Fast Food and Minimum Wage

[kid.fx.cross]

Quote from piezoe:

Our goal should be to bring the minimum wage in line with minimum wage productivity. A proxy for that may be achieved by raising the minimum wage to the level of the real cost of minimum wage labor. That is, today, very likely, somewhere between 10 and 11 dollars an hour. If we do that, we can greatly reduce cost shifting and have a far more honest economy.

Of course there are downsides to setting a minimum wage. The Heritage Foundation has, on its website, a long diatribe on all the downsides to raising the minimum wage. In my extremely humble opinion, however, all of the negatives are outweighed by the positives; the chief one being reduction of cost shifting, which is obtained by bringing the minimum wage to a level that closely reflects the actual cost of minimum wage labor. That level is currently somewhere between $10 and $15/hr, depending on locale. Setting the minimum wage near $10 makes good sense. In high cost of living areas, it will naturally seek a higher level.

??? you're kidding, right? $7.25 is no where near a "livable" wage, and $10.10 won't be either by the time it is implemented. We're just taking money from Peter and giving it to Paul. If we did the bucket method and raised it to maybe 15, there would be a brief stimulus, but soon we would be right back where we are now. Labor goes up, prices go up, and the same people can't afford to buy what they make.

If you watch Michael Moore's documentary there is something that caught my attention. His dad was just a factory worker up there in Flint, yet every year, they could take a vacation, and every other year his dad bought a new car.

You could make a case that back then all you needed was a high school education. But you could also make a case that a high school education isn't what it use to be.

 

[kid.fx.cross]

Quote from kid.fx.cross:

??? you're kidding, right? $7.25 is no where near a "livable" wage, and $10.10 won't be either by the time it is implemented. We're just taking money from Peter and giving it to Paul. If we did the bucket method and raised it to maybe 15, there would be a brief stimulus, but soon we would be right back where we are now. Labor goes up, prices go up, and the same people can't afford to buy what they make.

If you watch Michael Moore's documentary there is something that caught my attention. His dad was just a factory worker up there in Flint, yet every year, they could take a vacation, and every other year his dad bought a new car.

You could make a case that back then all you needed was a high school education. But you could also make a case that a high school education isn't what it use to be.

to skip to the chase, no matter how poor you were, you could get a public education, and that high school diploma at least insured you a "blue collar" existence.

Maybe no yachts or limos, but a family vacation every year, and a new car every other year. Even if it was just a station wagon for the wife and the kids.

So who has failed us?

I guess you could say a public education aint worth shit anymore.

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from Lucrum:

CBO:Top 40% Paid 106.2% of Income Taxes; Bottom 40% Paid -9.1%, Got Average of $18,950 in 'Transfers'

- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ter...aid-91-got-average-18950#sthash.jhk3YpII.dpuf

Assuming the "transfers" continue, all of those people are DemoCrap voters for life. Considering how many they are, yet more evidence America will never be able to turn back from the Socialist state.

 

[kid.fx.cross]

Quote from TGregg:

So the burger flippers are striking.

http://news.yahoo.com/fast-food-strikes-return-amid-push-wage-hikes-114457533--finance.html

There's a few interesting quotes in this story. But the most interesting one is the very last line:



THAT is exactly how our country is supposed to operate. Some state somewhere decides to try something, then we can all see how it works out. Then other states can decide if they want to move along that course or not.

Even more interesting, what are the prices for a Big Mac in Jersey? A Double Cheeseburger? A large fries? It'd be interesting to see. And how about employment? How has it changed?

There's plenty more to say, like what would happen if the protesters got their $15 an hour. But I'll leave that for others or for later. Anybody know Jersey McDonald prices?

well, you kind of got off to a bad start, when you used the term "burger flippers" like it is some kind of derogatory profession. You could have used the same term, "auto parts makers" or "baby sitters". Or "nurses" or "doctors".

What gives them the right to demand higher wages?

 

[Ricter]

Quote from kid.fx.cross:

well, you kind of got off to a bad start, when you used the term "burger flippers" like it is some kind of derogatory profession. You could have used the same term, "auto parts makers" or "baby sitters". Or "nurses" or "doctors".

What gives them the right to demand higher wages?

Just a wag but, freedom of assembly? Freedom of speech? : )

 

[Tsing Tao]

Quote from Ricter:

Just a wag but, freedom of assembly? Freedom of speech? : )

+1.

 

[Ricter]

Quote from Tsing Tao:

+1.

Well tip me over with a feather, we agree on something. : )

That reminds me, someone should start another NSA thread. What I'm reading lately is outrageous. Probably some agreement there, too.

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from piezoe:

Obviously something is wrong, but it may not be what you think it is.

If something is wrong I just want it corrected. Regardless of what I might have thought it was.

 

[PiggyBank]

Quote from Ricter:

Well tip me over with a feather, we agree on something. : )

That reminds me, someone should start another NSA thread. What I'm reading lately is outrageous. Probably some agreement there, too.

the nsa overreach should get you thinking ricter, that despite your ideology, the govt has to play by the rules or this place WILL go to shit and collapse. if you want 'change' it has to be done the proper way. Nothing is more dangerous to the US than our runaway fed govt.

 

[Ricter]

Quote from PiggyBank:

the nsa overreach should get you thinking ricter, that despite your ideology, the govt has to play by the rules or this place WILL go to shit and collapse. if you want 'change' it has to be done the proper way. Nothing is more dangerous to the US than our runaway fed govt.

I see the government as a tool/weapon of the plutocrats. While we certainly do need to avoid the weapon, ultimately it's the plutocrats that are the problem. Merely shrink the weapon and the bad guys will just pick up another, say, private police. Clunky analogy, but I trust you follow. I take this position because I consider government necessary and plutocrats unnecessary.