Bread Costs $11 in California Because of Minimum-Wage Increase?

A rumor that the cost of bread in California had reached $10.99 circulated online in September 2024. 

According to posts (archived) sharing the claim, the reason behind the surge in pricing was an increase in the minimum wage to $20 an hour. 

(America’s Last Line of Defense Facebook page)

Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as the truth, with one saying (archived): “If this is what you want, keep voting democrat.” A different person wrote (archived): “That’s how it works, the higher the wages, the higher the prices! The irony is the lower wage folks, have to pay more too, it is a nobody wins [sic]!”

However, there was no evidence that bread reached $10.99 per loaf in California. A search for wheat bread on the website for Ralphs, a supermarket chain with 20 locations in Los Angeles, showed options ranging from $1.69 to $5.99. Likewise, no credible news outlets reported on the alleged price increase. 

Also, according to the state of California’s Department of Industrial Relations website, the minimum wage was $16 per hour as of Jan. 1, 2024, not $20 per hour as stated in the post. 

Rather, the rumor originated with a Facebook post by America’s Last Line of Defense — a network of websites and social media pages that describes its output as being humorous and satirical in nature. The introduction on the page reads: “The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real.” 

The “About Us” section of the Dunning-Kruger Times website, a subsidiary of the America’s Last Line of Defense network that also posted the story, states: “Everything on this website is fiction.” Likewise, the image shared on social media was labeled as satire. 

The fictional story spread as inflation continued to be a topic of discussion in the United States. Snopes previously investigated claims that inflation reached its highest point ever under President Joe Biden.

America’s Last Line of Defense has a history of making up stories for shares and comments. Snopes has addressed other satirical claims from the outlet in the past, including the assertion that McDonald’s fired U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris for stealing and a rumor that Taylor Swift lost 30 million followers after endorsing Harris’ presidential campaign.

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.

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Publish date : 2024-09-27 11:21:00

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