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>The proposed problem - and it's an elitist one - is that if you try to solve the basic income problem with minimum wages, the skill level required to be produc
by crdoconnor 10y ago
>The proposed problem - and it's an elitist one - is that if you try to solve the basic income problem with minimum wages, the skill level required to be productive also rises, and eventually you get to the point where employers try hard to automate the job out of existence.
"We'll just automate your job away" is one of the biggest empty threats along with "we'll just fire everybody, causing mass unemployment".
Employers fear a rising minimum wage because it eats into their profits. That fear translates into histrionics, threats and utopianistic predictions about the near future state of robot technology.
In the end when it happens they just deal with it and end up posting lower profits. As is the case in Seattle.
- sokoloff 10y agoHave you seen the new McD's ordering kiosks? They're definitely there, and I find I prefer them to the previous cashier experience. That combination looks bad for fast food front of house workers...
- crdoconnor 10y agoI have. Have you seen the equivalents of McD's kiosks from 1890's Berlin? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat#/media/File:StollwerckAutomatenrestaurant1896.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat#/media/File:Stollwerck... Those things are bound to replace most food service workers by the 1920s at the very latest.
- imtringued 10y agoIndeed!. In the last 126 years technology has not progressed very much. Why should it be different today?
- crdoconnor 10y agoIndeed. The question clearly isn't "do people even want automat restaurants?" it's just "did the technology to push a button and have food delivered reach some sort of tipping point in 2016?" Did you also know that original automats from the 30s mostly went bankrupt in the same decades (60s/70s) that the inflation adjusted minimum wage was at its highest and Americans had the most disposable income? Funny that.