OT: McDonald's first but it's coming folks.

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paindonthurt

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Jun 27, 2009
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You expect me to believe that they’re gonna automate an entire restaurant when they can’t even get the ice cream machine to work?
It won’t be entirely automated. They’ll pay someone who has half a brain and 3/4 if want to around $30 to $40 an hr to keep it all running.

then the poor entitled dumbasses will ***** they can’t find a job.
 
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paindonthurt

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So McDonald's should only be open from 3pm-10pm everyday when the high school kids get out? If it is only an entry level job, you can't expect fast food places to be open when school is in session.

Yes, if your niece or anyone who is working 40 hours a week she should be paid enough for a living wage. I don't want to have to subsidize McDonald's employees with my tax dollars so they can survive. Taxpayers should not bear the burden for companies who cannot or are unwilling to pay their adult workers a wage that keeps them off of public assistance.

And yes, jobs will always be automated out as technology progresses. And in turn, new ones will be created as a result of that technology. That has been the case throughout human history.
The only thing I expect is for Americans and businesses to live by the constitution

The PURSUIT of happiness doesn’t mean I have to pay you a certain amount of money. It simply means you get the option to pursue happiness which means something different to many different people.
 

Podgy

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Oct 1, 2022
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You cannot raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage is $0 regardless of what the law claims. What is legally called the minimum wage is a productivity floor. It's basically saying if you can't produce more than the minimum wage, you don't get to work legally unless your employer is making a mistake or taking pity on you.
I'm aware of the libertarian argument (or Austrian economic theory). I no longer buy it (well, some of it makes sense). We live in a pluralistic society, we have a welfare state and either we raise the minimum wage, with exceptions for small businesses, or we let businesses off the hook and have the taxpayer fund our low wage system of employment. I've been to countries with higher minimum wages and some with national healthcare. They aren't on the road to serfdom. I like a lot of those places even with their flaws. It's about tradeoffs rather than the purity of libertarian economic theory. Low wages for men is not good for society. Lots of single men with few marriage prospects. That's unhealthy
 

J-Dawg

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Mar 4, 2009
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Good. ****** jobs should be automated. You either have to pay your employees enough to make rent at a minimum or find a new way.
pepsi GIF
 

BulldogBlitz

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Dec 11, 2008
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So McDonald's should only be open from 3pm-10pm everyday when the high school kids get out? If it is only an entry level job, you can't expect fast food places to be open when school is in session.

Yes, if your niece or anyone who is working 40 hours a week she should be paid enough for a living wage. I don't want to have to subsidize McDonald's employees with my tax dollars so they can survive. Taxpayers should not bear the burden for companies who cannot or are unwilling to pay their adult workers a wage that keeps them off of public assistance.

And yes, jobs will always be automated out as technology progresses. And in turn, new ones will be created as a result of that technology. That has been the case throughout human history.


Are you setting the bar for "off government assistance"? Quite a few spend a lot of effort to make sure they can still get that assistance...
 

Dawg1976

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Aug 22, 2012
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Based on my experience in the drive-thru at my local CVS, there ain't many back in the pharmacy. They're always short of help and service is terrible, and slow. Can't wait to move my prescriptions elsewhere next year.
I thought about doing that but Walgreens sucks here too. Not many options near me.
 

paindonthurt

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Jun 27, 2009
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They can either get another job or we can just enact nationwide UBI to provide everyone with a very basic standard of living. Why would you glorify menial labor? It just makes people miserable.

Most jobs can be taught on the job. A fast food job only teaches you to hate authority. She doesn't need that job. Ideally, you'd be earning enough from your job to provide her with some spending money if that's the purpose of her getting the job. That way, she can enjoy being a kid while she is one.

No one sees service industry on a resume and thinks that person should be hired. It's dead space. It's treading water in life and nothing else. The way those jobs pay compared to rent, you gotta work 80 hours a week across three jobs that all think they have scheduling priority to barely get by and you're one bad day from ruin.

You've come a long way politically since the last time I argued with you like 8 years ago. No notes.

