I Nearly Choked On My Coffee After This Fox News Host Suggested Workers Making $20/Hr

[Dutch Uncle]

There is a lot of cheap land in Appalachia with plenty of water. I would be worried about the water in Texas. Then again, Texas is a big state, with many different water conditions.

For those of us who want jobs that pay enough to buy food and other essentials and wants, we want to live close enough to jobs, schools, grocery stores, Chinese restaurants, etc. All exist in Texas, but you have to live somewhere more expensive. Maybe not as expensive as the same types of places in California or New York, but it is closing in on the expense.

Water is a global problem. The irony being that we live on a “water planet”. Currently desalination is expensive, time consuming, may contribute to global warming and has a problem of disposing of all that salt.

Tech will be the solution: fusion to convert the salt to something useful while simultaneously creating fresh water.

 

[Nomad]

Water is a global problem. The irony being that we live on a “water planet”. Currently desalination is expensive, time consuming, may contribute to global warming and has a problem of disposing of all that salt.

Tech will be the solution: fusion to convert the salt to something useful while simultaneously creating fresh water.

But that's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Meanwhile, in California....

.... today's Gen X and Z should start mentally preparing themselves for a future in which their tap water will come from reservoirs consisting exclusively of recently treated sewage water.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

.... today's Gen X and Z should start mentally preparing themselves for a future in which their tap water will come from reservoirs consisting exclusively of recently treated sewage water.

Just like the astronauts drink! Awesome.

The problem is that as the population grows, the water needs will increase.

Instead of giving tax cuts to the rich for the clearly failed “Trickle Down Economics” theory, better, IMO, to take that money and put it into a Fusion research program. Like the International Space Station, it could be an international problem since the benefits would be global.

 

[Walt]

And hopefully bring down the exorbitant price of burgers too.

How much money do you make? I am trying to figure out whether you have an unrealistic expectation of how little a hamburger should cost, or whether you are in poverty.

If you cannot afford the minimum, such as food, you are in poverty. If you have sticker shock at how much things cost, then you have an unrealistic expectation.

 

[Walt]

You can make it in today's world on $10 - $12 bucks an hour if you use some common sense and not go around thinking you deserve and should have the best of everything just because you want it.

I guess it really depends on where in the world you are, and what your expectations are. Obviously, on $20k a year, without health insurance, you are not going to get access to the full modern medicine. But also you will be richer than half the world's population. You are not going to be able to pay for higher education, and will be locked out of getting better income.

We are talking about the USA, so with $20k of income, you are below the poverty line if you even have one child, so no having children at that income.

 

[Walt]

As far as health insurance is concerned... young people by and large don't tend to get seriously ill.

Actually, young people do get seriously ill, and if not treated well, will have life long health issues. Not treating health problems early creates greater costs later in life.

But you do not care. You want everyone else to play russian roulette with their health, just so you can get the cheapest burger possible.

Life is a jungle and the rule of the jungle has always been the same.... survival of the fittest.

Let me guess, you get Social Security? Survival of the fittest only applies to other people?

 

[Truck Fump / h1b]

Sane, intelligent and educated people understand basic human intelligence via the Bell Curve.

Without being cruel, just factual, stupid people often make stupid decisions.

nazis love bell curves.

you're basically a nazi.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

How much money do you make? I am trying to figure out whether you have an unrealistic expectation of how little a hamburger should cost, or whether you are in poverty.

If you cannot afford the minimum, such as food, you are in poverty. If you have sticker shock at how much things cost, then you have an unrealistic expectation.

Hamburger is expensive. The average price is $5.42/lb. A quarter pound would be a $1.35. That doesn’t cover teh cost of the bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, condiments and the labor to make it. https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atl...ailfoodandenergyprices_usandmidwest_table.htm

Pork and chicken, being lower on the food chain is cheaper. Just trying to throw a few facts into the conversation.

 

[Walt]

Mass production is more efficient and takes fewer people who produce more. That means those that are making the food are fewer in number, work continuously to make it, and get paid more for their effort. The other 90% of fast-food workers get unemployed...

Which is why current unemployment is 99%. We have 100 times more productivity than we did before the industrial revolution, and if you are correct, the only way that can happen is if 99% of the people get nothing.

