a result of this dozens if not hundreds of people are going to be losing their jobs all because the city was trying to force them, a private business, to pay their employees more money.

Friendly reminder that @kroger's profits last year doubled from 1.5B to almost 3B. They're hurting for money not one bit.

https://t.co/bvkiVtclvb via @laist.com

— Jessica Craven (@Craven7Jessica) March 11, 2021

Employees are the ones making money for these crappy stores, not the CEO. I need to find a new place to shop now other than King Soopers.

— Pailhead (@ZombieGirI) March 11, 2021

The thing that I think is really insane is the fact that people are calling this inactive grieve like they don’t want to pay people more money they obviously have no understanding as to how a business actually operates. Let’s say for the sake of easy numbers my business makes $1000 per day let’s say I have 2 employees who work 8 hours a day can make $15 per hour. Now the city is forcing me to pay them $20 per hour for 8 hours of work per day. That is $320 per day in wages. That leaves me with $680 in revenue. Now consider that I have to buy the goods to stock the store. Let’s be generous and say that I have a 50% profit margin on my goods. That means I’m spending $500 per day on products. Now I’m left with $180. I also have to pay taxes for my employees which is $24, leaving me with $156. Oh, I’m supposed to pay for their health insurance too, right? I have no idea what that costs, but it’s not cheap. Let’s be SUPER generous and say it only costs me $10 per day. Now I’m left with $146. Am I going to pay myself? How much? I should get minimum wage at least as well, shouldn’t I? I guess I won’t get hero pay, so I reserve $120 for myself in wages. Now I have $25 left. How am I supposed to replenish that $500 worth of goods I sold?

This is why the government needs to let business owners run their businesses and not someone who knows nothing about it.