Quote:Quote:
http://dailyreckoning.com/how-to-fake-a-...od-strike/
Oh, how the media love a good strike. Look at these fast-food workers and peasants standing up to the owners of capital! They aren’t going to take the oppression anymore. The suits in the boardrooms had better shape up and stop hoarding all that money. They need to give it up to the men and women who are doing the work by giving them not $8 per hour, but $15. And they need to act now.
And so goes the media narrative on the “nationwide” walkouts from fast-food restaurants this week. Thousands of stories poured out in the papers and wire services. The signs, the screaming, the demands, the sad stories of exploitation, the reporters shouting over the yelling — it’s all a scene out of the old storybooks.
But wait just a minute, here. These people are demanding a doubling of wages? You don’t even have to study economics for more than a few seconds to see that this would be catastrophic for employment.
Think of it this way: What if the price of a Big Mac suddenly went from $4 to $8? Are you going to buy as many? McDonald’s can’t make you. Do a quick mental experiment and imagine what would happen to the demand for this sandwich. Well, in the same way, no one can force McDonald’s to buy labor at $15 an hour. Demand for labor would collapse. Bankruptcies would abound. People would suffer.
So what’s with these demands? Sure, everyone wants more money (universal rule!) but this is a horrible way to go about it.
If you look a bit more deeply, you begin to the see the hoax. There’s every indication that people outside the restaurants protesting didn’t actually work for the place they were protesting. It was a classic “rent-a-mob” situation, and the rent was being paid by political activists whose agenda has nothing to do with helping the average burger flipper.
These were mostly media stunts cooked up by the Service Employees International Union, which bused in these so-called workers as a fulfillment of a little charade and subsequent media blitz. The SEIU coordinates these protests with various professional worker groups and in conjunction with the press to make the biggest possible splash.
Notice that in the course of the protests, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King reported on no cases of actual shutdowns due to striking workers. A rare case was reported in Detroit, but it seemed to come and go. There were sporadic reports of some closings, but due more to the chaos than refusal to work. As Labor Notes reported, “A Qdoba Mexican Grill was entirely shut down when a crowd occupied the store. A Subway was unable to stay open because of a large crowd out front.”
In other words, the most these so-called walkouts accomplished was to block the entrances for consumers. As soon as the ruckus ended, consumers poured back in and workers happily served up the food and drink that people wanted.
That alone is enough to cause any objective observer to suspect a rat. Among all the media stories about these so-called strikes, only Bloomberg hinted at the reality: “Moments after protesters left a Wendy’s in downtown Manhattan, about 20 people piled into the store for lunch. When chanting strikers entered the Chicago McDonald’s, workers continued to pour coffee and bag food for a throng of customers.”
RealClearMarkets provided some more detail — and did so even before the protests began. In short, these were not workers, but pressure groups acting in a coordinated fashion through politically driven “workers centers” — Fast Food Forward and Low Pay Is Not OK — backed by the American Federation of Teachers, the new incarnation of the Obama-ite ACORN, and other highly politicized parasites:
“Fast Food Forward and Low Pay Is Not OK are allied with other worker centers, including Stand Up KC, Raise Up Milwaukee, Fight for 15, Central American Resource Center, MassUniting, Rally for 15, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, Flint-15. At Low Pay Is Not OK’s website, people can download a strike kit (“Download 15 Steps for $15/hour”) and a strike letter… Fast Food Forward activists do not have to worry about losing their own jobs, so they seek extraordinary wage increases of up to 100%.
“Fast Food Forward is funded by New York Communities for Change, which was set up in 2010 to replace the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN. ACORN closed down due to financial shenanigans and scandal, but NYCC has the same address and leadership. Jonathan Westin, a former ACORN organizer, directs NYCC and Fast Food Forward.
“The SEIU has contributed over $100,000 to NYCC, according to documents filed with the Labor Department. These documents also show that NYCC received $353,881 from the United Federation of Teachers between Aug. 1, 2011 and July 31, 2012.”
