I disagree...I see nothing but BIG businesses putting small family owned businesses out of business...and paying their employees less and less
Walmart is a perfect example _________________________________________________
I agree that big business has put a lot of small business out, especially where they have low margins.
But it isn't just big businesses that have put the small ones out, there are many factors. But the cost of doing business for the small guy is affected a lot more by these wage increases.
There are not a lot of ways to increase the profit margins in many industries like the burger industry, and this is especially true in the food business in general.
It's rather hard to compete for the cheap burgers, tacos etc. and to raise your prices enough to offset the wage increases.
Unfortunatly most people are not going to pay more for quality, not only in the burger business, but in so many low price industries today, as you have stated in the past.
The big problem is that we need more businesses not less to keep this economy and people going, and were going in the wrong direction these days.
Where do our young people get they start in this world today? Do they need $15 an hour as a base?
My opinion is that we are setting our standards of wage mighty high for our young people, with very little skill level. So if i get 15 a hour working in a fast food place, how much should i get to be the next level up in the same place or another unskilled labor job?
Or some other place where i can walk and talk at the same time. Yes many of us have worked at these type of places over the years, (gas stations pumping gas, cleaning windshilds etc.) would i deserve 15 an hour doing that these days?No way, but i would have taken it. But what would i expect later in life?
I think were headed in a bad direction, but we have known that for a long time.
posted
Maybe i worded it wrong or read it wrong, but this is what i see. "$15 an hour at minimum and the right to form a union."
The way the article reads, sounds like everyone is making tons of money in the fast food industry, the small guys are not, which is the majority of business by far.
"The sector has been booming since the recession."
If they get it, then the rest will be there shortly or attached.
In fact, what other industry would be less skilled then fast food, in general. So why would the others not get it?
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American fast food workers have been walking out in protest of low wages and poor working conditions since late 2012, when 200 went on strike in New York City in the first strike to ever hit the industry. The demands have remained constant: $15 an hour at minimum and the right to form a union. Since that initial action in New York City, the strikes have quickly spread across the country, starting in the northeast but moving to the midwest and south. Workers also recently filed seven class-action lawsuits against McDonald’s in March alleging a widespread practice of cheating them out of the pay that they are owed.
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I wonder how the lawsuits are worded as far as how they are cheating them?
Did they not give them what they were hire for?
Don't get me wrong i am not on big businesses side in most cases, but sometimes people get ridiculous on what they expect, all businesses are not raking in the money like some indivuals think.
Like i said before this will effect all business if it went through and in a very short time.
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Low Wages Cost Taxpayers A Quarter-Trillion Dollars Every Year
By Alan Pyke October 15, 2013 at 12:24 pm Updated: October 15, 2013 at 1:12 pm
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"Low Wages Cost Taxpayers A Quarter-Trillion Dollars Every Year"
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Fast food workers strike in New York in May (Credit: Salon) Fast food workers strike in New York in May (Credit: Salon)
From 2007 to 2011, the biggest public benefits programs spent $243 billion each year on working families who live in poverty or on the brink of it because their jobs pay so poorly, according to a study published Tuesday by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The research focuses on fast food workers as exemplifying the plight of low-wage workers and the costs that low wages pass along to taxpayers.
The study focused on the largest direct assistance programs to establish the cost of the “last line of defense between America’s growing low-income workforce and the want of basic necessities.” The combined cost of public health care programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit that targets low-income workers, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, formerly known as welfare) for working families averaged $243 billion from 2007 to 2011.
Fast food workers are particularly likely to rely on these programs. More than half of all front-line fast-food workers who work at least 30 hours per week are enrolled, compared to 25 percent of the overall workforce. Fast food workers and their families receive $7 billion per year in public assistance, $3.9 billion of it in the form of health care programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The fast food workers included in the study were nearly five times less likely to receive health insurance through their work than is typical across the entire economy, at 13 percent compared to 59 percent.
Similar research focused on Walmart’s business model found that a single 300-employee Walmart Supercenter incurs about a million dollars per year in public benefit costs.
If anything, the study understates the scope of the public cost of low wages. The researchers did not attempt to factor in programs that don’t directly supplement a family’s income, so job training, educational programs, and other indirect forms of public assistance are not included. Furthermore, some cash transfer programs were not included in the analysis due to spotty data.
The authors suggest that pushing fast food wages up would be a particularly effective way of both reducing poverty and shrinking taxpayers’ bill for public benefits programs. The industry can bear such increased labor costs because of the nature of the service business. “Rather than reflecting the competitive dictates of global product markets,” the authors conclude, “the low-wage structure of fast-food and other domestic service industries reflects a mixture of market conditions and policy choices about minimum standards for work.” The median wage for fast food workers in their study was $8.69 per hour. Strikes have spread across the country this summer as fast food and other low-wage retail employees demand livable wages.
