yup - of course, there are capital costs to amortize

but fast food workers are hosed

BTW, I find that there is a lot of "entitlement mentality" in waitstaff workers generally

(not that it is absent elsewhere)

Don, I know so you don't have to tell me. The two people that does my parent's home will finish in 15 minutes. the get pay 40 bucks per visit.

If it is not enough to make ends meet, get a second job. That is what I did when I was working and going to college. In grad school I borrowed and lived like a pauper with plenty of room mates. It took me 10 years to pay off my education debt.

When I finished my residency and started to make decent money, I continued to live in a very modest apartment and drive a POS Ford Tempo until it died. In year, I saved enough to pay cash for a second hand Nissan 240 SX, rather than put a down payment on a teutonic sports car like so many of my classmates did. I was able to put together a down payment on a condo 6 months later that is now a rental property. All this happened because I was able to refrain from living beyond my means. It is not complicated. It is not hard. Sadly, this appears to be an extremely rare trait.

As Hugh points out, you raise the salary like that, you close the business, then you lose all those jobs. Rather than be jealous of a 1%er, or 5%er, whatever Mr R is, wouldn't it be better to try and emulate him? I am grateful for the opportunities I have had. They are open to anyone. To my knowledge, Hugh has done it all himself, with the help of his charming bride, and considers himself lucky to have done so well and and have such wonderful kids.

Funny how people who work their asses off turn out to be lucky like that.

This could be the best thing to happen to America in a long time!

Toby, you are too kind. I met my trophy wife of 30 years (next month) at Graduate School. Both of us going to school at night to better ourselves. (Talk about sexy; a good looking chick who wants to advance in life).

I feel for those people, but then again, I have to ask what have they done to improve their lot in life? Like Toby, I worked as a mechanic putting my way through school and had five roommates and it took me 5-1/2 years to get my BS going to school at night and working days. Ditto for my MBA, four years at night, working a full time job.

I don't feel that I'm "owed" anything. Others, not so much. Why do you have three kids if you can only make $7.25/hour?

I say go for it.

It will give the working poor, (the kids working at the restaurants)

a better understanding of the causal relationship between labor costs and the price of food,

as they and their families will be the ones most affected by the rise in the prices of the fast food that they (statistically) are the largest consumers of.

I for one am jealous of your gig man. One of the most interesting on this board. I'd love to get a gig as an entry level clean the mud off the flight case guy. I'd work my way up to focus puller in record time.

Anyways, that's what fast food gigs are supposed to be. Entry level temporary work. It's not a career. I hope they do strike. Can you guys imagine how much weight would be lost if these places went away.

This too will go away.

Exactly this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Any employer is going to offer pay and benefits that correcpsond with the position, given current economic climate, number of positions that need filled VS number of avaliable qualified applicants.

NO Employer is going to shell out $15+ / clock hour for unskilled or even semi skillled workers...............rediculous

Also this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

BTW as some have stated here the fast food industry does provide an above minimum wage starting pay for unskilled entry level jobs. Like most anywhere in the US if you work hard, are responsible and show you can move to the next level most likely you will. You climb the ladder.

Paying them enough to keep them out of the social safety net is good for all of us. At that level, the dollars employers are paying these people are dollars taxpayers aren't paying.

When I was working part time starter jobs in HS and during the summers my safety net was my parents, whose house I lived and eat in. Just as my children were my responsibility when they were getting their first jobs. And most of those jobs paid above the prevailing min wage.
There is no reason these low value/wage starter jobs should be viewed as anything more than they are. Equating them with career jobs with which to support a family is just wrongheaded. Moving up through the workforce by contributing ever increasing value is the way it used to be done in this country, is this what we have come to.

If they do strike, I feel bad for the franchise owners for losing all that business. I know it isn't cheap to have one of those places. Hopefully they can find temp or other help to replace those idiots that strike.

They won't strike. There wouldn't be any place for them to eat.

I guess if they don't like it they can always work at In 'n' Out, I hear they pay more.

On the other hand, whenever I go to In 'n' Out the kids working there are always busting their asses to get the job done.

Its an interesting job, I think there are about 20 people in the World who do what I do as a full-time job. Craigster, who also works in the Biz, would probably agree with me that its a good and interesting place to work, but the reality is there is lots and lots of standing around time.

Yep, my daughter worked at McD through HS and while going to Jr College. She got several raises and they tried to talk her into training to be a manager, but she had higher aspirations (thank goodness). She got her BS in Biology, got a job, decided the job was crap and that she needed more edu. She went back to school, is now a Physicians Asst, and was making very good money right out of school. She should be pretty much set now. Now I'm trying to talk her into saving for retirement.

I don't think McD workers should be paid more. However, I have no particular animosity toward them for striking, and no particular sympathy for the franchise owners. Nor do I have animosity for the franchise owners or sympathy for the workers.

If McD workers all got $15/hour and the franchisees had to make less money and McD's customers had to pay more for their Big Macs, I wouldn't care - if the workers turn out to have enough power to get that result, okay for them. If not, that's fine too. I don't eat that crap.

Seems to me like a fight in which I have no dog.

It is interesting that many in this thread seem to think they have a dog. Why do you care?

JYL

I don't think its a dog in the fight thing. I see it as more of a fundamental economic issue think. So seem to think you can raise wages without other consequences.

Put me down as a burger flipper in college. A private burger joint, Henry's, in Moorhead, MN back in '67 - '68. Hated it.
I was a Viet Nam vet and thought I was above it all.