If you want to follow the money further, you can trace Teachers Union dollars straight back to you and me in the form of the taxes we pay. So to some extent, this whole charade was a subsidized racket.
Stranger still, consider that these so-called strikes have no real end game. You can’t negotiate with an entire industry. Wages in these franchises are decided by the local owners, not dictated by the center. If McDonald’s corporate headquarters suddenly mandated a $15 minimum, it would stand in massive contract violation with the owners of the stores — robbing them of their rights.
It would never happen. But if it did, the result would be to bankrupt thousands of stores, throw possibly millions of people out of work, and do terrible damage to future job creation. These franchises operate on extremely thin margins as it is, and the owners never know for sure whether they are going to make it another year.
As for the workers themselves, they are mostly entry-level jobs, and some 75% of the new workers in these restaurants end up leaving for other positions after a year of work. In other words, these are brilliant places to get your foot in the door. They hire people who really need the experience and train them in money management, cooking skills, interpersonal skills, and the ethic of the commercial marketplace.
The agenda of these activists groups is to ruin this beautiful opportunity for people. And what’s the point? Well, labor unions of the sort represented by SEIU are nearly extinct in this modern, dynamic, entrepreneurial economy. They once dominated. Now, the percentage of private sector workers who are unionized is down to 6.6%. Even the rate of government unionization is collapsing by one-third.
Looking at this bigger picture, you can see that these stunts are really acts of desperation. The unions need to shore up their membership. They will do it at the expense of the poor, the low-wage workers, small-business owners, and consumers. They really don’t care. At this late stage, these near-death unions are willing to pillage anyone and everyone just to survive.
The mainstream press is not doing anyone favors by covering up the true racket here. The fast-food franchises are not owned and run by fat cats, but by mostly local business owners who scraped up enough money to take on a risky investment. They have suffered terrible economic strain over the past five years, with ever-increasing regulatory costs, higher minimum wages, and the constant threat of death by Obamacare.
Despite all this, fast food has been a growth industry — a bright spot in a dim economic landscape. This faked “strike” charade is the last thing they need right now. The trolls will always be with us. If only the attention-hungry press would learn to spot them and ignore them so business could get on with making the world a better place.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tucker
How to Fake a Fast Food Strike
I read that today. Usually whenever there is a huge demonstration for some kind of leftist issue, they bus in "professional" protesters. Sometimes even for a local issue, they'll bring in plenty of people from other areas. Like when Wisconsin tried to reduce state-sponsored teacher benefits, the union brought in a lot of teachers who didn't even teach in Wisconsin to up their numbers.
I was wondering where Acorn went. Hopefully someone will expose more of their scandals under the Fast Food Foward name.
Daily Reckoning looks to be a Libertarian rag more than anything else. Generally Right wing (complete with the "the economy will collapse" conspiracy theories which I see very often in these kinds of rags), but doesn't have a lot of traits supported by the Republican party in the United States (no homophobia, no "let's go to war" madness, little post-southern-strategy bigotry, doesn't support the "let's criminalize everything" notion).
It's not a magazine will I read too much; it's not a world view I subscribe to. The thing about "red pill" is that it allows for all kinds of thoughts and philosophies. It is definitely not group think; it is just an acknowledgment and acceptance of the reality of human nature.
It's not a magazine will I read too much; it's not a world view I subscribe to. The thing about "red pill" is that it allows for all kinds of thoughts and philosophies. It is definitely not group think; it is just an acknowledgment and acceptance of the reality of human nature.
Okay, I get it. Paying people $15 an hour to sling Filet-o-Fishes is a dumb idea that will backfire. But let's get past the Atlas Shrugged teenage cant and think critically.
Whenever someone brings up this issue, the libertarians/right-wingers always go, "Well, if you don't like working at McD's, get some real skills. Fast food is supposed to be an entry-level job, not something you do for the rest of your life." But that sidesteps the real problem...
