That time Bloomberg said a $10 minimum wage proposal was creeping state communism.

This is from 2012:

Mike Bloomberg in a hard hat.                               (photo: Dana Rubenstein)

"On Wednesday night, City Council speaker Christine Quinn announced that negotiations were finally complete on a living wage bill that would require some recipients of large economic development subsidies to pay their employees at least $10 an hour.

"Quinn calls it 'the most impactful living-wage law in the United States,' but experts say it will actually impact about 500 workers a year.

"Even so, today, Bloomberg compared the legislation to communism and said he would veto the bill and if the veto is overridden, his administration will file a lawsuit.

"'It's interesting if you think about it,' said the mayor. 'The last time we really had a big managed economy was the USSR and that didn't work out so well.'"

"'It would be great if all jobs in the city paid a lot of money and had great benefits for the workers. Not good for the employers. But if you force that you will just drive businesses out of the city.'"

The rest of the story: 'Living wage' reminds Bloomberg of Soviet communism; he says he'll stop it in court if he has to by Dana Rubinstein (Politico)