4 ms·

this is a ridiculously disingenuous argument. it doesn’t take a $50 taco to pay a living wage, no matter what the size of the business is.

smsm42 5y ago
"living wage" is an emotional political term - there's no objective definition of it and instead of appealing to rational argument it appeals to irrational notion that somehow you can live on $20/hr but would die if you received $19/hr, and so it's somehow a moral imperative to pay $20/hr (and in a year it turns out it's already $25 that is a moral imperative because somehow, out of nowhere, prices have risen!). I'm not talking about literally $50.00 for a taco. I am talking about business owners who I'd assume know their business a bit better than a rando from the internet. And about the necessity of not thinking everybody but you missed a completely obvious solution like "just raise prices" because they don't understand anything about their business, but you do. It's usually not that simple.
- iaw 5y ago
  A living wage is defined in the dictionary as "a wage that is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living." Now we could argue about what a normal standard of living qualifies as but I think we can agree that it includes at minimum room & board for the individual. By that meager definition a lot of restaurants don't pay a 'living wage'
- belltaco 5y ago
  Are there a lot of anecdotal stories of "I raised prices and I had to close shop because of drop in demand" ? All I see are people just shutting down and giving up.
  - anonuser123456 5y ago
    The restaurant business is very hard. It’s not clear why anyone does it to be honest; the skills required to successfully manage a restaurant can net you a lot more for a lot less work in other industries. Of course people just throw in the towel. After getting kicked in the face by COVID why stand back and get kicked in the teeth again by government policy?
  - FredPret 5y ago
    Drop in supply = higher taco prices in future anyway
- rualca 5y ago
  > "living wage" is an emotional political term (...) It really isn't. Either your wage is enough to allow you to cover the cost of living, or it doesn't. By definition, any job which depends on supplemental income such as tipping to allow a worker to make ends meet is quite obviously not a living wage.

smsm42 5y ago

"living wage" is an emotional political term - there's no objective definition of it and instead of appealing to rational argument it appeals to irrational notion that somehow you can live on $20/hr but would die if you received $19/hr, and so it's somehow a moral imperative to pay $20/hr (and in a year it turns out it's already $25 that is a moral imperative because somehow, out of nowhere, prices have risen!). I'm not talking about literally $50.00 for a taco. I am talking about business owners who I'd assume know their business a bit better than a rando from the internet. And about the necessity of not thinking everybody but you missed a completely obvious solution like "just raise prices" because they don't understand anything about their business, but you do. It's usually not that simple.

iaw 5y ago
A living wage is defined in the dictionary as "a wage that is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living." Now we could argue about what a normal standard of living qualifies as but I think we can agree that it includes at minimum room & board for the individual. By that meager definition a lot of restaurants don't pay a 'living wage'
belltaco 5y ago
Are there a lot of anecdotal stories of "I raised prices and I had to close shop because of drop in demand" ? All I see are people just shutting down and giving up.
- anonuser123456 5y ago
  The restaurant business is very hard. It’s not clear why anyone does it to be honest; the skills required to successfully manage a restaurant can net you a lot more for a lot less work in other industries. Of course people just throw in the towel. After getting kicked in the face by COVID why stand back and get kicked in the teeth again by government policy?
- FredPret 5y ago
  Drop in supply = higher taco prices in future anyway
rualca 5y ago
> "living wage" is an emotional political term (...) It really isn't. Either your wage is enough to allow you to cover the cost of living, or it doesn't. By definition, any job which depends on supplemental income such as tipping to allow a worker to make ends meet is quite obviously not a living wage.