August 29, 2013, - 5:24 pm
If Fast Food Workers Make Double, Look Forward to $10 Burgers & Tacos; Madness @ Mickey Ds Where I Grew Up
Today, fast food workers shut down a McDonald’s in the Detroit-area suburb of Southfield, Michigan, where I grew up (the McDonald’s in question is literally across the street from the City of Detroit). The store had no choice but to close because most, if not all, of its employees walked off the job to demand $15 per hour. Other than my strong belief in capitalism and free markets, I don’t have a dog in this fight because I don’t eat fast food. Because I keep kosher–and have all my life–I’ve never had a Big Mac, a Whopper, a Chilupa or Burrito Supreme from Taco Bell, or a roast beef sandwich at Arby’s (it looks good to me, though). So, if fast food restaurants in America chose to double the wages of these unskilled employees beyond what the market has already decided is the fair wage, it wouldn’t hurt me. The price of my food wouldn’t go up. But it would go up for anyone who eats at these places.
And, in fact, families who rely–especially in this Obamaconomy on economically-priced “value meals” at McDonald’s, Burger King, and so on, well they would be hurt. Those families can’t afford to pay for a $10-$15 burger. And if they could, they’d be better off going to dine at a fancy restaurant, where many meals are exactly that price (at least here in the Detroit area). There would be no more dollar value meals on the menu for fast food customers. Because, after all, the doubled wages have to be made up somewhere. And business owners almost always pass off the added costs of labor on customers.
It would be suicidal for fast food restaurants to double workers’ pay. Their whole business model and market advantage is price (and tasty, quick food). Doubling workers’ pay would soon mean closing doors and workers losing their jobs. These workers simply have no grasp of economics . . . kinda like the President they voted for.
In the end, just as it has with the minimum wage, the economy would adjust to the absurd $15 per hour wages for hashslingers and “Would you like fries with that?” utterers. So, their $15 per hour would eventually be worth a lot less in real dollars and buying power, just as has happened with the minimum wage increases these workers collect.
If McDonald’s Hamburger University were actually a real school and the workers earned degrees from it, as many college students do from real universities (where they learn a lot less), McDonald’s workers would still possess no special skills, no unique qualifications and credentials that make them worth $15 per hour. Anyone can cook burgers, handle a cash register, talk through a headset and ask you if you want tartar sauce with your Filet O’Fish. That’s why it’s an entry level, temporary job. Working fast food is not designed to be a career, unless you aspire to be a manager or become and entrepreneur and earn enough money to invest in your own franchise.
If you don’t like the $7.50 per hour that you are making as a Mickey D’s employee in Southfield (or anywhere else), you can always quit. There are plenty of people eager to work and make some money to bide them in this rough economy.
And they’d be thankful to have a job and a salary.
Would you like ten dollar burgers with that?
***
One other thing: while I don’t support McDonald’s doubling its employees pay to $15 per hour, I wholeheartedly endorse America downsizing Congressmen’s and Senators’ pay to $7.50 per hour. Something tells me things would be a whole lot better.
Tags: capitalism, economics, fast food, fast food workers, fast food workers strike, free market, McDonald's, minimum wage, ten dollar burgers
Sorry to break the news to ya, MANGOG, but if you actually waited there 30 minutes for a Filet of Carp, either your car was broke down or you aren’t the brightest crayon in the box. Or,you have the patience of a saint.
RT on August 31, 2013 at 5:22 am