McDonalds.....Don't Eat the Food!

[smstonypoint]

Dave1949 is right. Redistribution is happening all the time. The only question is who loses. For a very long time, the working family has been on the losing end, while the rewards of productivity increase shift elsewhere. Micro-economic theory has nothing to offer in explanation of this.

View attachment 351882

Pat,

With all due respect and contrary to claims by some politicians and voices in the media, the gap between productivity and real wages isn't all that it is cracked up to be. See Productivity, Compensation and Economic Growth.

As explained in the link:

- the wage data do not capture employee benefits paid by employers,
- different indices are used to adjust for inflation,
- the effects of accelerated depreciation are ignored, and
- the data contain measurement errors.

Steve

 

[jerrybob]

The 70 Ingredient Cancer Promoting McRib Sandwich: It痴 Not Real Food

McDonald's is adding chicken wings to it's menu. It's good that they finally found use out of the horse's tail.

 

[smstonypoint]

So at what point does a minimum wage below the equilibrium starts resulting in a dead weight loss to society?

There is no deadweight loss if the legislated minimum wage is below the equilibrium in the labor market.

Steve

 

[Markcuda]

Bottom line, if you feel you are not making enough money at your present job,
look for another that pays more.

 

[dave1949]

Pat,

With all due respect and contrary to claims by some politicians and voices in the media, the gap between productivity and real wages isn't all that it is cracked up to be. See Productivity, Compensation and Economic Growth.

As explained in the link:

- the wage data do not capture employee benefits paid by employers,
- different indices are used to adjust for inflation,
- the affects of accelerated depreciation are ignored, and
- the data contain measurement errors.

Steve

Steve, My experience with the Heritage Foundation is they begin with a Libertarian premise and find a way to support it. The article you linked is very open about that in the the first paragraph, the intention is to "correct" "liberal" opinions. Of course, the majority of such foundations have their own agendas, right and left.

I'm not even sure that wages versus productivity is what really matters in the long run, but even their own interpretation shows wages now lagging productivity by 23% when they were previously on par. Given that numbers are tricky, "average compensation" does not distinguish between: several high wages and hundreds of low wages, and, mostly wages that are within a bell curve distribution of average. That matters in the context of a minimum wage discussion.

Taking the point about wages plus benefits equaling total compensation, it's true mathematically. It may be far different though in free market outcomes. If private employers allocate more and more of total compensation to benefits, how is that not different than the government collecting taxes and providing more and more support?
In each case, the end consumer is being more isolated from free market pressures, those costs (and benefits) become more or less invisible from the employee's pocketbook perspective. Some say that is one reason why we have runaway health care costs.

 

[sld]

Bottom line, if you feel you are not making enough money at your present job,
look for another that pays more.

I agree Cuda. It's pretty simple to a guy that started at the bottom at 15 years old and worked to improve myself.

One problem I see is that maybe there aren't as many jobs to work your way up anymore. That is a problem caused by the gov't. Trying to fix this whole thing by making minimum wage 15.00 bucks is the wrong way to go about it.

Maybe we should be looking at NAFTA, immigration reform, stupid EPA rules, and the tax code for starters.

 

[txdon]

McDonald's is adding chicken wings to it's menu. It's good that they finally found use out of the horse's tail.

Chicken wings flopped, it wasn't a fun shape without bones: "A 10 million pound inventory dilemma. McDonald's Mighty Wings, which were released nationwide this September, turned out to be a major flop, and now the fast food chain has huge stockpile of frozen wings it needs to get rid of." the Wall Street Journal reports.

 

[Markcuda]

I agree Cuda. It's pretty simple to a guy that started at the bottom at 15 years old and worked to improve myself.

People now a days are not taught this any more, they are taught that the government is the
answer to all your employment/unemployment needs.
Just look at the work ethics of some people, you sit and wonder how they function on a day to day basis.

 

[brin]

People now a days are not taught this any more, they are taught that the government is the
answer to all your employment/unemployment needs.
Just look at the work ethics of some people, you sit and wonder how they function on a day to day basis.

You are so right....The work ethic of my day is gone. I have friends who started their working lives at McDonald's and ended up executives with the corporation or franchise owners...they worked their way up....so why don't these workers seek to achieve and advance vs. strike for a couple more dollars an hour...? This does not bode well for our country.

 

[Soundguy]

One problem I see is that maybe there aren't as many jobs to work your way up anymore.

Exactly.

It's crass to simply say that people that want to make more should just get a higher paying job. As if you could just open a file folder, flip thru the tabs till you find a salary you like, pull it out and POOF.. you have the better job.

In today's economy.. that's fiction at best.