I was talking with a coworker the other day and they were talking about how raising minimum wage causes inflation because businesses will raise prices to offset to rise in labor costs. I asked if he thought inflation had gotten bad in the past 5ish years in particular. He said of course. I said well federal minimum wage hasn’t risen since 2009, which was 15 years ago, so it sounds like inflation is gonna happen regardless of wages and is based on the capitalistic goal of infinite growth, so maybe we should raise minimum wage so lower income people have a shot at affording basic necessities.
He just said no, then inflation just would’ve been worse. It’s maddening.
Honestly, I think there’s 2 ways to think through this.
Way 1:
Magically the minimum wage is increased, and everything about the legislators stays the same.
This would increase inflation, as what’s causing inflation is the lack of legislation and enforcement. Thus allowing companies to raise prices and profits unchecked.
Way 2:
The legislators change in such a way that it’s logical and possible to raise the minimum wage. Also logically other legislation would be passed to reduce the unchecked greed.
This would not increase inflation on it’s own, and likely would keep it to a healthy minimum.
I think most who complain about the minimum wage talks can only imagine the first way.
I’m not entirely sure why minimum wage hasn’t been anchored to inflation, but I’m sure there must be a good reason because I’m not exactly an economist and there’s no way that smarter people than me haven’t thought of that.
That’s true, but the baseline should be able to afford food and housing somewhere. Currently it affords that precisely nowhere. As a result, multigenerational homes are becoming more prevalent, children are working to help support households more, and single income families are nigh extinct. My wife and I are DINKs in a 2 bedroom apartment because the cost of houses is absolutely insane here. It’s hard find even a fucking townhouse for less than $500k lol. Most single family homes are at least $700k. At this rate, we’ll see polyamory and polygamy become more accepted because it’s gonna get to a point where only working throuples can afford shit anymore.
This is something that I actually interesting culturally. Here in the US multi generational family homes are essentially considered a bad thing, but down in Costa Rica where my family is Multi generational homes are maybe not a goal per se, but something expected as your parents age, or as your kids grow up. You’ll grow up, move out for school, to get a job, and as you get older you’ll try to stick next to your family, and eventually your parents move back in so you can take care of them.
Obviously doing this out of necessity is bad, but a fun culture difference to observe.
The response to this is that inflation is a market force working against the downward pressure of demand. There is a limit to the amount prices can go up before people stop buying altogether.
Another inflationary force is greed, funneling additional profits into the pockets of the 0.1%.
Let the inflation due to minimum wage be X, and the inflation due to greed be Y, and the maximum total inflation be Z. X+Y=Z
Of course there are other variables, but in a general sense, if X goes up, Y must go down. If X does not go up, Y does.
So yes there will be inflation, but increasing wages takes more money from the ownership and puts it into the pockets of the bottom 99.9% where it will do far more good.
And in case it wasn’t clear, this is precisely why the oligarchy opposes increasing the minimum wage. It has nothing to do with inflation, and everything to do with they make less money.
This companies are able to generate billions in profit every quarter, let alone every year. They have also been reporting record breaking profits quarter after quarter for the past several years. I’m pretty sure the 17 y/o Burger flippers aren’t the problem here.
I wonder how da fuq did McDonalds think that this is okay?
Setting aside all considerations of ethics or morality, from a pure greed standpoint even a very naive person could realize that if you squeeze the sheeple too much they may choose to go elsewhere rather than continue to rely on you for easy comfort food.
Do they think they have a monopoly on the market? Even just from the fast-food burger places that were included in this graphic, there are multiple cheaper options - Burger King and Wendy’s - plus Arby’s & Taco Bell and Chick-fil-a are somewhat similar.
Do they think that people will suddenly not care about where their money is going? That strategy tends to work when you squeeze (bleed) them slowly, but this kind of a sudden spike carries the risk of waking them up to how much eating there is costing them - and once they are gone, it would be very hard to attract them back.
So this strategy even looks to be detrimental to the company of McDonalds, even if good for the short-term stockholders & CEO before they jump elsewhere.
If I had to guess it would be for 2 reasons, humans don’t like change so people that frequently go to McD will still go, and that all humans need food and a bonus of less people know how to cook
It’s a scary thing to think these companies can just get away with shit like this but at the end of the day until we as a society boycott them - and I mean a legit boycott, not some 3 day reddit boycott - they’ll find any excuse to fuck us for profit
People are resistant to change - like inertia - but if pushed enough, they will. Burger King & Wendy’s only went up 55% whereas McD went up twice that at +100%. McD could have kept their prices flat and gained business from them, remaining within their brand as the “cheap fast-food” option, but instead they seem poised to lose it? Well, I guess we will see.
Yeah, it is scary to see just how evil they - b/c with profits like you showed, they did not have to increase them all, so the fact that they not only did but did by that much is somewhat shocking.
We’re also in a society now where 2 people or 2+jobs are REQUIRED for a “normal life” unless you’re a tech or finance bro. People just don’t have the energy or time to cook, fast food is often “on the way home” and saves well over an hour and effort.
I’m “lucky” that I’m single, in that I can cook a weeks worth of food in one day and there’s no one to complain about “this again?” In literally every other respect being single in this society for over a decade sucks.
Ooooh, now plot the avg wage across this period. Y=min wage.
I was talking with a coworker the other day and they were talking about how raising minimum wage causes inflation because businesses will raise prices to offset to rise in labor costs. I asked if he thought inflation had gotten bad in the past 5ish years in particular. He said of course. I said well federal minimum wage hasn’t risen since 2009, which was 15 years ago, so it sounds like inflation is gonna happen regardless of wages and is based on the capitalistic goal of infinite growth, so maybe we should raise minimum wage so lower income people have a shot at affording basic necessities.