In the real world, rising productivity means either people work less, or people get more. So we can work 40 or less hours, retire (not work till death), eat well, get medical care, buy new clothing more than once in our lives, etc., where as before the industrial revolution all those would be considered bizarre.

We have a shortage of workers. Some in government want us to try to force people to work for less, but here is another solution: we could have a technology breakthrough. That would allow everyone to work less, and make more money. The world becomes a better place.

Or we can be like India. India did not want shit collectors losing their jobs. They forced untouchables to work in jobs below what the market would pay them. That in turn limited the adoption of toilets (an automated way to get rid of shit). India is not better off for that.

 

[Walt]

Hamburger is expensive. The average price is $5.42/lb.

What percent of your income is that? A Big Mac costs about $4.50, a meal would cost $8.00. I could eat a Big Mac meal every meal, every day for a year for less than $9k. I would have health concerns about doing that, but not financial concerns.

Of course it is higher if you get the meal delivered to you... But that used to not even be an option.

When you think about the health issues, it might be a good idea to raise the cost.

 

[Walt]

They should pay management less than the employees.

Or get rid of management altogether.

Let the high school kids run the places themselves.

They'd do such a better job of it.

One thing I have noticed about fast food is the best workers move on in life. That leaves the worst workers to become managers. It might be better to have those best workers run the place.

 

[Walt]

Where will they work???
How will they survive????

If we replace the shit collectors with toilets, where will they work? I mean, yes, they could get paid far more, and work far less hours for cleaning those toilets, but what about the diseases spread by collecting shit? How will those diseases continue to survive?

You people really are Nazis.

You are the one talking about survival of the fittest, and killing any young people who have health problems.

 

[Walt]

nazis love bell curves.

you're basically a nazi.

Nazis did not "love bell curves", and using a bell curve does not make one a Nazi.

 

[Truck Fump / h1b]

One thing I have noticed about fast food is the best workers move on in life. That leaves the worst workers to become managers. It might be better to have those best workers run the place.

the worst workers are always in management.

thats why they go into management.

have you ever heard "promoted to one's level of incompetence"?

think Kamala Harris.

 

[Truck Fump / h1b]

Nazis did not "love bell curves", and using a bell curve does not make one a Nazi.

yes they did.

and yes they do.

you want to play God and eliminate the stupid.

you're a nazi.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

What percent of your income is that? A Big Mac costs about $4.50, a meal would cost $8.00. I could eat a Big Mac meal every meal, every day for a year for less than $9k. I would have health concerns about doing that, but not financial concerns.

Of course it is higher if you get the meal delivered to you... But that used to not even be an option.

When you think about the health issues, it might be a good idea to raise the cost.

I thought the conversation was for those who couldn’t afford $9K/year for meals per person. Obviously the poor are eating the cheaper, fattier, less healthy MacDonald’s meals…or digging through the trash for the fat and breading the wealthier threw away.

It would also explain their multiple health problems, add to the numbers of dead during the COVID Pandemic and their general unhappiness when comparing their plight to those driving to MacDonald’s in a Beemer.

 

[Althea]

Eventually. And then fast food chains will all go under either due to boycotts or due to people simply getting better food for a better price at a real restaurant.

It's already cheaper to eat real food than to eat fast food.

Soooo, within a year of mandatory $20/hour fast food pay?

Ask me next year when robots are serving all fast food.

All the fast food? Hardly. It’ll happened first in cities where high volume and $20 to $30 minimum wage laws are in effect. Not in Henrietta, TX.

Let me know when the first fast food franchise automates and does well. TIA

We'll see if you are right in a year.

 

[Walt]

you want to play God and eliminate the stupid.

You believe getting all people reasonable healthcare, and encouraging good health decisions will eliminate them?

The dirty little secret here is there is someone trying to kill your class of people. It is your class of people trying to kill themselves. Don't blame me for that.

 

[Nomad]

How much money do you make? I am trying to figure out whether you have an unrealistic expectation of how little a hamburger should cost, or whether you are in poverty.

If you cannot afford the minimum, such as food, you are in poverty. If you have sticker shock at how much things cost, then you have an unrealistic expectation.