Most of these people are too stupid to get real skills.
I have first-hand experience with this. I recently wrote on my blog about how I sat in on a New York State Labor Department workshop aimed at helping the jobless use the Internet to find work. We're talking unemployed, fifty-/sixtysomething factory workers in one of the most economically depressed regions of the state, and they have no idea how to use the Internet or computers. Their resumes have to be prepared by department clerks. The workshop revolved around teaching them how to use a mouse and keyboard, how to copy and paste, and how to set up email accounts with Gmail/Yahoo!
In the year 2013.
These people are dumb. D-U-M-B. Not bad people, but they're dumb. Many of them are high school dropouts. They spent the better part of their lives stamping widgets at a factory for $45,000 a year only to have the factory move to Mexico or China and dump them on the side of the road at the most vulnerable stage of their lives. Their pensions were tied up with the factory too, so they don't even get that.
And the libertarians think they should just get "skills?" How? How exactly are they supposed to develop a completely new skillset when they a) have a mean IQ of 90 and b) are all moving into old age, when the human brain is least capable of learning new things? And all this for a job as Walmart greeter (the only business left in this part of upstate NY)?
The economic recession is still going on. Ever hear the term "jobless recovery" (an oxymoron if there ever was one)? The people stuck flipping burgers at Mickey D's are there because they don't have a choice. They don't have the brainpower to obtain valuable skills. They literally cannot adapt to the modern economy.
Is paying them $15 an hour to do a monkey's job a solution? I don't know. But I do know what won't work: continuing to cling to these Horatio Alger fantasies while the bottom continues to fall out of the middle class.
Whenever someone brings up this issue, the libertarians/right-wingers always go, "Well, if you don't like working at McD's, get some real skills. Fast food is supposed to be an entry-level job, not something you do for the rest of your life." But that sidesteps the real problem...
Most of these people are too stupid to get real skills.
I have first-hand experience with this. I recently wrote on my blog about how I sat in on a New York State Labor Department workshop aimed at helping the jobless use the Internet to find work. We're talking unemployed, fifty-/sixtysomething factory workers in one of the most economically depressed regions of the state, and they have no idea how to use the Internet or computers. Their resumes have to be prepared by department clerks. The workshop revolved around teaching them how to use a mouse and keyboard, how to copy and paste, and how to set up email accounts with Gmail/Yahoo!
In the year 2013.
These people are dumb. D-U-M-B. Not bad people, but they're dumb. Many of them are high school dropouts. They spent the better part of their lives stamping widgets at a factory for $45,000 a year only to have the factory move to Mexico or China and dump them on the side of the road at the most vulnerable stage of their lives. Their pensions were tied up with the factory too, so they don't even get that.
And the libertarians think they should just get "skills?" How? How exactly are they supposed to develop a completely new skillset when they a) have a mean IQ of 90 and b) are all moving into old age, when the human brain is least capable of learning new things? And all this for a job as Walmart greeter (the only business left in this part of upstate NY)?
The economic recession is still going on. Ever hear the term "jobless recovery" (an oxymoron if there ever was one)? The people stuck flipping burgers at Mickey D's are there because they don't have a choice. They don't have the brainpower to obtain valuable skills. They literally cannot adapt to the modern economy.
Is paying them $15 an hour to do a monkey's job a solution? I don't know. But I do know what won't work: continuing to cling to these Horatio Alger fantasies while the bottom continues to fall out of the middle class.
Matt:
Those people are fucked. They make a good case for minimum wage, but overall, the bigger problem is no new labor sources are being developed for them.
I don't think the solution is to jack the minimum wage, but there should be some kind of basic dole, of say around $400 a month, for those who are screwed.
Those people are fucked. They make a good case for minimum wage, but overall, the bigger problem is no new labor sources are being developed for them.
I don't think the solution is to jack the minimum wage, but there should be some kind of basic dole, of say around $400 a month, for those who are screwed.
