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>Why should a high school student working for McDonald's be able to afford a 2 bedroom apartment in the Bay Area? That's not some sort of right. Unless you are

>Why should a high school student working for McDonald's be able to afford a 2 bedroom apartment in the Bay Area? That's not some sort of right. Unless you are advocating for age discrimination in pay, the fact that a "high school student" can be the one working at McDonalds is irrelevant. McDonalds employees an extremely wide age range of people. Does the 60 year old working the cash register (I've seen countless of these lately) who can't get a job anywhere else deserve to live on the street because you don't think they are important enough to rent?

malvosenior 8y ago
It has nothing to do with how "important" anyone thinks it is. It's just math and the reality of running a business.
- lightbyte 8y ago
  If your business can't afford to pay employees a reasonable wage it is a failed business.
  - pixl97 8y ago
    Why not also a failed society?
    - ovao 8y ago
      It is both, to some degree. If our society was willing, for example, to pay $14 for a Big Mac, it's possible a McDonald's cashier working in San Francisco could be paid a livable wage. When a Big Mac sets you back only $4 in a nearby city, however, the idea of charging $14 becomes an intractable problem.
  - triviatise 8y ago
    simply not true because there is no definition of reasonable. A more applicable phrase is if you cant afford to pay employees a wage that employees that can do the job will accept, then it is a failed business. Is it reasonable that a family of 4 is entitled to a 2 bedroom house? America is 5% of the worlds population but consumes 25% of the worlds resources because what we consider to be poverty in the US is wealthy or at least middle class living to much of the world. My inlaws had 4 families in a single family home (Approximately 2500 sq ft). Each family had at least two kids (one had 3). Plus their grandmother lived there. They grew some of their own food, never ate out, cooked everything from scratch. There was always an adult (or older kid) to watch the kids, so no daycare costs. All are well adjusted. When someone lost their job, there was a tremendous amount of support and no one ever had food insecurity, was homeless, had to leave their kids alone etc. The kids grew up in a fun household and the place was very clean and kept up. 2 of the families saved enough to move out so now there are 3 families left, and the grandma moved back to their originating country. The two oldest kids left for college. My point there is no consistent definition of "reasonable".
  - matchbok 8y ago
    If people really wanted burger flippers to make more, then 20 dollar burgers would economically viable. Nobody deserves anything. People get unlucky, I get that. That doesn't change econ 101.

malvosenior 8y ago

It has nothing to do with how "important" anyone thinks it is. It's just math and the reality of running a business.

lightbyte 8y ago
If your business can't afford to pay employees a reasonable wage it is a failed business.
- pixl97 8y ago
  Why not also a failed society?
  - ovao 8y ago
    It is both, to some degree. If our society was willing, for example, to pay $14 for a Big Mac, it's possible a McDonald's cashier working in San Francisco could be paid a livable wage. When a Big Mac sets you back only $4 in a nearby city, however, the idea of charging $14 becomes an intractable problem.
- triviatise 8y ago
  simply not true because there is no definition of reasonable. A more applicable phrase is if you cant afford to pay employees a wage that employees that can do the job will accept, then it is a failed business. Is it reasonable that a family of 4 is entitled to a 2 bedroom house? America is 5% of the worlds population but consumes 25% of the worlds resources because what we consider to be poverty in the US is wealthy or at least middle class living to much of the world. My inlaws had 4 families in a single family home (Approximately 2500 sq ft). Each family had at least two kids (one had 3). Plus their grandmother lived there. They grew some of their own food, never ate out, cooked everything from scratch. There was always an adult (or older kid) to watch the kids, so no daycare costs. All are well adjusted. When someone lost their job, there was a tremendous amount of support and no one ever had food insecurity, was homeless, had to leave their kids alone etc. The kids grew up in a fun household and the place was very clean and kept up. 2 of the families saved enough to move out so now there are 3 families left, and the grandma moved back to their originating country. The two oldest kids left for college. My point there is no consistent definition of "reasonable".
- matchbok 8y ago
  If people really wanted burger flippers to make more, then 20 dollar burgers would economically viable. Nobody deserves anything. People get unlucky, I get that. That doesn't change econ 101.