In order to make upper middle class customers feel less guilty about entering their establishments, chains like McDonald’s are issuing modest symbolic increases to their workers.
Back to Work
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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At least we’re getting a little traction, here. Starbucks and their $15 / hour & other bennies, for instance. Several cites have passed legislation raising the minimum wage above the federal or state mandated one. Admittedly it’s still small potatoes compared to the 1%.
But … but … didn’t we have a revolution two hundred or so years ago? Wasn’t the idea to get out from under the thumbs of the wealthy dynasties? Wha’ hoppen?
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” – Karl Marx
1972, the cost of a quarter pounder was 55 cents.
Minimum wage was 1.60
Today, that quarter pounder is 3.79
Minimum wage is 7.25
Minimum wage has increased by 4.5x, while the cost of the burger has increased 6.9x
Think about this.
The tax code can change incentives. Tax codes are social engineering they encourage some things and discourage other things.
In many cases we raise taxes on things that we think are socially destructive (cigarettes and alcohol) and we remove taxes from things we think are good for society (churches and charitable organizations.) Jobs are good for society but we tax them heavily. We should try to remove all of the economic penalties (taxes) from labor.
On the other hand:
If a person does work, they and their employer pay several taxes. If a machine does the work it
pays none. When a machine does the work of 10 people then it could be taxed at
the same amount that 10 people would be taxed. That would be fair . . . right?
With this system I don’t think we would be lacking for jobs. If we have enough “people jobs” available, then the discrepancy in income should be less and a minimum wage might not be necessary.
Note, workers, were responsible for making these labor saving devices (machines).
These devices will replace workers forever. Shouldn’t there be some compensation that the machines and their owners, pay back to the workers.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable for the machines or their owners to at least pay the taxes that would have paid by the workers and employers. Seems reasonable to me.
On the other hand, there is this story. Would that there were more like him. (How much money is enough, already?)
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/gravity-payments-ceo-live-70000-worker-wage-thinks/story?id=30316052&hc_location=ufi
The moral of the story, of course, is don’t work for a franchise. Now get back to work !…
Henri