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Many of your burger flippers ARE college grads...they just know a little more about literature and what not.
Wrong.
Studies show that recent college grads are dumb as posts when it comes to the field they just got a degree in. But they do catch on a little quicker than the average high-school grad on the finer details of how to flip a burger without making it stick to the ceiling.
Sounds like Australia, quality of life there is one of the greatest in the world.
I wouldn't paint such a rosy picture of Australia. Australia is one of the most expensive places to live in the world so the $16/hr minimum wage they have does not have much value in terms of PPP (purchasing power parity). This typically happens when you raise the wage at the absolute floor of the income ladder, everything just adjusts upwards in terms of price so it does not make one bit of difference.
In addition Australia has one of the biggest housing bubbles in the world that is on the verge of a crash of gigantic proportions. The Australian media and a lot of folks there are in heavy denial of that fact, which is a similar situation to what we had here in 2007. Once the economy there takes a huge hit unemployment will skyrocket...just a matter of time.
ahem they would make much more selling food on the street than they would working at the MCD restaurants
the reason why these people cannot is the licensing scam...se to drive a taxi cab to drive people around...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hazel W
Now you want to destroy the entire company. Gobbledegook.
Gobbledegook, indeed.
Hazel, you are the hero of the day if you actually had the patience to read through - and understand! - that incomprehensible manifesto that gen811 wrote.
And the funny thing is that gen811 might actually have a couple of points in there that I don't entirely disagree with. I think...
A state like California that has by far the highest poverty rate in the nation, has a lot of low income people to draw on. Push minimum wages to $15 an hour, will push all wages up, which will in turn cause a lot of companies to lay off workers, forcing employees to work harder, and automation. There is only a certain amount of wages that employers can pay and stay in business. Suddenly force wages up, and a lot of jobs will be lost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3
Sounds like Australia, quality of life there is one of the greatest in the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by speeddev1l
I wouldn't paint such a rosy picture of Australia. Australia is one of the most expensive places to live in the world so the $16/hr minimum wage they have does not have much value in terms of PPP (purchasing power parity). This typically happens when you raise the wage at the absolute floor of the income ladder, everything just adjusts upwards in terms of price so it does not make one bit of difference.
In addition Australia has one of the biggest housing bubbles in the world that is on the verge of a crash of gigantic proportions. The Australian media and a lot of folks there are in heavy denial of that fact, which is a similar situation to what we had here in 2007. Once the economy there takes a huge hit unemployment will skyrocket...just a matter of time.
oldtrader and speeddev,
I don't agree that all people working at fast-food establishments should earn $15.00/hr. But this argument that a higher minimum wage will somehow destroy the economy simply is NOT true.
Case in point: Target Corp. expanded into Canada in 2013, opening 125 stores nation-wide. Now, it should be noted that Target JUMPED THROUGHT HOOPS for years to be able to do business in Canada. Since Target opened these stores, business has gone through the roof, and from everything I've read (I used to live in Canada), Target execs are thrilled with their return on investment in Canada.
And Target isn't the only US retailer or fast food company that has expanded or plans to expand into Canada. Not by a long shot. McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's have been there for decades. Walmart entered the Canadian market about 20 years ago and has never looked back. Qboda, Panera, Five Guys, and many others are also there now. US retailers like JCrew and department stores like Nordstrom are taking over the Canadian retail environment.
And do you know what minimum wage is in Canada? In most provinces it’s at least 10.25/hour, while in a couple of others it’s $11.00/hr. There are also stricter labor laws, language laws that businesses must follow (Canada is an officially bilingual country) and, of course, different tax structures. AND YET, these US companies are willing to do whatever necessary in order to expand into Canada . Why? Because they see that their US predecessors are making huge profits in Canada, and they want in on the action.
What this means is that someone working at a US Target store, for example, is earning considerably less than their Canadian counterparts for doing the EXACT same job. Their Canadian counterparts also enjoy universal healthcare, which removes yet another financial worry that US Target employees must contend with. Isn’t that nice?
And DON'T jump to the ill-informed conclusion that the cost of living is higher in Canada than in the US. That's not nearly as true as it once was. With the Canadian $ being either on par with, or above parity with the US $ for a number of years, price gaps between the two countries have narrowed greatly. Housing is probably similar in price to what it is in states like California, New York, DC, Massachusetts or Illinois. And yet, what are the minimum wages in those states?
I have lived in both countries, and I can say unequivocally that poverty rates are much higher in the US than in Canada. I also never knew as many decent, hardworking, law-abiding people in Canada who STRUGGLE to get by as I’ve known in the US. There is a huge underclass of working poor in the US that simply does exist in Canada or Australia.
Quite frankly, US companies are royally scre**ng their US workers, and US workers readily comply. They believe all the scare tactics American corporations use to dismiss the tenability of higher wages (as is obvious from some posters' comments here). It's a fact, though, that higher wages haven't destroyed business OR job growth in Canada. The Canadian and Australian economies have been much stronger than the US economy with lower unemployment rates for years.
To paraphrase another poster on CD: they're pi**ing on your boots and telling you it's raining.
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 02-15-2014 at 03:06 PM..
And do you know what minimum wage is in Canada? In most provinces it’s at least 10.25/hour, while in a couple of others it’s $11.00/hr. There are also stricter labor laws, language laws that businesses must follow (Canada is an officially bilingual country) and, of course, different tax structures. AND YET, these US companies are willing to do whatever necessary in order to expand into Canada . Why? Because they see that their US predecessors are making huge profits in Canada, and they want in on the action.
How can that be? The way American conservatives describe that country, I thought Canada was some third-world soviet hellhole where no capitalist would even dare set foot in and do business, much less manage to make a profit?
How can that be? The way American conservatives describe that country, I thought Canada was some third-world soviet hellhole where no capitalist would even dare set foot in and do business, much less manage to make a profit?
I think a question consumers need to ask is... How comfortable are you eating a hamburger flipped by someone not making a living wage? Do you feel a little indigestion coming on?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by debtmonger
I think a question consumers need to ask is... How comfortable are you eating a hamburger flipped by someone not making a living wage? Do you feel a little indigestion coming on?
With so many great burger places such as 5 Guys and Fatburger, I don't eat at McD and the like, but it really doesn't matter to me how much the employees are making if the food is good. Here in our area they are already getting $11-12 even at McD, with the minimum wage at $9.32 in our state, and they are still staffed by high school kids who don't need a living wage. Even $15/hour is not close to a living wage in many cities, especially on the west coast.
I think a question consumers need to ask is... How comfortable are you eating a hamburger flipped by someone not making a living wage? Do you feel a little indigestion coming on?
No, I am very comfortable, the wage has to do with the minimum skill sets required to do the job, not the character of the employee.
As it happens, food service is a fairly demanding job. Employees are on their feet all day and are expected to move quickly and precisely. Kitchens are hot, unpleasant environments with lots of burns, cuts, and falls. And people are often extremely rude and condecending toward fast food workers, in particular. It's as if the public doesn't even understand that these are real people and prefers to get a cheap thrill out of kicking people who are already down. And the evidence is all over this thread. At least half the replies are something along the lines of "$15/hour for those dumb jerks, who haven't accomplished as much in life as I have? They're so defective that their lives should be more miserable, not less!"
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