Really y'all, why do you hate the idea of society improving to the point where people don't have to work themselves to an early grave for fear of dying poor in the streets? My dad, an amazing Bulldog who had a major effect on world history, had a week of retirement before cancer claimed him. I refuse to have a future like that.
Yep you are an idiot.
 

TaleofTwoDogs

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Jun 1, 2004
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You cannot raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage is $0 regardless of what the law claims. What is legally called the minimum wage is a productivity floor. It's basically saying if you can't produce more than the minimum wage, you don't get to work legally unless your employer is making a mistake or taking pity on you.
WAT????
 

Cantdoitsal

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Sep 26, 2022
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I'm aware of the libertarian argument (or Austrian economic theory). I no longer buy it (well, some of it makes sense). We live in a pluralistic society, we have a welfare state and either we raise the minimum wage, with exceptions for small businesses, or we let businesses off the hook and have the taxpayer fund our low wage system of employment. I've been to countries with higher minimum wages and some with national healthcare. They aren't on the road to serfdom. I like a lot of those places even with their flaws. It's about tradeoffs rather than the purity of libertarian economic theory. Low wages for men is not good for society. Lots of single men with few marriage prospects. That's unhealthy
Venezuela, North Korea and the Soviet Union thought that too till they found they were wrong. These other "paradises" you fantasize about have families of 4 living in 650 square feet over their roofs on average.
 

paindonthurt

Well-known member
Jun 27, 2009
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I'm aware of the libertarian argument (or Austrian economic theory). I no longer buy it (well, some of it makes sense). We live in a pluralistic society, we have a welfare state and either we raise the minimum wage, with exceptions for small businesses, or we let businesses off the hook and have the taxpayer fund our low wage system of employment. I've been to countries with higher minimum wages and some with national healthcare. They aren't on the road to serfdom. I like a lot of those places even with their flaws. It's about tradeoffs rather than the purity of libertarian economic theory. Low wages for men is not good for society. Lots of single men with few marriage prospects. That's unhealthy
Give me examples of those countries and I’ll tear holes in every theory you have about them.

A locally owned McDonald’s is a small business in case some of you are too dumb to understand that.
 

Hugh's Burner Phone

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Aug 3, 2017
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They can either get another job or we can just enact nationwide UBI to provide everyone with a very basic standard of living. Why would you glorify menial labor? It just makes people miserable.
UBI is one of the dumbest things ever to pass through a human brain. It only works in the fantasy world of income goes up but prices remain stagnant and the labor pool doesn't decrease. Neither of those would be the case. Just look at what happened to prices with all the free Covid money. A ******* carton of eggs is now $4. 12 pack of coke $7. You provide UBI and inflation just keeps increasing. To try and keep prices somewhat in check businesses reduce employees and go to more automation or ship as much production to Chinese sweat shops. That puts even more people out of work and on govt assistance.
 

Boom Boom

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Sep 29, 2022
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Telling people they cannot be legally employed unless they are productive enough to live a middle class life style is not going to improve society. People that are less productive than average are still human beings that deserve the freedom to work in a legal job and shouldn't be legally prohibited from working for a market wage just because they may struggle to generate enough for retirement.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad. My dad didn't get to enjoy any retirement despite working hard for a long time and being pretty productive, but that doesn't make me think that somebody that can't produce more than $15 an hour should be condemned to relying on government handouts and charity.
Bring back child labor!

The problem with your statement is the overwhelming majority of those workers ARE productive enough to make $15 an hour, but they lack the bargaining power to get it. Pay and productivity are only loosely related, not directly and absolutely related.

Perhaps we could mandate profit sharing with workers making less than a floor, so that we can assure low wages aren't about profiteering off of bargaining power?
 
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Boom Boom

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Give me examples of those countries and I’ll tear holes in every theory you have about them.

A locally owned McDonald’s is a small business in case some of you are too dumb to understand that.
It's a small business that has control over very few aspects of the business (worker pay being one of the few), while a major corporation has control over most aspects (goods supply, cost, prices, menu, uniform, etc).
 

