At $26 an hour....a McDonalds menu-meal (typically $6.99 now), would end being around $15.00. A coke would run $2 minimum. A Pizza Hut large pizza would likely run near $50.
You see....I’m for this massive increase, because we’d finally automate the whole service sector....bring McDonalds staff on a typical shift to three people (basically ensuring the automated system works, and greeting people). Within one single year, we’d release at least half the minimum wage people at the burger franchise operations back into their true passion....sitting and living under bridges. I should note....those who do remain working...will suddenly discover that taxes are greatly increased, and they can’t really afford much of anything for apartments, and they will eventually discover under-the-bridge lifestyles as well.
Good thought, but I suspect what would really happen is that these takers would be plugged into all of the alphabet agency public assistance programs and would get food, housing, and entertainment paid for by the few remaining real tax paying workers in exchange for voting a few times each for the Rat candidates.
Your numbers are off, way off. Labor now is 25% of the retail price on average in the food industry. The other 75% is overhead, food, electricity etc.
So if a 4 dollar hamburger was made with labor making say $8/hr and that wage was tripled, only the labor portion triples. So the hamburger costs goes from $4 -> $7 dollars. A huge increase but not the increase you suggest. A $7 -> $10 etc. Bad yes, but keep it real.