He just said no, then inflation just would’ve been worse. It’s maddening.
Pathetic bootlicker won’t accept the facts when they hurt his master…
Are we supposed treat these people as adults?
Honestly, I think there’s 2 ways to think through this. Way 1: Magically the minimum wage is increased, and everything about the legislators stays the same.
This would increase inflation, as what’s causing inflation is the lack of legislation and enforcement. Thus allowing companies to raise prices and profits unchecked.
Way 2: The legislators change in such a way that it’s logical and possible to raise the minimum wage. Also logically other legislation would be passed to reduce the unchecked greed.
This would not increase inflation on it’s own, and likely would keep it to a healthy minimum.
I think most who complain about the minimum wage talks can only imagine the first way.
I’m not entirely sure why minimum wage hasn’t been anchored to inflation, but I’m sure there must be a good reason because I’m not exactly an economist and there’s no way that smarter people than me haven’t thought of that.
To be fair states, and even cities have their own minimum wage too, and those have gone up. Federal minimum wage is just the base line.
Not for citizens in 20 states, and 2 territories. The cities may have something, but since those places are all regressive overall, I doubt it.
That’s true, but the baseline should be able to afford food and housing somewhere. Currently it affords that precisely nowhere. As a result, multigenerational homes are becoming more prevalent, children are working to help support households more, and single income families are nigh extinct. My wife and I are DINKs in a 2 bedroom apartment because the cost of houses is absolutely insane here. It’s hard find even a fucking townhouse for less than $500k lol. Most single family homes are at least $700k. At this rate, we’ll see polyamory and polygamy become more accepted because it’s gonna get to a point where only working throuples can afford shit anymore.
This is something that I actually interesting culturally. Here in the US multi generational family homes are essentially considered a bad thing, but down in Costa Rica where my family is Multi generational homes are maybe not a goal per se, but something expected as your parents age, or as your kids grow up. You’ll grow up, move out for school, to get a job, and as you get older you’ll try to stick next to your family, and eventually your parents move back in so you can take care of them.
Obviously doing this out of necessity is bad, but a fun culture difference to observe.
The response to this is that inflation is a market force working against the downward pressure of demand. There is a limit to the amount prices can go up before people stop buying altogether.
Another inflationary force is greed, funneling additional profits into the pockets of the 0.1%.
Let the inflation due to minimum wage be X, and the inflation due to greed be Y, and the maximum total inflation be Z. X+Y=Z
Of course there are other variables, but in a general sense, if X goes up, Y must go down. If X does not go up, Y does.
So yes there will be inflation, but increasing wages takes more money from the ownership and puts it into the pockets of the bottom 99.9% where it will do far more good.
And in case it wasn’t clear, this is precisely why the oligarchy opposes increasing the minimum wage. It has nothing to do with inflation, and everything to do with they make less money.
Not when those items are necessities, like food. Damn us poor people and our need to…checks notes…eat.
Actually, this graph does display the % average wage increase!
It’s the line where the x axis is.
This companies are able to generate billions in profit every quarter, let alone every year. They have also been reporting record breaking profits quarter after quarter for the past several years. I’m pretty sure the 17 y/o Burger flippers aren’t the problem here.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-profit
[1]Average franchise profitability at Burger King rose nearly +50% last year (2023) compared to 2022
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SBUX/starbucks/gross-profit
I wonder how da fuq did McDonalds think that this is okay?
Setting aside all considerations of ethics or morality, from a pure greed standpoint even a very naive person could realize that if you squeeze the sheeple too much they may choose to go elsewhere rather than continue to rely on you for easy comfort food.
Do they think they have a monopoly on the market? Even just from the fast-food burger places that were included in this graphic, there are multiple cheaper options - Burger King and Wendy’s - plus Arby’s & Taco Bell and Chick-fil-a are somewhat similar.
Do they think that people will suddenly not care about where their money is going? That strategy tends to work when you squeeze (bleed) them slowly, but this kind of a sudden spike carries the risk of waking them up to how much eating there is costing them - and once they are gone, it would be very hard to attract them back.
So this strategy even looks to be detrimental to the company of McDonalds, even if good for the short-term stockholders & CEO before they jump elsewhere.
If I had to guess it would be for 2 reasons, humans don’t like change so people that frequently go to McD will still go, and that all humans need food and a bonus of less people know how to cook
It’s a scary thing to think these companies can just get away with shit like this but at the end of the day until we as a society boycott them - and I mean a legit boycott, not some 3 day reddit boycott - they’ll find any excuse to fuck us for profit
People are resistant to change - like inertia - but if pushed enough, they will. Burger King & Wendy’s only went up 55% whereas McD went up twice that at +100%. McD could have kept their prices flat and gained business from them, remaining within their brand as the “cheap fast-food” option, but instead they seem poised to lose it? Well, I guess we will see.
Yeah, it is scary to see just how evil they - b/c with profits like you showed, they did not have to increase them all, so the fact that they not only did but did by that much is somewhat shocking.
We’re also in a society now where 2 people or 2+jobs are REQUIRED for a “normal life” unless you’re a tech or finance bro. People just don’t have the energy or time to cook, fast food is often “on the way home” and saves well over an hour and effort.
I’m “lucky” that I’m single, in that I can cook a weeks worth of food in one day and there’s no one to complain about “this again?” In literally every other respect being single in this society for over a decade sucks.
Right there.
Double your prices, lose 49% of your customers - you’re winning. And restaurants are less busy? Fewer staff needed? Winnning ($$$$)
It’s the black line on the bottom
random images found online (couldn’t find one for individual/personal income & wage, only household). i could plug it into matplotlib but i’m lazy
deleted by creator