Boom Boom

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Sep 29, 2022
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UBI is one of the dumbest things ever to pass through a human brain. It only works in the fantasy world of income goes up but prices remain stagnant and the labor pool doesn't decrease. Neither of those would be the case. Just look at what happened to prices with all the free Covid money. A ******* carton of eggs is now $4. 12 pack of coke $7. You provide UBI and inflation just keeps increasing. To try and keep prices somewhat in check businesses reduce employees and go to more automation or ship as much production to Chinese sweat shops. That puts even more people out of work and on govt assistance.
The free covid money went away. The prices and low supply of labor didn't, unlike what we were told by many. Reality check: it wasn't caused by the free covid money.
 

paindonthurt

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It's a small business that has control over very few aspects of the business (worker pay being one of the few), while a major corporation has control over most aspects (goods supply, cost, prices, menu, uniform, etc).
So what? It’s still a small business in the sense it’s locally owned and can only afford to pay X at Y sales.
 

Boom Boom

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So what? It’s still a small business in the sense it’s locally owned and can only afford to pay X at Y sales.
It's pretty important. Basically the only factor a franchisee can affect to have an effect on profit is: labor cost. It's why the current model relies on it.
 

paindonthurt

Well-known member
Jun 27, 2009
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Bring back child labor!

The problem with your statement is the overwhelming majority of those workers ARE productive enough to make $15 an hour, but they lack the bargaining power to get it. Pay and productivity are only loosely related, not directly and absolutely related.

Perhaps we could mandate profit sharing with workers making less than a floor, so that we can assure low wages aren't about profiteering off of bargaining power?
If you think the overwhelming majority of McDonald’s, Popeyes and KFC employees in the south are productive enough for $15/hr you are really dumb or naive or both.
 

paindonthurt

Well-known member
Jun 27, 2009
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Bring back child labor!

The problem with your statement is the overwhelming majority of those workers ARE productive enough to make $15 an hour, but they lack the bargaining power to get it. Pay and productivity are only loosely related, not directly and absolutely related.

Perhaps we could mandate profit sharing with workers making less than a floor, so that we can assure low wages aren't about profiteering off of bargaining power?
Mandate profit sharing at a local franchise?

yeah good luck getting people to invest in those franchises.
 

paindonthurt

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Jun 27, 2009
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It's pretty important. Basically the only factor a franchisee can affect to have an effect on profit is: labor cost. It's why the current model relies on it.
Pretty much all restaurants run off a similar model whether they are a franchise or not.
 

Boom Boom

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Sep 29, 2022
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If you think the overwhelming majority of McDonald’s, Popeyes and KFC employees in the south are productive enough for $15/hr you are really dumb or naive or both.
I'm quite sure that the continuously operating fast food restaurants are generating a net profit, which would be hard to do if the employees are making more than their productivity.

The problem is your substitution of productivity with market rate. If I make a widget per hour that sells for $20, my productivity is $20 per hour (simplified). I may make $10 per hour, maybe $15. That's my market rate, and it depends more on who can replace me and what pay they will demand than on my productivity. Now change that productivity rate to $1000 per hour. Nothing else has changed. If there's a ready supply of workers that will do that work for $10 per hour, then that's what I make.

I get it, most minimum wage labor is awful compared to the rest of us. But there's still great value in a worker, any worker.
 

The Peeper

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Feb 26, 2008
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I may start going back to fast food restaurants if I can interface with an artificial intelligence robot instead of the typical no intelligence fast food worker
 

Boom Boom

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Pretty much all restaurants run off a similar model whether they are a franchise or not.
Not for long.

And not exactly. You better believe the chefs at High dollar restaurants aren't making minimum wage. And a non-franchise restaurant can adjust their strategy, that's the point. Maybe a cheap beer night, maybe a steak night, whatever juices profits. Franchisees can't do that (generally).

Maybe if we loosen up the border we can get enough cheap labor in the door to keep that model going (which is why the border is loose to being with. If ya know, ya know).
 

johnson86-1

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Aug 22, 2012
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Bring back child labor!