Contributor at Return of Kings. I got banned from twatter, which is run by little bitches and weaklings. You can follow me on Gab.
Be sure to check out the easiest mining program around, FreedomXMR.
Quote: (09-04-2013 09:13 PM)Matt Forney Wrote:
Okay, I get it. Paying people $15 an hour to sling Filet-o-Fishes is a dumb idea that will backfire. But let's get past the Atlas Shrugged teenage cant and think critically.
Whenever someone brings up this issue, the libertarians/right-wingers always go, "Well, if you don't like working at McD's, get some real skills. Fast food is supposed to be an entry-level job, not something you do for the rest of your life." But that sidesteps the real problem...
Most of these people are too stupid to get real skills.
I have first-hand experience with this. I recently wrote on my blog about how I sat in on a New York State Labor Department workshop aimed at helping the jobless use the Internet to find work. We're talking unemployed, fifty-/sixtysomething factory workers in one of the most economically depressed regions of the state, and they have no idea how to use the Internet or computers. Their resumes have to be prepared by department clerks. The workshop revolved around teaching them how to use a mouse and keyboard, how to copy and paste, and how to set up email accounts with Gmail/Yahoo!
In the year 2013.
These people are dumb. D-U-M-B. Not bad people, but they're dumb. Many of them are high school dropouts. They spent the better part of their lives stamping widgets at a factory for $45,000 a year only to have the factory move to Mexico or China and dump them on the side of the road at the most vulnerable stage of their lives. Their pensions were tied up with the factory too, so they don't even get that.
And the libertarians think they should just get "skills?" How? How exactly are they supposed to develop a completely new skillset when they a) have a mean IQ of 90 and b) are all moving into old age, when the human brain is least capable of learning new things? And all this for a job as Walmart greeter (the only business left in this part of upstate NY)?
The economic recession is still going on. Ever hear the term "jobless recovery" (an oxymoron if there ever was one)? The people stuck flipping burgers at Mickey D's are there because they don't have a choice. They don't have the brainpower to obtain valuable skills. They literally cannot adapt to the modern economy.
Is paying them $15 an hour to do a monkey's job a solution? I don't know. But I do know what won't work: continuing to cling to these Horatio Alger fantasies while the bottom continues to fall out of the middle class.
Finally. This is the evisceration of the pretty little lie the Horatio Alger story is predicated upon - that anybody "can do anything."
The great thing about the pre-Boomerism American era is that we had middle-class work for average people. And when we don't, we get a plantation economy - an irascible admixture of superrich and widespread poor - that inhibits growth and fucks everything.
And this lie fucks the professional classes too. Guess where all these idiots are now? College. Grad school. Why are college and grad school expensive credentials? Because we developed an arms race to show nonidiocy while simultaneously stratifying the exclusive end and lowering the bar on the bottom. We're telling everybody they need a rock and charging for them, while pretending the piece of shit you dug out of your front lawn is the same as the diamond that's now even more difficult to obtain.
It's not really about welfare. It's about having a stable and productive average class. We need factories. You can teach an idiot to productively weld the same frame parts over and over. You can't teach him to design the process.
Quote: (09-04-2013 11:32 PM)lurker Wrote:
And this lie fucks the professional classes too. Guess where all these idiots are now? College. Grad school.
I've met many incompetent, overeducated idiots during my working life, who believe a degree validates their intelligence. If you look at how the average college student conducts themselves and the lack of discipline, effort or independent critical thought that goes into their years of study, then its easy to lose all respect for educational institutions as a whole.
The middle class system is designed to pump out Lindy Wests: stupid, worthless individuals with no real value or function in society but have to be employed in some function with unchallenging work with little real world pressure or expectations of them. Would you trust someone who can't even manage a healthy eating / exercise regime with anything of concrete importance? As an example, a woman with a journalism / communications major, paid to spout off worthless personal opinions to fill space via the media's desperate need for content is of even less value to society than a burger flipper.
