Fast food strike

[dmcheatw]

@DM - not going to quote your last post because it was pretty long. I don't disagree with many of your points, and I am not one of those arch-libertarian flag wavers that goes all Chicken Little about minimum wage increases - a minimum wage increase will not collapse the fast food industry or eliminate all fry cooks or destroy the economy, etc. etc. But I am convinced that the minimum wage has in fact reduced the number of low skill jobs available in this country, and increasing it will reduce those jobs further - at a time when, frankly, we need all the low skill jobs we can get.

Raising the standard of living of the working poor is important, they keep falling further behind due to inflation and other factors, and the current economic recovery is pretty much all going to the 1% while the rest of us stagnate. But I think that between the minimum wage, Obamacare, and a million other government mandates, we've loaded our employers with enough social welfare burdens. It's time to reform the safety net and fix the tax code so we all pay to support the poor, without the unintended consequences of loading more onto employers.

absolutely agreed, especially with the bolded. even if what i wrote worked, it would only apply to the cheapest end of the hospitality sector, so a very very narrow % of the working poor. i just mainly wanted to point out that however it's done, do it slowly and a lot of the problems go away. i am NOT in favor of giving fast food emps. an immediate 16/hr wage hike, but maybe increase their wage by a dollar a year, and adjust it for inflation and cost of living as specifically as can be done. min wage has always struck me as weird when not tied to cost of living since it varies so much between po dunk alabama and manhattan.

ofc if we can just provide real assistance for all those in need, including those already employed, we could actually theoretically then abolish min wages entirely.

 

[Deacon923]

Re healthcare:

 

[DeaconCav06]

Maybe this has been addressed but when we say living wage what does that mean exactly?

Enough for an individual? How many kids? One income household or two? What sort of transportation costs in a city with well developed mass transit versus a rural area. Living with roommates or without? Does that include a cell phone? How old should you be to have a right to a living wage?

 

[Deacon923]

Maybe this has been addressed but when we say living wage what does that mean exactly?

Enough for an individual? How many kids? One income household or two? What sort of transportation costs in a city with well developed mass transit versus a rural area. Living with roommates or without? Does that include a cell phone? How old should you be to have a right to a living wage?

Exactly. This is part of the problem with requiring an employer to provide a "living wage". The value of a person's services to an employer has little correlation to the local cost of living or that particular person's lifestyle. The cost of living in San Diego is 50% more than Greensboro, but that doesn't mean that the value of 40 hours of janitorial service is 50% more in San Diego. Better to provide standard of living support through social programs that can be tailored to family circumstances and local cost of living.

 

[IAppreciateIt]

I think our health care system is the worst of both worlds -- it's clearly not a free market, but still grants certain people involved the opportunity to pwn us for huge profits.

I think it's crazy that I (or my employer) should have to pay for health insurance -- I really don't want it. I'm in my mid-20s, healthy and active, haven't been sick in years. If something happens and I break my foot, I should be able to go to the doctor and pay the market clearing price. But because of the ridiculousness of medical prices, getting insurance becomes a requirement.

I guess one question is whether some people should have better health care than others, the same way other goods and services in the economy work. Because having that is a key to having a competitive market.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

Walmart workers set to strike over minimum wage in 15 US cities
Thursday's actions will include a march in Los Angeles and a rally outside the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco, where Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO and Walmart board member has a penthouse apartment. In New York, a petition will be delivered to the headquarters of Williams Capital Group, whose chairman, Christopher Williams, is a Walmart board member.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/05/walmart-workers-strike-us-thursday

 

[TheTwinAndreBen]

:yawn:

 

[BillBrasky]

I think our health care system is the worst of both worlds -- it's clearly not a free market, but still grants certain people involved the opportunity to pwn us for huge profits.

I think it's crazy that I (or my employer) should have to pay for health insurance -- I really don't want it. I'm in my mid-20s, healthy and active, haven't been sick in years. If something happens and I break my foot, I should be able to go to the doctor and pay the market clearing price. But because of the ridiculousness of medical prices, getting insurance becomes a requirement.

I guess one question is whether some people should have better health care than others, the same way other goods and services in the economy work. Because having that is a key to having a competitive market.

Agreed. Although we're so past anything reasonable I'm almost just fine with it being single-payer. Although you should be able to also independently purchase services outside of insurance if needed.