Anybody who hasn't been living in a cave for the past 5 to 10 years, remembers that it wasn't long ago that you could get a McDonald's Quarter Pounder or Big Mac meal for around $5 or $6.

Recent news reports those same meals at around $18.

I recall just a few short years ago being able to purchase 2 BK Whoppers on a "twofer" special and large fries for around $7 + change.

So that's my expectation of how much a hamburger should cost.

If you're gullible enough to pay $18 for a McDonald's meal and feel that's normal, I would say that you are the one with the unrealistic expectations.

I guess it really depends on where in the world you are, and what your expectations are. Obviously, on $20k a year, without health insurance, you are not going to get access to the full modern medicine. But also you will be richer than half the world's population. You are not going to be able to pay for higher education, and will be locked out of getting better income.

I never had health insurance for most of my adult working life. I had employer paid health insurance for a few years up until I was in my early 30's, which is around the time health insurance costs started to skyrocket and most employers stopped providing it for free. But when I had it, I never used it. I knew I was fairly young and healthy, so I didn't dwell on not having it and was fortunate enough to not get sick. But if I would have gotten seriously ill, the hospital would have had to treat me and hope I could/would eventually pay the bills I incurred.

I still don't see how any of that justifies paying everybody $20 per hour and up though.

Because as soon as burger flipping teenagers start making $20 an hour, the wages demanded for better, higher paying jobs will have to increase proportionally, which will in turn cause the prices of everything else including all the stuff you people cry about not being able to afford, to also increase proportionally.

And we'll be right back where we started, with the low, $20/hr end of the wage scale not being able to afford anything.

We are talking about the USA, so with $20k of income, you are below the poverty line if you even have one child, so no having children at that income.

If you can't afford kids, you shouldn't have them.

You seem to think everybody has a born right to have whatever they want and if they can't afford it, somebody else should pay for it.

Actually, young people do get seriously ill, and if not treated well, will have life long health issues. Not treating health problems early creates greater costs later in life.

But you do not care. You want everyone else to play russian roulette with their health, just so you can get the cheapest burger possible.

Statistically, young people as a whole tend to not get sick. Most debilitating diseases don't show up until later in life.

And you have no idea what I do and do not care about.

All you're doing here is virtue signaling as always.

"Look at me, everybody. Look at what a good, kind and caring person I am!!!!"

Let me guess, you get Social Security? Survival of the fittest only applies to other people?

I get Social Security because I worked my entire adult life since the age of 17:for it.

And I never had a $20:an hour minimum wage or free everything.

I lived like I had common sense and did what it took to survive.

Just like one of the fittest.

One thing I have noticed about fast food is the best workers move on in life. That leaves the worst workers to become managers. It might be better to have those best workers run the place.

In that case, I can only suppose that if you've been able to observe that, it's because you've made a career in the fast food industry.

Good for you.

If we replace the shit collectors with toilets, where will they work? I mean, yes, they could get paid far more, and work far less hours for cleaning those toilets, but what about the diseases spread by collecting shit? How will those diseases continue to survive?

Are we still talking about your career here?

Why are you asking me about things you have all the first hand experience in?

You are the one talking about survival of the fittest, and killing any young people who have health problems.

Survival of the fittest has been a basic truth in life since life began. If you still don't understand it, I guess it goes a long way towards explaining why so many millennials/Gen X/Gen Z types live at home with their parents.

You'll have to link me to any post where I advocated killing young people with or without health problems.

Because I'm "pretty sure" (positive) I made no such comment.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

One thing I have noticed about fast food is the best workers move on in life. That leaves the worst workers to become managers. It might be better to have those best workers run the place.

Evolution in action. That’s why such jobs are entry level jobs. Lots of part-time HS workers who will work for less pay since their room and board is already covered. They’re not just working to “learn to be responsible” but wanting the money to save for a car, college, pot, etc.

To be clear, while I understand the basic logic of a federal minimum wage, tripling it to half of the average worker income is bullshit. I’d like to see the numbers and facts, not desktop opinions, on if such a measure is worth the cost. Both a cost/benefit analysis and a risk benefit/analysis. More importantly is applying that minimum wage for city workers across the entire land and hurting small businesse along the way. It’d be more fair to tie it to local income levels.