This reads like the wealthy realizing, in real-time, that the poor can't spend money they don't have, more than anything else.

If only someone warned them about this!

Hey let's spend 20 million to market a 'deal' that will actually end up making us $100 million due to the increase in patronage. Remember, we can't survive as a company if we don't double shareholder earnings every fucking year in perpetuity

Paying an employee minimum wages just means you'd pay them less if it was legal.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that the CEO of McDonald's is aware of that.

The rationale here is that if they get minimum wage increasesed, they can raise their workers wages without the reality or perception that they're ceding a fiduciary advantage to their competitors.

It's a reality that needs to be addressed. Some major corp had to eventually acknowledge it. Everyone knew it, nobody wanted to be the first to say it.

The first step is admitting there is a problem. The gravity of even this first step, and the fact that it's from Trump's fucking gold standard for food and American business, is massive.

Ummm... Isn't this already true of McDonald's? They aren't at $18 an hour everywhere, but I believe the average is $15+ for starting wages. I would guess they haven't hired anyone for anything successfully at minimum wage. (Edit: my guess is wrong. Can't even serve fries with dignity in oklahoma. Crazy.)

This isn't generosity; several market forces push fast food in this direction. In fact, it makes a lot of sense for this CEO to lobby for it. It will cost competition more than it will cost them.

Yeah, but you don't get to keep your job in publicly traded companies if you aren't hitting the delusional talking points of people bent on burning society and country down so they can get a 9th yacht.

It's Fordism, the dude literally realizing his employees can't even eat there. Since most of his employees are on government assistance, it's true corporate welfare while he pretends he can't change things.

I hope Boston Dynamics is working on a robot that can operate a guillotine; we have an industrial scale of resetting to get through.

The last time I was there the dollar menu meal still existed I think. Fairly certain the last time I was there was probably around 2011/2012, to pick up some chicken nuggets for some kids.

The last time I went there regularly, you could buy two full meals for less than 5 bucks (or at least really close to it). And even that was overpriced. This is a place that has insane profit margins, but will yell at employee for putting an extra pickle slice on anything. And there's some low quality pickles to be honest.

I remember the last time I ate at mcds. Summer 2020, middle of move, wrapping up about 2am. mcds is the only thing close that's open, don't want to have to drive anywhere. I remember their dollar menu used to be tolerable.

Cost me $10 for the "value meal" of the two tiny wimpy cheeseburgers that used to be a dollar, small fries and small drink. And I had to get the meal because it was cheaper than buying separately like I used to do. That is more than double the price I used to have to pay for that meal.

I can get a large pizza from Dominos for less than 10 bucks with a coupon if I pick it up myself.

Over $100K ain't chump change, but that also isn't the line where "upper income" starts.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-minimum-salary-required-be-considered-upper-class-2025

The Pew Research Center defines upper-income households as having incomes greater than $169,800, based on three-person households. For a household with a single earner and no additional income, that $169,800 is the minimum salary required to be upper class. With two earners, each with the same salary, that minimum would be $84,900 each.

Sooner or later, reality teaches it's lessons.

Next: replacing the customers with kiosks

Literally the only thing I'll go there for is a happy meal for the kids on very rare occasion if I'm in a pinch.

I looked at this recently and he has. Years ago. They had to, because everyone sees these jobs as bad.

In fact, that's one reason for this company to want a minimum wage increase. Won't cost them nearly as much as it'll cost some competitors (especially mom&pop places, I imagine).

No, that's not how the modern economy works. A CEO can't just pay higher wages randomly. They have to adhere to some invisible laws guiding them towards paying the minimum wages they can get away with. If they pay more, they get fired and replaced with another CEO who pays less again.

The only way to make a company pay more is if it benefits the company or if it's forced by law, i.e. legally-mandated minimum wage. That, however, is a bad idea too IMHO because for one some businesses who're just barely profitable today would simply go out of business and people would lose their jobs, and also it would make human employees more expensive and companies would look towards automating their jobs away, because machinery would be more competitive.

IMHO the best solution is to give people money, but not through the workplace, but through a legally-mandated universal basic income that is handed out independent of whether you have a job. Otherwise, you're forcing people to go to work to be able to live and people would have to suck up whatever bad working conditions their workplace features just to be able to survive, i.e. the same we're seeing with medical insurance today when it's tied to work requirements.