- 24,553
- Frankfort, KY
- GTP_FoolKiller
- FoolKiller1979
Some places here have laws that require teenagers to work only a certain number of hours and only within certain times of day, so they are legally forced to make less than someone who is older. In these places it is illegal for a teenager to work full-time year round.
I'd prefer to only buy my meat and produce from local farmers with the knowledge that the fruits and vegetables were picked within the last 48 hours and that the animal was slaughtered in a facility I could drive to and look at, but from about October to April it is just too cold to have any locally grown produce and too risky to slaughter any herd animals that might be needed for breeding stock next spring in the event of weather related deaths or diseases. So, during that time frame I am most likely buying Round Up soaked GMO produce or something picked thousands of miles away, before it was even ripe, and my meat will have to come from farms and slaughter houses where the animals stand around in their own feces and are given all kinds of drugs to make them healthy and appealing.
I have found canning and freezing as a good way to get myself through the winter (along with partaking of the large haul of venison my uncle brings in), but if fast food goes the way of automation, you can't freeze a lifetime supply of Big Macs.
As for Subway: What will you do when they get automated? Look at the automated burger machine. It custom creates your burgers, cuts and preps condiments and toppings as it needs them. A machine can be fresh than the Eat Fresh franchise, and the sub maker would be cheaper because it wouldn't need to have a grill section.
As for what I'd rather pay for: Since I need to customize my order to fit my diet, which will get it right? I once had to send two of the three things I ordered back at a McDonalds. I don't know what is so hard about "no ice" and "no cheese" but they seem to be stumbling points for the local franchise. And by the time I am done the courtesy and friendliness are long gone.
To be honest, looking at the way organics and places like Trader Joes have gained a large following I believe that he will have that choice. It might not be a place he wants to eat, but he will be allowed to choose it.
Only if there are enough of you to make it happen. Ask all the mom and pop shops that fell to Wal-Mart how their loyal customers did for them. Your choices would be far and few between.
Does it really help anyone? If you are making minimum you are still at the low end of the wage pool. Poverty is a comparative figure, not a solid figure. The poverty rate moves as wages move. You know what will happen if the national minimum is $15/hour? People making $15/hour will be poor. Once everything adjusts people making $15/hour will be just as poor as they are at $8/hour today.
One thing you forget is that not only does this affect minimum wage earners, but everyone who makes between minimum wage and $15/hour. That is a much larger number than just the number of minimum wage earners that politicians and talking heads bounce around. Then when all of those people make $15/hour what do you think the people who make $15/hour right now will say? Some of them have college degrees, years of on-the-job training that they used to move up from $8/hour to that point. Suddenly their education, experience, and skill makes them no more money than the guy who cleans out their trash at the end of the night. So they want a pay increase as well. But then they pass people above them and those people complain. Either you screw some group somewhere or every wage in the country increases to maintain fairness among the employees.
Now, I know the thought process is that they should screw the executives. Sure, you screw the top 1%. But they are being paid as much in stocks as cash. The stock value of all these companies takes a fall. People back out of their investments and suddenly the company takes a large blow. It has to compensate or stagnate growth until things get back to normal years later. Stagnated growth means no new jobs. Compensation means less jobs.
Who are you trying to help again?
Even fast food workers? I don't tip the guy who punches a few buttons and then hands me a bag. If they come out and offer to get me a refill or cleanup my stuff that I am finished with I will think differently about it, but they have to be stepping up to make me think they earned more than what they are already being paid.
Wait staff at a sit-down restaurant is a completely different beast.