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basically, the system extracts payment one way or another. Basic laws of physics apply in all of reality. if we cut the public assistance? the poor will extract payments in other ways. theft - drug dealing etc. we already have the most people in jail in the world here.
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“We continue to believe that we pay fair and competitive wages,” stated Don Thompson, McDonald’s CEO, in an annual meeting with shareholders at corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois on Thursday.
While Thompson reported that shareholders received $4.9 billion in returns in 2013, over 2,000 low-wage McDonald’s workers protested outside for a $15 minimum wage and the right to unionize, resulting in over 100 arrests.
“We provide job opportunities and training for those entering the workforce,” Thompson added, bringing up McDonald’s Chief Operating Officer Tim Fenton as an example, who started as a crew member in 1973 and is planning to retire later this year.
The facts tell a different story. The average annual salary for fast-food workers is $18,880, putting a family of three below the poverty line. Glassdoor reports that McDonald’s cashiers and “team members” average hourly pay of around $7.75.
Meanwhile, a 2013 report by the National Employment Law Project found that nearly 90 percent of fast food employees, or 3.6 million Americans, hold low wage, non-technical and non-managerial positions. In the general economy, in which managerial or professional positions make up about a third of all jobs, low-paying, entry-level jobs can realistically lead to better paying positions, as there is more room for upward mobility. However, the skewed ratio of low-level workers to managers and executives within the fast food industry means the chances of moving up the ladder for an entry-level employee are slim.
While industry lobbyists, such as Andrew Moesel of the New York Restaurant Association, have publicly argued that teens largely make fast food workers earning low wages, a study from the Center for Economic Policy and Research proves that the majority of fast food workers are adults between the ages of 25 and 54, many of whom support families.
Even the low wages these workers are promised don’t always materialize. A recent study on the fast food industry in New York City reports that up to 84 percent of workers have experienced wage theft through being forced to work off the books or work overtime with no pay.
Will Freeman is an intern with Think Progress.
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Fast food CEO: Minimum wage hikes closing locations.
Sarah L. Voisin | The Washington Post
CKE Restaurants' roots began in California roughly seven decades ago, but you won't see the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's expanding there much anymore.
Severe' impact if minimum wage rises: CEO CNBC Romney Wants GOP to Be the Party of Jobs and a Minimum Wage Hike Wall St. Cheat Sheet Vermont Raises Minimum Wage to $10.10 24/7 Wall St. Republicans Can Minimize the Minimum Wage Bloomberg Washington state defies minimum wage logic.
What's causing what company CEO Andy Puzder describes as "very little growth" in the state?
In part it's because "the minimum wage is so high so it's harder to come up with profitable business models," Puzder said in an interview. The state's minimum wage is set to rise to $9 in July, making it among the nation's highest, and $10 by January 2016.
In cities in other states where the minimum wage has gone up considerably, Puzder said "franchisees are closing locations" after riding out lease expirations.
If the federal minimum hourly pay shoots up to $10.10 from the current $7.25-as many lawmakers and President Barack Obama are advocating-Puzder predicts fewer entry-level jobs will be created. If this happens, CKE would also create fewer positions, he forecast.
A recent nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office study also predicted mass job losses, estimating that a hike to $10.10 could result in a loss of about half a million jobs by late 2016, even as it lifted many above the poverty line.
"When the minimum wage increases, there are two things you can do," he said. "One is you can reduce the amount of labor that you use or you can increase your prices."
But with increased costs from food, taxes, fuel, health insurance and regulatory compliance, Puzder said businesses can only raise prices so much before customers become less willing to shell out.
Obamacare regulations, which impact businesses with 50 or more workers more than those with fewer employees, are also affecting CKE's franchise growth.
"I actually have franchisees...who've either gotten out of the business or refused to build two restaurants because with one restaurant you have less than 50 employees," he said. "With two, you have more than 50."
Instead, some cautious franchisees are considering alternatives to expanding their businesses.
"They're actually looking at other investments, which have less risk and lower costs-for example, bonds," he said.
Puzder says it's difficult to justify the risk of opening a business when government policies have hindered would-be entrepreneurs' ability to generate profits due to increases costs.
Indeed, jobs data reflects this hesitancy.
Over the past two decades, businesses with 500 or fewer workers created about two-thirds of net new jobs, according to CNBC's analysis of BLS data. This portion had dropped to about half by 2013.
"People don't just grow because it's Tuesday," he said. "They grow because they think they can make a profit."
To boost U.S. growth, Puzder says more business sympathetic policies need to be in place.
"I'm not saying the government should disappear or I hate the government," he said. "We need a government. We have a good government, but the government's gotten overzealous with respect to what it thinks it should do...The government needs to get out of the way."
quote:Originally posted by raybond: nonsense? Well you can call this what you want. I have heard this same argument since the minimum wage was $1.25 per hour, and hear we sit today. So your scenario does not scare me or move me in anyway to believe in your prediction.
