Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeham
Workers should be paid a living wage. If a business owner can't pay a full-time worker enough to scrape by on, maybe the business model should be reconsidered. Workers shouldn't be subsidizing the owner's business.
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Oh crap. The issue is capital versus labour: when labour gets too expensive it gets replaced with capital. Self-serve gas stations, self-serve store checkouts, self-serve fast-food kiosks, ATMs, self-serve airport check-ins, self-serve rapid transit tickets...
Organized labour has fought automation and modernization because it costs the jobs and dues of union members.
US Dept of Labour estimates that the capital vs labour point happens around the $12-$13 point.
Last week McDonald's shares hit an all-time high immediately after they announced they were installing self-serve kiosks in 2500 restaurants. Noteworthy is that they started putting them in in France 10 years ago, where labour is so frikking expensive and work rules are absurd.
Finally if, as the "progressives" are so fond of claiming, raising wages is greatly beneficial to the economy, why stop at $15/hr? Why is $15 the correct amount, what data & research supports that labour price point? If $15 is soooo good for the economy, why not $150? Would that not be 10 times better for the economy? And if not, WHY not?
Shot, over.