The problem with your statement is the overwhelming majority of those workers ARE productive enough to make $15 an hour, but they lack the bargaining power to get it. Pay and productivity are only loosely related, not directly and absolutely related.

Perhaps we could mandate profit sharing with workers making less than a floor, so that we can assure low wages aren't about profiteering off of bargaining power?
So you want to condemn low productivity workers to never having a job because you don’t want slightly higher productivity workers to have to compete with them?
 
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johnson86-1

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Aug 22, 2012
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I'm aware of the libertarian argument (or Austrian economic theory). I no longer buy it (well, some of it makes sense). We live in a pluralistic society, we have a welfare state and either we raise the minimum wage, with exceptions for small businesses, or we let businesses off the hook and have the taxpayer fund our low wage system of employment. I've been to countries with higher minimum wages and some with national healthcare. They aren't on the road to serfdom. I like a lot of those places even with their flaws. It's about tradeoffs rather than the purity of libertarian economic theory. Low wages for men is not good for society. Lots of single men with few marriage prospects. That's unhealthy
It’s not a libertarian argument. It’s a math argument. Imposing a productivity floor does prevent low productivity employees from competing with higher productivity employees. That is good for the slightly higher productivity employees (at least as far as bargaining for their wages goes; bad for them as far as cost of living goes but that probably doesn’t offset the benefit to them). It’s devastating and dehumanizing to the lower productivity worker. You can say you’refine with that trade off and the moral implications. But that doesn’t make math libertarian or Austrian.
 
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PCHSDawg

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They can either get another job or we can just enact nationwide UBI to provide everyone with a very basic standard of living. Why would you glorify menial labor? It just makes people miserable.

Most jobs can be taught on the job. A fast food job only teaches you to hate authority. She doesn't need that job. Ideally, you'd be earning enough from your job to provide her with some spending money if that's the purpose of her getting the job. That way, she can enjoy being a kid while she is one.

Children being raised with everything provided for them is one reason the world is getting the way it is. I was raised by a hardworking man with 5 kids to feed and if I wanted anything other than the basics then I had to earn it myself. I was fortunate enough that my kids had it better than me, but I still had them take jobs when they got a driver's license so they could finance their own social life. They are now father's and able to care for their own families. They don't live at home and cry that they weren't making a living wage while slinging pizzas after school.
 

Boom Boom

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It’s not a libertarian argument. It’s a math argument. Imposing a productivity floor does prevent low productivity employees from competing with higher productivity employees. That is good for the slightly higher productivity employees (at least as far as bargaining for their wages goes; bad for them as far as cost of living goes but that probably doesn’t offset the benefit to them). It’s devastating and dehumanizing to the lower productivity worker. You can say you’refine with that trade off and the moral implications. But that doesn’t make math libertarian or Austrian.
It's physically impossible for lower productivity employees to not compete with higher productivity employees. All you can do is shift things around. When there's a $5 minimum wage, a slightly above average worker can compete for a $6 wage, the lowest productivity worker cannot. When there's a $10 minimum wage, the slightly more productive employee can compete for a $12 wage, the lowest productivity worker cannot.

The question is whether the $5 worker will still have a job with a $10 minimum wage. Certain freshwater schools predicted no. Reality has shown yes. Dude, just look around. The reason is because markets were NOT efficient in regards to pay. The $5 worker was worth more than $5, he just couldn't bargain his way to it.
 

Boom Boom

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So you want to condemn low productivity workers to never having a job because you don’t want slightly higher productivity workers to have to compete with them?
Dude, look around. Low productivity workers have never been more in demand!

As said above, your error is that wages are not efficient. There's a disparity.

Remember, corporate profit is the sum total of the difference between worker productivity and worker pay. Corp profits have been climbing for decades. What does this mean for worker pay and productivity? Do the basic math.

I would much prefer profit sharing and whatever else would decrease that disparity to a minimum wage. But a MW is better than nothing. Because it reduces that disparity. Now, corps love that disparity, they want it to grow (it's literally their profit!).
 
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