Freeponomics

An undergraduate in Kansas combed through McDonalds' annual reports and found that McDonalds could double the pay of their employees to $15/hr by raising the price of a Big Mac 68 cents. This has lead to some protests for a living wage:

Freepers, never ones to stand for uncomfortable principle, scramble to come up with countervailing facts, ending up relying on the upcoming robot revolution. Which, in retrospect, isn't too surprising - there's always been a decent grain of technological utopinanism in the far right.

wbill explains to one of the protesters featured in the article that fast food jobs are great to teach responsibility before your parents pay for your college:

I'd guess that Donesha, the protesting 19-year old H.S. rising senior quoted in the article wouldn't get past "The manager, he needs to be giving me mo' money."

At that age, I worked all manner of menial jobs. Taught me responsibility, how to move up in the world, how to deal with people - particularly those I didn't like. Most of all, it taught me that it's better to work with your mind, than work with your back.

Beagle8U endorses this bootstrapy story:

Neil Cavuto talked yesterday how his first job was in a fast-food fish joint. He said he stood in line to apply for the job and worked his butt off for $2 an hour and was happy for the chance to do so.

He said he tried to learn everything about the place and worked his way up.

He was the manager of the place at the ripe old age of 16 1/2 years.

PS...He was also in High School school at the time!

From fast-food too interning for Jimmy Carter! Whatta story!

EBH explains that these low wage jobs need to be badly paying, to motivate the poors!

Those kinds of jobs were never meant to 'make ends meet.' They are better known as starter jobs/positions, non-skilled labor, part-timers, college or high school type jobs. Actually specifically designed to kick you in your backside to better yourself and either move-up to franchise owner or move on out to better prospects

Don Corleone is sure anyone that has ever been for workers rights has got to be a Communist.

These “Protests” are organized and financed by the Communist Party. They have been doing this for generations now. The slogans are the same. The signs are the same. The object is the same. Not more pay but more division and more members paying dues into their unions. Its the kind of practice that Obama grew up doing and BTW is still doing.

ronniesgal turns on that featured protester:

I hope Doneshia buys her mom some birth control.

hal ogen too:

The first thing “Doneshia” should do is change her name (it draws “profiling”) and then she should change her attitude. She is doomed to a life of bad attitude, anger, exclusion and general unhappiness. It is amazing how some individuals make negativity their life purpose.

CodeToad also hates her name:

“Doneshia” = “Dumb Shit”. If she slurs and mumbles her words like many in her “community” that’s how I’d hear it.

IbJensen senses single motherhood:

Many of us get the picture, Doneshia; unfortunately you and your sister never will. Where are the fathers of these children you're supporting? If you want higher pay, than go get a job that requires the skill above that of a child. Unable to qualify? You should have stayed awake in the government school that moved you right along on the conveyor belt.

You can eat lunch at Carrabba's for somewhat more than McDonald’s. When they have to pay someone $15.00 an hour to flip burgers then it will be cheaper to go to the “Carrabba's”.

Later, IbJensen gets too angry to remember how large a forest fire is:

This evil posturing for their illiterate voting block makes honest Americans want to puke their guts out!

This entire system of the central socialist government is evil and needs to be lanced as one would lance a boil or a carbuncle. It’s more like an insidious cancer that’s growing within our nation.

All parts and parcels of this government are corrupt and evil and deserves to be stamped out like a forest fire!

Westbrook - robots!!

They will be replaced by robots.

Mark my words.

All that will be necessary to maintain a FF joint in the future is an IT weenie.

Unions are most efficient at putting themselves out of work.

Kozak knwos McDonalds is just poised to automate, and cheap workers are all that's stopping them!

make the cost of workers much higher, and the next step will be more automation. Orders and payment will be taken at a kiosk, the fryers will be automated, burgers assembled automatically and check out will be the only person involved, maybe one or two to keep everything running. Look at what happening in grocery and big box stores with automated check out...

11th Commandment is sure threatening your employees is the key to success:

The guy who runs despair.com has a video in which employees at the call center are complaining about the working conditions. So instead of fixing the problems, he conveniently lays out brochures on outsourcing to India. The employees get worried and shut up. So, if I owned a fast food restaurant, I would conveniently place in the break-room brochures on Chinese Robots making burgers and Taco.

chris37 - Robots Rule, screw humans!

Robots don’t whine. They don’t steal, they don’t call in sick, they don’t protest.

You know as I think about it, human beings, at least the ones of today, ARE EXTREMELY ANNOYING AND STUPID.