Anybody get a 35% raise last year?

[mp2bill]

I used those prices because the first time I went to Switzerland was with a group of kids from high school. We had to be dumb and had a late night snack at McDonalds. I still have the receipt showing that I paid $11.99 for a McChicken sandwich with a packet of mayo on the side for $1 extra.

This was in Lucerne which is pricey. There are many locales in the United States which are also pricey across the board. I will fully expect such prices to appear in many markets here in the United States.
I would hope that if wages were to increase that McDonalds not just eat the cost.

If nothing but the cost of labor went up, the adjusted cost of their salable items in order to cover costs would be minimal. For instance, let's say that the average wage per hour of a non-managerial employee is $10 (I don't have the statistics in front of me, so I'm theorizing here) and you wanted to raise their wages by 50% to $15/hour. The adjusted price to the customer would not be an additional 50% on a food item. The reason for this is, if you multiply the increase in wages by the number of employees (probably somewhere around 8 employees on shift every hour), that's an additional $40/hour. Divide that by the number of sold items every hour (probably around 200), you get an increase of 20 cents per item. Being that most people get a sandwich, fries, and a soda, that's an increase of 60 cents per visit to McDonalds, or Burger King, or whatever.

For some people, maybe that's unacceptable. But for me, I'd be more than willing so shell out an an extra 60 cents so that somebody else is able to make a living wage. Something tells me that your $13 McChicken sandwich in Switzerland had other qualifying reasons for their prices.

As an aside, what really gets my ire up is when a business does better, either by increased sales or increased prices, the ratio of money that goes to the executives is far higher than the amount of money that goes to the employees who put in all the work in front of the customers. The rationalization here being that spreading the money across tens of thousands of employees isn't enough to make a difference for each of those employees, but giving millions more to, say, Robert Iger, allows him to spend more money all at once and that money will then "trickle down" to the front-line employees. I don't know...after 30 years of that failed policy, I think it's time for a change.

 

[mp2bill]

....and what about the people making $15 dollars an hour now? What is going to happen when the minimum is what they are making - they are going to demand more, and this will ripple all the way up to the top.

These aren't baseball players who have massive egos and need to be the highest paid person in their field.

 

[unkadug]

These aren't baseball players who have massive egos and need to be the highest paid person in their field.

Yes they are. Anybody currently making 15 per hour is going to feel slighted if the minimum wage goes up to 15.

 

[mp2bill]

Yes they are. Anybody currently making 15 per hour is going to feel slighted if the minimum wage goes up to 15.

Ok...

 

[unkadug]

Ok...

What? You don't think so? Why would anyone currently making 15 per hour doing (for example only) manual labor not want more money than the guy flipping burgers for the same amount of money?

You have blinders on if you think that they would not be upset and be demanding a raise.

 

[mp2bill]

What? You don't think so? Why would anyone currently making 15 per hour doing (for example only) manual labor not want more money than the guy flipping burgers for the same amount of money?

You have blinders on if you think that they would not be upset and be demanding a raise.

Because most people (maybe it's different for you) don't get their feeling of validation by comparing themselves to others. Most people feel validated in their jobs by how their employer treats them. Thus, if an office administrator in Athens, OH is making $15/hour, but gets major holidays off, has 4 weeks of paid vacation, gets 2 months of paid maternity leave, has paid sick leave, has a boss who doesn't ride her butt every time she needs to take an afternoon off so that she can bring her son to the doctor, and gets verbal recognition when she does a good job, she's not going to care that the 28 year old burger flipper at a McDonalds in Seattle just got a "raise" to $15 (but none of those other things) because that city mandated it.

Any reasonable person is going to say, "Good, I'm glad that that person is better off now that he's making more money." And...if she's really concerned about the fiscal standing of this country, she's going to say, "Good, I'm glad that he's making more money now so that my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him to be on food stamps because he's not paid enough to live under a roof and eat three meals a day.

