As little as possible, in a free market, is as little as someone will consent to, ie as little as someone considers it to still be the best way to spend their own time.

In a free market, not being able to offer enough wages to get labor is indeed a sign of a failed market.

In a market with price controls (including price controls on labor), there are people willing to work for less, ie people who consent to committing their time to that arrangement, who aren’t given that opportunity. They are forcibly separated from the economic relationships they would willingly engage in.

In the headline above, these pizza workers fall into that category. An economic arrangement that they found worthy of their own consent is being blocked from happening, and they are therefore forced to go find the next best option for them.

They’ve been forced down the economic ladder by the government. It’s an injustice. It’s a violation of their personal autonomy. It’s a violation of their rights. It’s fucking wrong.