Any business that pays 2021 Americans $7.15/hr for labor is either predatory or very poorly run. This woman needs to adapt her model so that she doesn’t have to treat her employees like trash.
The investor class comment was in reference to the macroeconomics of the situation. I’m sure there will be some small business casualties, as some owners will not want to adapt, but the vast majority of discomfort from a $15 MW will be felt by the investor class. We love to glorify small businesses in this country, but they are a minuscule part of our economy. That being said I’m all for some sort of small business transitionary tax relief, but the $15 MW has to be universal.
The slave owner comment was hyperbole, but also an observation that the landed aristocracy is still using racism and bigotry to co-opt poor whites into rejecting social and political reforms that would actually help them. A line of political coercion that can be traced all the way back to Jamestown.
Small business owners will have to adjust in the short term, but in the long term people having more cash in their pocket can only benefit them.