2 ms·

Which solution do you want? Should we bring in more below-minimum wage agricultural labour? Should we reverse wage growth in the poorest segment of society -

by vkou 3y ago

Which solution do you want? Should we bring in more below-minimum wage agricultural labour? Should we reverse wage growth in the poorest segment of society - the people that grow and cook your food? Should we lower commercial and residential rents? Should we redistribute the record profits that (some) parts of the capital-owning class are reaping? Your life is just catching up to the reality that X hours of labour is required to provide you with 1 hour of luxury, and when that labour starts getting paid more for their work, prices go up. (It's the same reason childcare is unaffordable. One care provider is only allowed to watch after 3/4 infants. If you want 8 hours of childsitting a day, that means that half of your salary must go to pay for it.)

keeptrying 3y ago
I dont believe that to be true. Rates of restraunts are double what they used to be. That can't be coming from just costs.
- vkou 3y ago
  Where else do you think they are coming from? Did restaurants suddenly become a money-printing business with 30% margins overnight, or something? Because for the past 50 years, running one was a great way to: * Do a ton of work * Make very little money * With a constant risk of going out of business and losing everything hanging over your head. The reality is that rents are in the stratosphere, low-end wages are growing, and so are profit margins for many (but not all) producers of goods that the economy runs on. All of these costs get passed up the supply chain to you, the customer. It's very sad and all that a senior SWE no longer gets paid 15 times what their barista does (It's only 8 times now!), but we all have to tighten our belts and adapt to this brave new world. Or we could eat the landlords, but that's not a hugely popular sentiment at the moment.
- topspin 3y ago
  It can and the reason is plainly obvious regardless of how difficult the answers are for you to accept. A restaurant is at the apex of the supply chain, and reflects all of contributing cost increases, direct and indirect. Whether it's higher fuel prices, higher labor prices, higher equipment prices, higher real-estate prices, higher food prices, higher shipping prices, higher taxes, higher healthcare costs or any other increasing cost the restaurant has to cover it all, or go out of business.
  - silverquiet 3y ago
    I go to lots of restaurants that have barely increased prices in the last few years; certainly nothing like double. They aren’t publicly traded though.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  In my experience McDonald's prices have gone up 50% and McDonald's wages have gone up 50% in the last 5 years. Coincidence? I don't think so.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
McDonalds prices are not being driven by labor prices. Full stop, that is trivially disproven by In-n-Out's prices, where employees are paid more.

by vkou 3y ago

keeptrying 3y ago

I dont believe that to be true. Rates of restraunts are double what they used to be. That can't be coming from just costs.

vkou 3y ago
Where else do you think they are coming from? Did restaurants suddenly become a money-printing business with 30% margins overnight, or something? Because for the past 50 years, running one was a great way to: * Do a ton of work * Make very little money * With a constant risk of going out of business and losing everything hanging over your head. The reality is that rents are in the stratosphere, low-end wages are growing, and so are profit margins for many (but not all) producers of goods that the economy runs on. All of these costs get passed up the supply chain to you, the customer. It's very sad and all that a senior SWE no longer gets paid 15 times what their barista does (It's only 8 times now!), but we all have to tighten our belts and adapt to this brave new world. Or we could eat the landlords, but that's not a hugely popular sentiment at the moment.
topspin 3y ago
It can and the reason is plainly obvious regardless of how difficult the answers are for you to accept. A restaurant is at the apex of the supply chain, and reflects all of contributing cost increases, direct and indirect. Whether it's higher fuel prices, higher labor prices, higher equipment prices, higher real-estate prices, higher food prices, higher shipping prices, higher taxes, higher healthcare costs or any other increasing cost the restaurant has to cover it all, or go out of business.
- silverquiet 3y ago
  I go to lots of restaurants that have barely increased prices in the last few years; certainly nothing like double. They aren’t publicly traded though.
bryanlarsen 3y ago
In my experience McDonald's prices have gone up 50% and McDonald's wages have gone up 50% in the last 5 years. Coincidence? I don't think so.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

McDonalds prices are not being driven by labor prices. Full stop, that is trivially disproven by In-n-Out's prices, where employees are paid more.