Posted on 12/31/2025 7:52:41 AM PST by Red Badger
A Year-and-a-Half Later, Commiefornia's Fast Food Minimum Wage Is an Unmitigated Disaster
And the Democrats want this for ALL OF AMERICA!................
2:51 VIDEO AT LINK.................
(Excerpt) Read more at rumble.com ...
The handlers corrupt politicians knew exactly where they intended for these unskilled illegal aliens to gain employment.
I live in central Illinois in a university town. The going rate for fast food workers was somewhere around $12 per hour back around 2008 when the the great recession hit. Nobody works for $7 a hour these days.
No, it was as I said, promote by the public employee unions to raise pay for public employees.
I can’t take to take that train between the tourist metropolis cities of Merced and Bakersfield.
Most expensive and boring ‘coaster’ park ride in human history.
Not even scenic (unless the residents moon the train).
1) It can increase prices.
2) It can attempt to increase the productivity of its current workforce.
3) It can accept a lower return on its investment.
4) It can try to make up the difference by compromising other aspects of it business.
Most likely, it will engage a combination of these strategies to offset the effect of the increase. Of course, the idiot politicians, who do not have an inkling of common sense when it comes to economic reality are completely oblivious to these effect.
A company is in business to create a return on investment. Even a cursory examination of the economic Einsteins on TikTok are under the impression that greedy corporations have plenty of money buried in their profits to pay their workers more money. But if your return on investment from all the risk and hard work invested falls below, say the level of the return on, say a ten year treasury note (in theory, a 'riskless') investment, then the rational business will simply liquidate and avoid the headaches and the risks.
Or they could attempt to raise prices. As someone else on this thread noted, market prices are determined by the marketplace, and not the inputs of production. Raising prices will effect market behavior. Where I live, a pizza from a pizzeria is over $25. Not long ago, it was around $15. I buy FAR fewer pizzas nowadays. Market reaction....
If a worker is paid $18 and hour, but only produces $9 of value per hour to the company, the company is losing $9 every hour he is on the time clock. No amount of legislation changes that basic fact. That worker has no value to the company, and the company will strive to get rid of that worker (and every other similar unproductive worker) and employ technology that will do his job better, quicker cheaper.
Finally, the business will try to economize in other aspect of the business. Lower quality, smaller portions, slower service, worse maintenance. Next time you buy a Big Mac, take off the top bun to see how big the beef patty is.
I am not sure how any of this improves the quality of the consumers and/or producers in our economy. Back in the day, fast food places competed to give better food, at better values and at higher convenience. Government regulations here, as they always do, just create a crappier experience for everyone.
Knoxville is not a Northern university town, though, is it? The fact that no Americans actually work for $7 an hour is kinda the point: Mega-corporations complain they can’t find Labor (for $7 an hour) and push to allow millions of illegal aliens who do work for those wages. And since no-one can possibly live on $7/hr, the government pays for their housing, education, healthcare, food, internet service, etc. Sure, illegal aliens don’t qualify, technically, but their kids do. So every minimum-wage worker ends up being subsidized by the government to the tune of on average over $40,000/year. (In Pennsylvania in 2016, it was $68,000.)
Spot on post.
Google it. No one makes min wage in CA. Find someone making that. I checked before and the average was higher than the new min.
What is the disaster?
Min wage was 1.65/hr in 1973. Adjust for an inflation that would now be $12/hr. But the way and inflation is now calculated (or under calculated) $20/hr seems right especially for CA.
Most Freepers dont get what you are saying but I do.
Blah blah blah Labor is a commodity like bread and meat. Your analysis is the same for all the ingredients to produce a product. For some reason the “managerial class” thinks the can set wages and manipulate the labor market. Do they tell suppliers how much they will pay for buns and meat? No.
Current Inflation Rate Calculation
Historical Context
Inflation rates are typically calculated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The methodology for calculating CPI has changed over the years, particularly since the 1970s. If inflation were calculated using the methods from that era, the reported rates would likely be higher than current figures.
Estimated Inflation Rate
Current Official Inflation Rate: As of the end of 2025, the inflation rate is approximately 2.92%.
1970s Calculation Method: If the inflation rate were calculated using the 1970s methodology, estimates suggest it could be significantly higher. Some analyses indicate that the inflation rate could be around 5% to 10% or more, depending on the specific adjustments made to the CPI calculation.
Key Differences
Methodological Changes: The shift in how inflation is measured includes changes in the basket of goods, adjustments for quality improvements, and how housing costs are calculated. These changes generally result in lower reported inflation rates today compared to the 1970s.
Conclusion
If inflation were calculated using the 1970s methods, the rate would likely reflect a higher value than the current official rate, potentially exceeding 5%.
Knoxville is a mid sized metro area that I would think the effective minimum wage might be around $10 per hour. McDonald's crew members make about $12 from what I can tell.
But as you point out, they likely wont exceed income levels to qualify for handouts.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.