what do you guys think of this? if it passes, it will definitely be an interesting social experiment.
my main concern - this is pretty unfair to people who don’t work at large fast food chains. At the same time, fast food chains have one of the widest gaps between lowest and highest earners, if not THE widest in all American industries. it will be interesting to see if low wage earners jump ship from mom and pop pizza places, gas stations ect. and move to fast food places. but will there be room? will all other employers have to raise their pay to keep workers? will it make them go out of business? or will the raise in pay boost the economy thus creating more jobs??? realistically the lowest wage earners spend around 100% of their income while the ones at the top spend a fraction of theirs. only time will tell.
I for one am super excited to see what happens if this passes. lets hear your opinions
I’m so tired of this argument that every entry level job should have a family supporting wage. Fast food is the job you get when you’re in high school and have parents supporting you, not the job you get so you can support a family of 4.
I expect that my employer will be giving me a $61,000 raise to keep pace. Someone with no skill should get a raise just because they want it, then so should I with my marketable skills. As I see it since they get a 42% raise again with no marketable skill, I should get an even larger raise as I CAN DO THINGS THAT ARE VALUABLE TO SOCIETY.
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My real take on this is that is it a totally progressive left wing backed movement to increase tax revenue. Think about it, COGS will increase and income across the board will stabilize to the higher levels over 5 years or so. This will leave the only real winner to be the US Govt as more people will cross into higher tax brackets and their net take will expand. This is how you pay for bullshit programs like the entire Clinton platform.
This. Because people complain about their pay they get a raise? If they get free money what’s the motivation to advance / improve themselves. This passes and you can bet I’ll never buy from ANY fast food outlets.
This is going to screw over so many middle class people it is hilarious. Enjoy paying higher prices for everything.
Studies show that most businesses and owners don’t close, they react to it. The hidden cost of it is while there is more money fed into the bottom of the income class generates higher prices upwards for the rest of us.
The interesting thing is that it is for fast food. Workers who are working at these places typically come from low income areas which statistically has the most fast food chains. It would be interesting to see if this is a vicious circle where families are getting more money and also have to spend more to eat with lack of options to go to. Also, the wage increase will increase their taxable income so maybe we will see some people actually have to pay taxes who would normally be below the income mark and end up hurting them as well.
I avoid fast food places as it is. These people can’t get orders right, they stand around talking about pointless shit and overall the service sucks. They pay these people $15 an hour and watch the service get worse because you just enabled someone to get something for nothing.
The last few fast food places I’ve gone to, my order was wrong, there were no napkins in the bag and the one kid even stuck my food out the window without even stopping his conversation with his coworker. He didn’t even make eye contact with me.
If they pay these people $15 an hour, I expect to see the service go up, but it won’t, just wait.
I will boycott and non stop publicly call for the boycott of all fast food places. They were kinda forced to start this shit we have the buying power to end it.
so you think that people who work 40 hours a week in America deserve to live in poverty and have their income subsidized by taxpayers just so they can get by?
even if these jobs are deemed low class or menial, there is still a societal need for them. We all cant be lawyers and engineers and welders. we need cooks and cashiers and janitors.
when Google perfects the self driving tractor trailer, (the car is closing in on a million miles so its not far off) what are the millions of truck drivers supposed to do? machines have been taking jobs from humans for centuries. a lot of jobs out there are only still available because human labor is cheaper than the computer that could do it. Fast food work is one of those things! WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE COMPUTER IS CHEAPER!
Jam, The jobs wont be ALL GONE!!! Yes we need those professions, I was once a cook. I had an apartment with a roommate and drove a newer car. Lived just fine. Infact I was able to afford recreational indulgences. Some jobs are not meant to make a living off of. There is a constant supply of 16-20 year olds to fill those positions while you work to better yourself and move up in life. The people still making 8.75 per hour in their 20’s deserve only that much as they have obviously not done anything to get out of that cycle.
Also I don’t think that we should supplement them with tax dollars. Welfare should have a 3 month maximum without a carefully reviewed reason. Food stamps the same thing. All government handouts should have SUPER STRICT maximums on them. Watch how fast people get their shit together when they cant get it for free. Those in real need will be supplemented by people like me that are willing to give to private charity who screen their recipients.
A lot of these people will be upset when they no longer qualify for things like HEAP, Medicaid and all the other subsidy programs that they now have. They will then just end up scamming the system and costing hard working tax payers even more money.
Hell, look at what Facebook is going through right now trying to battle not to release the info of New Yorkers who are thought to have falsely claimed disability benefits. They want FB to release all of their personal info from their pages, messages, photos, etc…
im all for catching these people, but at what expense? If they are releasing the message data for the people they suspect are making fraudulent claims, they are obviously talking with an innocent person. Now that person has been subject to having their info released.
There are a few large pockets that will be filled with dollars and there will be a lot of pockets with a lot less in them.
These people stand to lose benefits they currently qualify for, all while getting a slight bump in pay. I say slight because you know they aren’t getting full shifts anymore. Not to mention the ACA cutting back the hours already, this is just going to put the tax burden on the middle class even more.
Half of the people in this industry are 16 to 24, more than half are part time workers because they’re in school, etc.
So yes, let’s subsidize the smaller percentage of the total people in the fast food industry who actually need the money rather than affect the entire industry as a whole. Politicians always give the impression that every single person working in fast food is trying to scrape by and raise 3 kids on minimum wage when the reality is a lot of them are still claimed as dependents on their parents taxes.
Help the people who need it, not the ones who don’t. That’s what subsidies are for.
What I’m waiting for is all the current $8.75/hr employees to lose their jobs. Why you might ask? Well if as a college student or even college grad, I can go start at a Bank with my banking degree for $12.20/hr or I can run the drive thru for $15.00/hr. My point is the quality of applicant to these fast food jobs is going to increase due to the increase in pay. So these people making $8.75/hr will eventually all be fired for people that actually can, want, and deserve to make $15.00/hr and they will be left doing other low end jobs for minimum wage not affected by this.
They all just shot themselves in the foot and lost their easy jobs.
I am actually surprised that McDonalds, Burger King, Arbys etc… haven’t banded together and started publishing employment statistics to support their side of the argument. That or they are quiet because the are in on this.
You said it yourself Jam, we can’t all be lawyers, welders, or engineers. Those who want something more, work to get it. I certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon and my parents spent a good part of the time they raised me at or just above the poverty line. I’m by no means rich but feel blessed to have what I have. I started detailing cars, mowing lawns, and doing yard work when I was 14 and got no allowance from my parents. If I wanted it, I had to work for it. What does this “free money” teach those who are getting it?
I could go work 2 - 6 hour shifts just for fun on say Tuesday and Wednesday and come out $10,000 ahead at the end of the year. It would be a great vacation fund or a great way to Bolster my retirement portfolio. Chances are I would be fucked by tax brackets or something but I would be very willing to take that job simply to stick it to the bottom feeder that fought for $15.
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My first job was at a Country Club at 14 washing clubs and carts. I rode my bike directly there after school and worked until just after sunset. Then I went home and did my school work and chores. I wanted the life that the people I was serving had. So You bet your ass I went and got it.
These people would make as much, if not more than. Almost 50% of those jobs.
Also, for 1 person working and one person not, the livable wage is $10 an hour.
The people complaining that they can’t live on that are just the ones who see other people with nice things and can’t understand why they don’t have it. Easiest thing to do is complain until someone gives in. Just like everything else lately.