Fast Food Workers Stage Strike, Demand Higher Minimal Wage.

[Genivaria]

I realized I mixed euros and dollars. *destroys random castle*

I'm trying to determine whether or not your flag is Humanized Discord.

[Nevanmaa]

No you can't, that would be $8.35. $9.70 if you want decent sized fries and a drink.

No it wouldn't. That's bullshit.

No, it's the truth and that's what America will be facing if their unions keep gaining power.

[Immoren]

I realized I mixed euros and dollars. *destroys random castle*

I'm trying to determine whether or not your flag is Humanized Discord.

sheogorath

[Luziyca]

you forgot you get soda and fries with that price.

No you can't, that would be $8.35. $9.70 if you want decent sized fries and a drink.

I forgot the prices for McDonalds, but IIRC, the average meal that we get from there costs around $25 (three burgers (w/o pickles and onions), a Filet' O Fish meal, or two and a Big Mac or two, with three medium beverages of Coca-Cola). At Thomas the Cook (a restaurant), you can get a pizza, plus drinks and a medium rare steak for around $40. A pizza from Vern's Pizza costs $4.75, and a 1L bottle of Coke there costs $3.00.

And this from a province where just a few years ago, the teacher's union went on strike. The unions are not as restrictive as in the USA, but they still have some influence.

[Immoren]

No it wouldn't. That's bullshit.

No, it's the truth and that's what America will be facing if their unions keep gaining power.

stop going there if you can't afford. So simple.

[Genivaria]

I'm trying to determine whether or not your flag is Humanized Discord.

sheogorath

Close enough.

No it wouldn't. That's bullshit.

No, it's the truth and that's what America will be facing if their unions keep gaining power.

Because Scandinavia's economies are in shambles right?
Quit bullshitting.

[Nevanmaa]

Because Scandinavia's economies are in shambles right?
Quit bullshitting.

Not at the moment, they will be. For example, if we keep spending like we do now our debt-to-GDP ratio will be 130% by 2050.

[Genivaria]

Because Scandinavia's economies are in shambles right?
Quit bullshitting.

Not at the moment, they will be. For example, if we keep spending like we do now our debt-to-GDP ratio will be 130% by 2050.

Again, give me next weeks lottery numbers or quit bullshitting.

[Lengleland]

Nonsense! They get paid enough.

Why should they get paid higher minimal wage for saying "Would you like chips with that?" all day?

[Alien Space Bats]

Oh boy, I can't wait to pay fifteen bucks for a Big Mac.

Why would you pay $15 for a Big Mac?

<waits>

Seriously, even if you were to ascribe to the "Prices-Must-Go-Up-By-a-Factor-of-<X>-If-Wages-Go-Up-By-a-Factor-of-<X>" theory — which has no basis in economic reality — your "$15 Bag Mac" assumes that Big Macs currently cost $7.25.

Which they most assuredly do not.

Big Mac prices vary according to local demand (who'd have imagined such a thing!); the average price in the U.S. appears to be around $4.20. Thus, according to the "Prices-Must-Go-Up-By-a-Factor-of-<X>-If-Wages-Go-Up-By-a-Factor-of-<X>" theory, an increase of 106.9% in the minimum wage would "necessarily" drive the price of goods produced with that minimum wage by 106.9% — which would push the average price of the Big Mac Stateside up to $8.69, not $15.

The thing is, prices don't work that way.

McDonald's average labor cost in 17%. Without looking at the specifics of what's required to "build" a Big Mac, another way of looking at the effects of a minimum wage increase would be to calculate the labor cost of a Big Mac, based on the average National price and the average labor cost:

$4.20 × 17% = 71.4¢

So let's assume that, in response to an increase in the minimum wage of 106.9% (from $7.25 to $15), McDonalds raises everybody's pay by 106.7%. This goes for the lowest-paid worker at the counter or behind the grill, who gets a raise from $7.25 to $15, just as it goes for CEO Donald Thompson (which is only fair, right?), who gets a raise from $8.75 million a year in salary and bonuses to $18.1 million a year in salaries and bonuses.

<recalculates>

OK, so now McDonald's labor cost is just over 35%. Does this mean that prices need to increase by 106.9% so that labor cost can go back down to 17%? No, because none of the other costs of doing business (including the cost of capital — IOW, McDonald's dividend expectations or the interest that it has to pay on its corporate debt) have gone up. McDonald's can recoup its losses (assuming infinite elasticity of demand for its products [which is a fancy way of saying that its customers don't care how much they pay for their "Mickie D" fix]) by raising its prices by just over 18% — IOW, by just the overall increase in its labor costs.

$4.20 × 18% = 76¢

So the price of a Big Mac only has to go up from $4.20 to $4.96, on a National basis.

Mind you, this is a facile analysis. Some of McDonald's other costs will go up if the minimum wage goes up, because some of the ingredients it uses in its products are also manufactured by minimum wage workers; OTC, McDonald's customers are not, in fact, infinitely willing to pay any price for its food, so consumer resistance will keep prices from going up as far as is needed to completely cover any cost increases (which means that McDonald's profits will not rise as fast as they have been), and that will slow the company's growth.

However you cut it, though, we won't see $15 Big Macs. Or even $8.69 Big Macs, for that matter.

You don't live in the USA, Hippo.

i do. And I don't want to pay fifteen bucks for a Big Mac either.

So now you don't have to worry about that happening, do you?

[Nevanmaa]

Not at the moment, they will be. For example, if we keep spending like we do now our debt-to-GDP ratio will be 130% by 2050.

Again, give me next weeks lottery numbers or quit bullshitting.