First thing you have to realize is a strike or protest does not occur unless there is an imbalance in economic society. And there is a reason for that. I am sure that employers eventually will have to play catchup and if that means some will not be able to then they will go down and that's just business. Weather any thing happens this time around through protest or not remains to be seen but this is not going away and the cost of living will continue to rise, Profits will increase and the minimum wage worker won't be getting a dime more unless he fights for it. Companies like Walmart will pay the poor and the give there low wage workers advice on how to collect welfare so tax payers can subsidize there crappy wages same for restaurant workers and an assortment of other scumbag industries.
...And I've been hearing since minimum wage was $1.25/hr that if we just raise it, then everyone will be ok, and yet, here we sit, talking about increasing minimum wage, once again.... Why do you think that is? Why didn't it work the first dozen times we did it? Inflation perhaps?
"I personally give them a lot of credit for getting off there (sic) butts and doing something about it." - Raybond
Is that what counts for 'getting off your butt and doing something about it' these days? Looks like a bunch of lazy bums milling about, demanding more money and offering nothing in exchange to me.
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Is that what counts for 'getting off your butt and doing something about it' these days? Looks like a bunch of lazy bums milling about, demanding more money and offering nothing in exchange to me.
Yes nr the protestors offer you something if they are successful . A more expensive hamburger. And a better life for themselves. Enjoy you lunch.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
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"It's been a big week here at The Excess Files as The Wall Street Journal released its annual compensation survey. There's so much in the report it feels like Christmas in May.
But let's stick to the big headline: The median pay for the CEOs of America's 300 largest publicly traded companies hit $11.4 million in 2013, the Journal reports -- that's up 5.5% from 2012 and roughly 257 times the average worker's pay.
The widening gap between CEO and worker pay is at the heart of the income inequality debate in America today. But what's really amazing is the Journal found a widening pay gap among the CEOs themselves...the three highest-paid CEOs -- Oracle's Larry Ellison, CBS' Leslie Moonves and Liberty Global's Michael Fries took home a combined (and mind-boggling) $188 million last year -- or more than the 50 CEOs at the bottom of the list.
And the 30 highest-paid CEOs took home 23% of the total compensation, leaving the other 270 execs to fight over the scraps like a pack of well-dressed hyenas.
Notably missing from the Journal's ranking of highest-paid CEOs was Anthony Petrello of Nabors Industries, who made $68.3 million in 2013, The Associated Press reported in its own and slightly different CEO pay survey. Petrello's pay ballooned as a result of a $45 million lump sum that the company paid him to buy out his old contract (presumably, the Journal left him out because this was a one-time event). Ironically, Nabors was forced to buy out Petrello's contract because of pressure from shareholders about excessive compensation for its executives. (Cue Alanis Morissette)
It's Good to be the King
In a recent Yahoo Finance poll, 63% of you said CEO pay should be capped. I don't support caps on CEO pay but I do support tying it to performance -- but many CEOs are raking in big bucks even when the corporations they oversee are struggling: None, not one, of the companies with the 10 best-paid CEOs in the Journal's 2013 survey ranked in the top 10% for stock performance.
Even more problematic, many firms are gaming the accounting system by asking investors to focus on non-GAAP earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation; thus, big pay packages can be "hidden" in plain sight.
Cheniere Energy, which has already faced criticism for excessive pay packages, this week proposed issuing 30 million shares - currently worth $1.9 billion -- to set aside to pay its executives. If approved, shares dedicated to paying executives would be more than 25% of Cheniere's public shares, The WSJ reports.
"Simply put earnings at many U.S. companies are overstated," writes Bellpointe Capital's David Nelson who calls stock options "the cocaine of Wall Street."
100% pure Colombian cocaine, no doubt.
Still, some members of the 1% are sympathetic to the struggles of American workers.
One well-meaning billionaire has been leaving envelopes full of cash around San Francisco and giving clues to its location on Twitter with the handle @HiddenCash. The anonymous benefactor has left up to $10,000 in cash and reportedly feels bad about the wealth gap in San Francisco.
"I have been overwhelmed with the hundreds of emails asking for financial assistance," the person behind @HiddenCash wrote Friday, saying the concept came from "my desire to give back to the community which I love and has given me so much, and to do it in a fun way."
Meanwhile, also Christmas came early in Milwaukee this week as Herb Kohl sent $500 checks to employees the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Kohl recently sold the Milwaukee Bucks, which play at the arena, for $550 million.
It was a nice gesture by the former US Senator and heir to the Kohl's Department store empire but, for the record, $500 per employee vs. $550 million equates to a CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 1.1 million-to-1 which is extreme, even by U.S. corporate standards.
Still, we haven't seen this kind of trickle down economics since the Middle Ages, when English monarchs washed the feet of beggars and presented gifts and money to the poor on the day before Good Friday.
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