Posted on 02/02/2017 10:37:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Massachusetts is in the midst of debating the Fight for 15, with proposals on the table to raise the minimum wage that high at least for a few industries including big box stores and fast food outlets. That would have a serious impact on businesses such as McDonald’s, which hires a lot of younger workers looking for their first entries on their resumes, particularly if they don’t have a secondary school education. While we’re on the subject, if you happen to be in the Boston area be sure to stop by one McDonald’s where you can meet their new employee. He’s not very chatty, though, since he’s a machine. (New Boston Post)
At the same time as a coalition dedicated to passing legislation that would boost the state’s hourly minimum wage to $15 delivered its presentation on Beacon Hill, across town in Kenmore Square a McDonald’s franchise unveiled the world’s first Big Mac machine…
McDonald’s announced that their Big Mac machine would be making its worldwide debut on Jan. 24, less than a week after Donahue and Donnelly filed their joint legislation.
Noah Berger, president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, told New Boston Post after Tuesday’s briefing that the threat of automation should not influence whether or not Massachusetts should adopt a higher minimum wage scale.
Berger is posing some theories which are actually true, but traditionally fall under the law of unintended consequences. One of the big points he’s making is that “automation allows workers to become more productive and… can allow for higher wages because it increases productivity.” This is all very true, but there are a few more points which Noah Berger might have wanted to mention. Automation increases productivity because it frequently replaces the need for lower paid workers. In return, people who need greater skills to operate and maintain the machinery find opportunities, generally at higher pay.
That, however, won’t come as very much consolation to the folks with high school degrees and no experience who frequently find early work at McDonald’s and other similar outlets. They won’t be getting those better paying jobs because there are still plenty of folks out there looking for work who have more experience and education. They will be the ones getting those jobs while the number of openings for the high school grads decreases. This is just basic capitalism in action.
But look on the plus side, guys. We’ve got an ATM that dispenses Big Macs! What’s next… a Krispy Kreme dispenser on every corner? We may indeed be entering a golden age.
Not to worry, this will open up a whole new industry of automation justice warriors. Computer lives matter.
I worked a McDonald’s #232 in Northfield, Ohio in 1985. There was nothing better than a sandwich off my grill. Hot, fresh, and made exactly to order.
What is being sold these days is pathetic. b Slapped together, sloppy, rarely to order (I hate pickles) almost always cold and by a person who usually doesn’t speak English. There’s nothing wrong with not speaking English except when you are in a customer facing position and the clientele does speak English, of when the order slips are in English and you f*** them up.
I can’t WAIT to see what these kiosks produce. I reallyt miss the burgers off my grill.
One other thing...I worked at Mc Donald’s the summer I graduated from high school. It never occurred to me to try to raise a family on a fast food job. I got experience and moved on. Someone else took the job. If you want to work a fast food job that’s cool, but don’t expect that because you are stupid enough to try to raise a family on one means that we should have to elevate your pay to do so. A job pays what the job is worth, not what the employee needs to do with it.
“Of course, since the income of those replaced workers is $0, there will be fewer patrons for the machine made products.”
That is not necessarily true.
The McDonalds employees who are replaced by this Big Mac machine will be absorbed into other parts of the economy.
Now if the fast food worker can be absorbed into other parts of the economy, the truck drivers, factory workers, coal miners, steel workers, etc will also be absorbed into other parts of the economy.
In addition, we will open up thousands of more jobs for people that write the code to operate these machines.
The machine would probably solve a problem I periodically run into with fast food - placing an order. They don’t speak ENGLISH, or add a nonsensical dialect to it, they don’t listen, they don’t speak up, or seem more interested in something else.
“What is being sold these days is pathetic. b Slapped together, sloppy, rarely to order (I hate pickles) almost always cold and by a person who usually doesn’t speak English. There’s nothing wrong with not speaking English except when you are in a customer facing position and the clientele does speak English, of when the order slips are in English and you f*** them up.”
Exactly, Quality Control is also greatly increased by automation.
That would be true not only for the quality of your Big Mac, but also a car entirely build by machines or a refrigerator built by machines.
There will be less of a need for the unskilled. Even many janitorial services can be automated. In Australia, where the do not have illegals, raisin picking is done by machine. Machine operators need to be first line machine maintainers. Many of the unskilled in the automated world will have useless college degrees.
Horn & Hardart had real cooks behind those cubbies full of food.
“There will be less of a need for the unskilled. Even many janitorial services can be automated. In Australia, where the do not have illegals, raisin picking is done by machine. Machine operators need to be first line machine maintainers. Many of the unskilled in the automated world will have useless college degrees.”
All of that is good and it is exactly the way the economy should work. Lower skilled workers can go out and learn new skills. Therefore, instead of driving a truck, a truck driver can learn to write code that will drive the autonomous truck.
Instead of working in a steel mill, the steelworker can learn to design and engineer a steel mill that is completely automated.
“what will those replaced by automation be doing?”
Hopefully demanding the end to prohibitions on low-paying jobs.
And at some point they should figure that out: “minimum wage” isn’t higher pay, it’s prohibition of low-paying jobs doing low-value work.
mcdonalds “food” is sh*t.
You shouldn’t eat it. Ever.
It will take a very long time at best. Most likely limited to the fast food industry. Plus concerned for possible protests in the future. Hold until your hat.
Special order - I’ve been doing it since 1974 for a cheese burger without the Heinz; a Mac with light sause, or extra onions, etc. You get the hot bun and fresh food. Same with fries, ask for fresh and take’m badk it not fresh. Never do take out or drive thru.
“we will have people people writing code to control the machines.”
I used to teach programming (beginning C++).
For years, a full 1/4 of the students would simply not do the work. These were kids who were there voluntarily, paying a $#!^-load of money (a for-profit school), and weren’t going anywhere in their degree if they didn’t pass my course (can’t get a programming degree if you don’t learn to program). Many of them would repeat the course _with_me_ and do exactly the same unproductive behavior (show up, take tests, not do the actual homework).
Yes, we’ll have people writing code to control the machines - because the people those machines replace don’t comprehend “DO THE WORK”.
“and by a person who usually doesn’t speak English”
Which is odd, because usually that person clearly doesn’t speak any language other than English.
A lot of coal minors are good at software engineering and rocket science.
Our side needs to change the dialog from “minimum wage” to “prohibiting low-value work”.
The Left is literally trying to solve poverty by MAKING IT ILLEGAL.
They’ll just import H-1Bs to do the engineering. Bad time time be an American.
Marx’s dream comes in the form of a robot. Who knew?
So what do you do with the people with an average IQ of 85?
If you are correct about this as some experts contend, then our need for illegal aliens and increased population will be eliminated. Great.
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