 

[unkadug]

Because most people (maybe it's different for you) don't get their need to feel validated by comparing themselves to others. Most people feel validated in their jobs by how their employer treats them. Thus, if an office administrator in Athens, OH is making $15/hour, but gets major holidays off, has 4 weeks of paid vacation, gets 2 months of paid maternity leave, has paid sick leave, has a boss who doesn't ride her butt every time she needs to take an afternoon off so that she can bring her son to the doctor, and gets verbal recognition when she does a good job, she's not going to care that the 28 year old burger flipper at a McDonalds in Seattle just got a "raise" to $15 (but none of those other things) because that city mandated it.

Any reasonable person is going to say, "Good, I'm glad that that person is better off now that he's making more money." And...if she's really concerned about the fiscal standing of this country, she's going to say, "Good, I'm glad that he's making more money now so that my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him to be on food stamps because he's not paid enough to live under a roof and eat three meals a day.

Wow....really? You just go ahead and think that way....I'll stay in the real world.

 

[mp2bill]

Wow....really? You just go ahead and think that way....I'll stay in the real world.

Ok...

 

[unkadug]

Ok...

OK....

 

[Quinnmac000]

Any reasonable person is going to say, "Good, I'm glad that that person is better off now that he's making more money." And...if she's really concerned about the fiscal standing of this country, she's going to say, "Good, I'm glad that he's making more money now so that my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him to be on food stamps because he's not paid enough to live under a roof and eat three meals a day.

I certainly would be celebrating at that fact that my tax money isn't going to food stamps/free lunch/ etc. But that's just me. Income inequality is disgusting in this country and its sad people defend it. A boss should make no more than 20x what his lowest paid employee makes....Thats why the heyday and the best years of the country were in the 50s and 60s because thats exactly what they did. People had jobs, welfare was at a minimum and we were respected as a country and people.

People do better and work harder when they aren't stressed out by external circumstances like will I be able to afford to eat, get to work, etc. Paying a decent wage is investing in your workforce which in turn will increase productivity and push people to do better FOR THE MOST part. Of course there are exceptions but you get rids of those people when that occurs.

 

[Tigger1988]

Thats why the heyday and the best years of the country were in the 50s and 60s because thats exactly what they did. People had jobs, welfare was at a minimum and we were respected as a country and people.

Women and African Americans would probably argue your "best years of the country" bit.

 

[ford91exploder]

Yes they are. Anybody currently making 15 per hour is going to feel slighted if the minimum wage goes up to 15.

And their wages will need to be raised, The minimum wage was SUPPOSED to be a training wage for those entering the workforce, Now with the immigration advocates supporting unlimited unskilled immigration therefore artificially inflating the labor supply the minimum wage has become a CEILING for many workers.

It's time for a rational needs based immigration system like Canada, Australia and New Zealand have which protects the workers ALREADY in the labor market. Recently Canada needed to clamp down because in the fast food industry it was becoming a 'No Canadian Citizens Need Apply' situation as much cheaper 'guest' workers were being used instead.

The minimum wage issues are a SYMPTOM of a broken labor market, Not the cause.

 

[ford91exploder]

Wow....really? You just go ahead and think that way....I'll stay in the real world.

I'm constantly amazed at the lack of economic understanding in the US, Of course of the school taught HOW to think instead of WHAT to think like they USED to before the school system transformed into a indoctrination system for 'Proper Thought' (Orwell would recognize this as RIGHTTHINK) we might be better off.

 

[ford91exploder]

If nothing but the cost of labor went up, the adjusted cost of their salable items in order to cover costs would be minimal. For instance, let's say that the average wage per hour of a non-managerial employee is $10 (I don't have the statistics in front of me, so I'm theorizing here) and you wanted to raise their wages by 50% to $15/hour. The adjusted price to the customer would not be an additional 50% on a food item. The reason for this is, if you multiply the increase in wages by the number of employees (probably somewhere around 8 employees on shift every hour), that's an additional $40/hour. Divide that by the number of sold items every hour (probably around 200), you get an increase of 20 cents per item. Being that most people get a sandwich, fries, and a soda, that's an increase of 60 cents per visit to McDonalds, or Burger King, or whatever.

