Here's what fast food will cost with $17 an hour wages

If the $15/hr minimum wage happens, how long until wages for everyone else and prices "even out?" Honestly, it's a band-aid to a structural issue.

 

McDowell's.

 

That's not bad Baron.

 

You'll get to keep that extra buck.

 

Good luck with all that.

 

A Big Mac by itself costs $4.19 plus tax where I live. Is that about what it is everywhere else?

 

You can jack off with numbers all you want, Baron, and it still won't change the fact that you obviously don't have the first smidgen of a clue as to what you're talking about. Franchisees LEAP at the chance to sign on for that 12.5% royalty, because those golden arches represent a proven restaurant concept -- which involves a helluva lot more than some high-school level noodling about "quality" and "what I'll charge to get X% profit."

 

Pssst. Companies don't make decisions based on, "We'll probably lose money, but we may end up evening out."

 

Donalds Mick

 

As will become obvious from what I'm about to ask, I don't have a great understanding of macroeconomics. Yet, I believe John and I have the same question....yet I don't see it being asked or answered anywhere else. Please be gentle, if it's overly simplistic.

If the min. wage goes up to $15, that's 31K a year. $17 is 35K. Yes...I know that's basic math......and lots of ifs / buts go with that. Still, that doesn't happen in a vacuum. Here in flyover country, 35K is what a new teacher gets, right out of college. It's about what an entry level financial aid counselor or admission rep gets at the colleges in the region. As an hourly rate, it's substantially more (%wise) than what our district pays our aides, librarians, etc.....with tax money.

Seems to me that a jump this substantial is going to cause ripples (waves?) with all kind of "for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction" impact. What am I not seeing? Or, in other words...the increased cost of a Big Mac isn't anywhere near the most important issue(s) we need to be considering.

 

Isn't the principle behind tax cuts for the rich is that they will be able to invest that money and make more money, leading allegedly to job creation?? Why isn't it the same principle for a minimum wage hike? That the poor will be able to use that money to buy more things that they normally wouldn't be able to without the raise.

Heck, double anyone's pay, and they're going to be able to spend more. So why isn't that considered an investment in the economy?

As I posted, the wage hike alone would knock out their net profits, unless they raised prices. If they did raise prices by the percentage listed by the writer, they would have increased their revenue enough to fully cover the loss. From there, we get the high school level noodling about how current customers will bolt over spending an extra dollar, even though what isn't acknowledged is that millions of potential new customers will now have an extra $6 in their pockets from each hour they worked (minus taxes, of course) to spend. Not to mention, as others have said, the ripple effect of raises from other jobs may mean the customer who may be upset over the $1 increase may end up with a $3 an hour raise themselves to cover it.

If I work an hour at $9, then get hungry, am I going to be inclined to spend $4 on a Big Mac? Perhaps, or I likely I might find something cheaper because I'll only have $5 remaining. If I earn $15, maybe I'd be fine with spending $5, because I'll still have $10 left over. Heck, I might even buy two Big Macs, meaning I'll still have the same $5 in my pocket left over that I would have buying one as a $9 an hour worker. More money for the restaurant.

 

The proposed New York State law only raises the minimum wage to $15.00 for fast food workers who work for chains.

How great is that?

A proposed increase in the minimum wage in New York State will be substantial, but that’s really not what bothers some economists.

It’s that the raise would apply only to fast-food workers, and only if they work for a chain with at least 30 locations. A wage increase applying to such a narrow segment of the economy is bound to have unintended consequences.

“I have lots of concern with sector- and firm-size-specific minimum wages,” said Lawrence Katz, a labor economist at Harvard University whose research on the economic effects of minimum wages has led him to support higher ones that apply to all workers, both at the national level and especially in jurisdictions like New York, where average incomes and the cost of living are above average.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/u...ust-for-fast-food-workers.html?abt=0002&abg=0