Quote: (09-04-2013 09:13 PM)Matt Forney Wrote:
Okay, I get it. Paying people $15 an hour to sling Filet-o-Fishes is a dumb idea that will backfire. But let's get past the Atlas Shrugged teenage cant and think critically.
Whenever someone brings up this issue, the libertarians/right-wingers always go, "Well, if you don't like working at McD's, get some real skills. Fast food is supposed to be an entry-level job, not something you do for the rest of your life." But that sidesteps the real problem...
Most of these people are too stupid to get real skills.
Which is totally fine. We need a working class proletariat(uneducated manual labor) to do the shitty jobs like food service, janitorial, and other low wage jobs that no one with a brain wants to do. $15/hr isn't going to happen(the fast food joints would just lay off a lot of workers or cut everyone's hours.)
In Los Angeles, In n Out burger starts their workers at $9.50/hour to work fast food. That is totally reasonable.
I honestly think that if fast food workers were to unionize, a lot of fast food restaurants would not be able to stay in business.
$7.50 per hour wage.
$7.50 x 40 hrs x 52 weeks = $15,600
Two working parents x $15,600 = $31,200
Grandparents live nearby and handle childcare when the working parents are working.
Rent for a house in many places is $1300 per month or so, including utilities.
That leaves $15,600 for health insurance, saving for retirement, clothes, etc.
What do you guys think?
If the nuclear family actually stuck together when they had kids and grandparents (or unmarried siblings) were involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren, could the average person too stupid to do anything more than flip a burger have a comfortable lifestyle in America?
I'm going to argue that it could be done, provided that public transport is utilized heavily, second hand clothing is made use of, especially for children and no Internet or cable service was subscribed to until their were children who needed the Internet for school (and even then, books not cable/satellite/tv).
My dad earned about $11 an hour as a social worker when I was growing up in the 90's. My mother did not work.
We basically never ate out, had a television and VCR but no subscription services (until we started high school and finally got a $30 / mnth dial-up service), bought used bikes and skates at yard sales, bought only new shoes, almost never new clothes, took monthly trips to the library, took advantage of free entertainment opportunities, and only had one car generally.
We were able to live a pretty comfortably, were never hungry and my parents managed to send their first 3 children to private high school entirely on their own dime.
I know that $11 per hour in the 80's-90's isn't what it is now, but couldn't modern day dumb-asses with no skills (my dad had a college degree) manage a decent life if they didn't waste money and marriage was forever?
$7.50 x 40 hrs x 52 weeks = $15,600
Two working parents x $15,600 = $31,200
Grandparents live nearby and handle childcare when the working parents are working.
Rent for a house in many places is $1300 per month or so, including utilities.
That leaves $15,600 for health insurance, saving for retirement, clothes, etc.
What do you guys think?
If the nuclear family actually stuck together when they had kids and grandparents (or unmarried siblings) were involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren, could the average person too stupid to do anything more than flip a burger have a comfortable lifestyle in America?
I'm going to argue that it could be done, provided that public transport is utilized heavily, second hand clothing is made use of, especially for children and no Internet or cable service was subscribed to until their were children who needed the Internet for school (and even then, books not cable/satellite/tv).
My dad earned about $11 an hour as a social worker when I was growing up in the 90's. My mother did not work.
We basically never ate out, had a television and VCR but no subscription services (until we started high school and finally got a $30 / mnth dial-up service), bought used bikes and skates at yard sales, bought only new shoes, almost never new clothes, took monthly trips to the library, took advantage of free entertainment opportunities, and only had one car generally.
We were able to live a pretty comfortably, were never hungry and my parents managed to send their first 3 children to private high school entirely on their own dime.
I know that $11 per hour in the 80's-90's isn't what it is now, but couldn't modern day dumb-asses with no skills (my dad had a college degree) manage a decent life if they didn't waste money and marriage was forever?
I'm the King of Beijing!
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)