For some people, maybe that's unacceptable. But for me, I'd be more than willing so shell out an an extra 60 cents so that somebody else is able to make a living wage. Something tells me that your $13 McChicken sandwich in Switzerland had other qualifying reasons for their prices.

As an aside, what really gets my ire up is when a business does better, either by increased sales or increased prices, the ratio of money that goes to the executives is far higher than the amount of money that goes to the employees who put in all the work in front of the customers. The rationalization here being that spreading the money across tens of thousands of employees isn't enough to make a difference for each of those employees, but giving millions more to, say, Robert Iger, allows him to spend more money all at once and that money will then "trickle down" to the front-line employees. I don't know...after 30 years of that failed policy, I think it's time for a change.

Your math is incorrect, Employer taxes and levy's are based on gross salary, And you will need to raise everyone else's wages as well. Figure those dollar menu items costing $2-3 bucks now.

 

[General Zondag]

Because most people (maybe it's different for you) don't get their feeling of validation by comparing themselves to others. Most people feel validated in their jobs by how their employer treats them. Thus, if an office administrator in Athens, OH is making $15/hour, but gets major holidays off, has 4 weeks of paid vacation, gets 2 months of paid maternity leave, has paid sick leave, has a boss who doesn't ride her butt every time she needs to take an afternoon off so that she can bring her son to the doctor, and gets verbal recognition when she does a good job, she's not going to care that the 28 year old burger flipper at a McDonalds in Seattle just got a "raise" to $15 (but none of those other things) because that city mandated it.

Any reasonable person is going to say, "Good, I'm glad that that person is better off now that he's making more money." And...if she's really concerned about the fiscal standing of this country, she's going to say, "Good, I'm glad that he's making more money now so that my tax dollars aren't going to paying for him to be on food stamps because he's not paid enough to live under a roof and eat three meals a day.

Unfortunately people in the real world do care what others make, this is the whole purpose of this thread isn't it? Ever heard of "keeping up with the Joneses"?

Look, say the guy just below you at work gets a raise and earns the same as you do for less work and responsibilities. Would you be just OK with this? I know I would walk up to my boss and ask why I didn't also get a raise.

If Iger gets a raise good for him, he is creating wealth and jobs! But this has nothing to do with the minimum wage debate, fact is that raising the minimum wage costs jobs and causes prices to increase (somewhat) and the people most affected by the increased cost of goods provided by minimum wage earners are the poor.

 

[mp2bill]

Unfortunately people in the real world do care what others make, this is the whole purpose of this thread isn't it? Ever heard of "keeping up with the Joneses"?

Look, say the guy just below you at work gets a raise and earns the same as you do for less work and responsibilities. Would you be just OK with this? I know I would walk up to my boss and ask why I didn't also get a raise.

If Iger gets a raise good for him, he is creating wealth and jobs! But this has nothing to do with the minimum wage debate, fact is that raising the minimum wage costs jobs and causes prices to increase (somewhat) and the people most affected by the increased cost of goods provided by minimum wage earners are the poor.

No, I am cognizant of the fact that I am not being paid enough in the first place. It doesn't just dawn on me that I'm not being paid enough when somebody who does less/has fewer responsibilities starts getting paid as much as me.

 

[draybook]

Women and African Americans would probably argue your "best years of the country" bit.

Is that all that makes up the US population?

 

[Tigger1988]

Is that all that makes up the US population?

Did you hear the loud woosh of my point going over your head?

 

[draybook]

Did you hear the loud woosh of my point going over your head?

Perhaps, but I didn't miss that it's whoosh, not woosh.

 

[Tigger1988]

Perhaps, but I didn't miss that it's whoosh, not woosh.

Oh wow, my phone missed a letter. Your argument is solid.