$15 wage protests (Seattle, SeaTac: minimum wage, to live, restaurants)

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Oh, I am so sorry. What part of CA? It was the most painful thing driving back here.

Well, I love the Bay Area. It was our 2nd choice before settling on the Seattle area. However, my small business (software development) doesn't yet earn enough money to allow this family of 3 to "live" in the Bay Area lol, at least not in a place that would guarantee we'd get the kid in a good school. I also don't want to deal with crime, any crime. Go figure that I'm not even paying myself a livable wage. It might be back to SoCal, maybe even Temecula. Temecula has one of the best bang for the buck factors in CA. We'll also look at Folsom up in NorCal.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Well, I love the Bay Area. It was our 2nd choice before settling on the Seattle area. However, my small business (software development) doesn't yet earn enough money to allow this family of 3 to "live" in the Bay Area lol, at least not in a place that would guarantee we'd get the kid in a good school. I also don't want to deal with crime, any crime. Go figure that I'm not even paying myself a livable wage. It might be back to SoCal, maybe even Temecula. Temecula has one of the best bang for the buck factors in CA. We'll also look at Folsom up in NorCal.

I'd be back in the Bay Area if I had a choice and had to stay in CA. it is very expensive though so when I leave San Diego again, it will be back to WA.

Just curious, if your wife's problem with WA wasn't the weather, what was it?

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

I'd be back in the Bay Area if I had a choice and had to stay in CA. it is very expensive though so when I leave San Diego again, it will be back to WA.

Just curious, if your wife's problem with WA wasn't the weather, what was it?

Sent DM so as not to derail the thread.

[sll3454]

Let's say McDonalds pays $9.50 and charges $4.39 for a big mac (SeaTac price). Raise the 9.50 to $15.00, and if the big mac went up proportionally, they would charge $6.93 for a big mac. That's without tax. Add 8%, and you have $7.48 for a fast food hamburger.

Of course there are other factors, but one simple thing is, if minimum wage goes up significantly, so will prices.

[strad]

According to a "study" by the Huffington Post, McDonalds could double wages and the price of a Big Mac would go up 68 cents. This rebuttal by the Columbia Journalism Review, the price would have to go up a dollar.

I don't know what McDonalds pays on average in Seattle, but doesn't Dicks pay more than $13 and still sell (better) food for around the same price as McDs?

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by strad

According to a "study" by the Huffington Post, McDonalds could double wages and the price of a Big Mac would go up 68 cents. This rebuttal by the Columbia Journalism Review, the price would have to go up a dollar.

I don't know what McDonalds pays on average in Seattle, but doesn't Dicks pay more than $13 and still sell (better) food for around the same price as McDs?

Had to look up Dick's. Now I gotta try them. Per their website they start at $10.50. That is the same as In-N-Out. Also like In-N-Out, they are privately owned by devout Christians.

I liked the Columbia Journalism Review article. The clearly state where they are guessing or estimating. Assuming the truth falls somewhere in-between, that would be great if only McDonalds had to raise prices. However, it will be everywhere across most products and services. Such a large adjustment to the minimum wage will cause everyone's wages to increase. You'd have to. If you didn't you'd have all of us paying more at the grocery store, restaurant, movie theater, and so on and OUR standard of living would go down. Both of the above studies are actually flawed in that they only consider McDonald's internal costs. They don't factor in that everything McDonald's buys will also become a little more expensive. At the end of the day we will probably be back to where we are now. The simple problems in America were solved a long time ago.

[Arushan]

Perhaps we'll start seeing a lot more of these: McDonald's orders 7,000 touchscreen kiosks to replace cashiers - Neowin

[dubfan]

The $15 minimum wage crowd is framing this argument as the little guy getting back at the "1%". What the rank-and-file don't realize (but the union organizers definitely do) is that raising the minimum wage by such a large amount would impact small businesses disproportionately to the big corporations they despise. Small businesses would be forced to raise prices, cut hours or just lay off workers and become less productive. Big corporations would also raise prices, but they could automate much of their labor. They would take a hit to their stock prices but would stabilize. The biggest loser here is the middle class, who run the small businesses and hold 401(k)s or index funds which would be impacted by the declining stock prices. The biggest winner here is the union that is organizing this campaign: the Service Employees International Union. This is another ploy by entrenched political interests to squeeze the middle class.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Had to look up Dick's. Now I gotta try them. Per their website they start at $10.50. That is the same as In-N-Out. Also like In-N-Out, they are privately owned by devout Christians.

We will go to Dick's over McD any day, better food at a cheap price, and they take good care of their employees, even paying for them to go to college. Do try them soon!

[victorianpunk]

Originally Posted by Cubey

That's around $1500 a month before taxes. Based on what I see in rent in Seattle, that's not a living wage unless you live in an RV park or in public housing which heavily subsidizes the rent you pay. It's not a living wage if you have to rely on welfare.

No, that is liveable for a single person. How? Get roommates. Not that insane, as lots of people do it.

All these people whining about the poor "welfare mothers" with five kids from five men who work at McDonalds are missing some crucial facts. First, those low lives are just low lives and always will be. Raising the minimum wage will make people like me, who worked hard as hell to make about fifteen dollars an hour, very angry to see subhuman leeches make the same amount of money for none of the effort.

Second, if you really want to be a bleeding heart moron, just give them $10 an hour and shut up. That is more than enough for people to live off of...granted, they couldn't afford an Xbox one, a flat screen and a Iphone, but big deal. Want more money? Learn a trade, work harder and get a promotion etc.

Oi, between this minimum wage crap, the gun grabbers wanting to take away my rights because one idiot shot some kids in Connecticut and the justice for Treyvon idiocy I think I feel myself turning into a conservative...

Wonder what the job market is like in Texas? If that communist council woman who just got elected every so much as set foot in that state they would tar and feather her and make her watch "The Pursuit of Happyness" while force feeding her beef from (gasp!) an animal that got killed before throwing her out of state lines while crowds gather to read from the Bible and Adam Smith with equal enthusiasm.

Wonder how a move to Houston would work for me? If this crap comes to Seattle, I just may see.