I can scan you an article from Aamulehti where a well-known economist states that Finland must immidiately cut spending or else our debt-to-GDP ratio will increase dramatically, if that makes you happy. It's in Finnish though.

[Saiwania]

No, it's the truth and that's what America will be facing if their unions keep gaining power.

Let's be real here, unions in the US aren't that strong to begin with. Unionization in the private sector has declined from a high of about 33% during the 1950's to only about 6% today. Labor unions have been declining for decades and there hasn't been much they can do to reverse that.

[Norstal]

No it wouldn't. That's bullshit.

No, it's the truth and that's what America will be facing if their unions keep gaining power.

Oh no an increase in prices of fast food burgers. How ever will I survive.

[Benuty]

About time they took a stand...wonder what took them so long?

I guess the management tried to prevent its employees from learning about labor rights.

[Immoren]

Again, give me next weeks lottery numbers or quit bullshitting.

I can scan you an article from Aamulehti where a well-known economist states that Finland must immidiately cut spending or else our debt-to-GDP ratio will increase dramatically, if that makes you happy. It's in Finnish though.

Is there e-version on net? Which day?

[Surfistan]

About time they took a stand...wonder what took them so long?

I guess the management tried to prevent its employees from learning about labor rights.

Damn peasants and their reading... We shouldn't ever have allowed, I say, don't mingle with the poor!!!

[Alien Space Bats]

Oh no an increase in prices of fast food burgers. How ever will I survive.

Especially once those fast food workers — many of whom will see their income rise from an average of $10,825 a year to $22,500 a year — will no longer need food stamps or be eligible for Medicaid; instead, they'll be able to buy their own food and pay for their own health care through the exchanges.

All of which will cut the Federal deficit (and the rate of increase in our National debt) sharply — not to mention State and municipal budgets.

Hell, they might even be able to afford buying consumer goods again, which will lead to an increase in business profits and employment across the board.

Who'd have imagined that giving workers money could help the economy?

[Benuty]

About time they took a stand...wonder what took them so long?

I guess the management tried to prevent its employees from learning about labor rights.

Damn peasants and their reading... We shouldn't ever have allowed, I say, don't mingle with the poor!!!

"A literate worker is an efficient worker"-well as long as you read only the approved reading materials provided to you by the very generous factory managers who would help integrate you into the "new american lifestyle".

[Alyekra]

The thing about jobs (Like those at McDonalds) that pay in the area of $7 an hour is that you are not supposed to live on it. Low-paying jobs like those are just a stepping stone for better-paying jobs.

They have a right to strike, and I'm surprised they've waited so long, but I doubt they'll get what they want.

[Maurepas]

Oh no an increase in prices of fast food burgers. How ever will I survive.

Especially once those fast food workers — many of whom will see their income rise from an average of $10,825 a year to $22,500 a year — will no longer need food stamps or be eligible for Medicaid; instead, they'll be able to buy their own food and pay for their own health care through the exchanges.

All of which will cut the Federal deficit (and the rate of increase in our National debt) sharply — not to mention State and municipal budgets.

Hell, they might even be able to afford buying consumer goods again, which will lead to an increase in business profits and employment across the board.

Who'd have imagined that giving workers money could help the economy?

He's a mad man! A MAD MAN!

[Immoren]

Especially once those fast food workers — many of whom will see their income rise from an average of $10,825 a year to $22,500 a year — will no longer need food stamps or be eligible for Medicaid; instead, they'll be able to buy their own food and pay for their own health care through the exchanges.

All of which will cut the Federal deficit (and the rate of increase in our National debt) sharply — not to mention State and municipal budgets.

Hell, they might even be able to afford buying consumer goods again, which will lead to an increase in business profits and employment across the board.

Who'd have imagined that giving workers money could help the economy?

He's a mad man! A MAD MAN!

Clearly one of the madgod's own. *nods*

[Benuty]

The thing about jobs (Like those at McDonalds) that pay in the area of $7 an hour is that you are not supposed to live on it. Low-paying jobs like those are just a stepping stone for better-paying jobs.

They have a right to strike, and I'm surprised they've waited so long, but I doubt they'll get what they want.

It is a problem since many people rely on those lower ring jobs to support their families with whatever income they can get ( especially if social assistance programs barely help them stay afloat).

[Alien Space Bats]

The thing about jobs (Like those at McDonalds) that pay in the area of $7 an hour is that you are not supposed to live on it. Low-paying jobs like those are just a stepping stone for better-paying jobs.

Which don't exist.

And therein lies the rub. We've got millions of former white collar workers who can't find employment in their chosen fields and have run out of unemployment, and so now — having heard people like Rush scream at them that they ought to "get off their asses and get a job" — they're taking their office-honed people skills and heading for retail sales (I've met former corporate VP's helping customers as sales associates at J.C. Penney's, for Christ's sake), which pretty much eliminates any hope for fast food workers to move up into those jobs. That leaves entry-level workers with now choice but to pile up in the entryway — IOW, the food service industry.

So you can repeat that "stepping stone" mantra all you want; the thing is, what difference does it make if there's no place further to go? Are we just supposed to tell people that they have to suicide if they can't step up from fast food in 3 years?

Indeed, sometimes that's the message I think the economic elite are passing down the socioeconomic ladder: "There are way too many of you for us to employ, so could you just hurry up and off yourselves, so we don't have to be bothered with you?"

[Tyriece]

I am all for this, however $15 is a bit high, maybe $9 or $10.

[New Manvir]

That is fucking outrageous. Every single one of them should be fired.

Out of a cannon?