How compassionate are "progressives"?

Last week, I posted a piece on the preemptive closing of a check cashing operation near me.

This week, I have a story about a nearby deli that recently closed as a result of the smoking ban and minimum wage increase.

My understanding of the situation is this. This deli owner had been scrapping by for at least as long as I have been operating at my current location (about 11 years). He was basically making a small but decent living.

When the minimum wage increased, it did hurt his profits but he was able to get by and squeeze out a smaller income.

When the smoking law kicked in, it wiped him out. The irony is that his place was non smoking. Unfortunately, a big chunk of his business came from the bar next door. He catered their small bar menu (chicken wings, burgers, sandwiches, etc.). The smoking ban hurt the bar business just enough to put him out of business.

So how sympathetic do you think our garden variety "progressive" is about the loss of this business. Based on a quote from a comment on this post, I'd say, not very....

The jobs that will be lost (payday lenders should be able to operate just fine at 28% APR) aren't value added jobs. They simply serve to assist and industry in pilfering hardworking Ohioans of their hard earned dollars. Payday loans provide no net tangible benefit for consumers or Ohio's struggling economy.

So the question to Mr. "Progressive". Were these jobs "value added"? Is a bagger at a grocery store doing a "value added" job? What exactly makes a job "value added" versus one that isn't?

Was this business "pilfering hardworking Ohioans of their hard earned dollars". Afterall, you could probably get chicken salad a lot cheaper at Kroger's than this little place.

Do delicatessens provide any "net tangible benefit for consumers or Ohio's struggling economy"? Let's face it. The people who worked here help contribute to the country's obesity problem. I mean, how many jobs were lost here; 4 or 5 part time low wage jobs? What's the big deal? Right.

Maybe the reason for Ohio's struggling economy is that we have too much of this type of thinking from our state's "progressives".

What the hell is so "progressive" about unemployment?