Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

www2.ljworld.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 582 posts

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#81

Post by colinmhayes »

cardiffspaceman wrote: post #62
colinmhayes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't capitalism's fault, it's just human nature. Every economic system will have scumbags who try to exploit other people for personal gain.

Achieving the optimum economy by allowing human nature to do its thing was supposed to be the way capitalism works. To me that would mean including scumbags, somehow the invisible hand would create paradise.

I don't think any economic system can create paradise. Some are certainly better at optimally distributing scarce resources though.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#82

Post by vkou »

cardiffspaceman wrote: post #62
colinmhayes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't capitalism's fault, it's just human nature. Every economic system will have scumbags who try to exploit other people for personal gain.

Achieving the optimum economy by allowing human nature to do its thing was supposed to be the way capitalism works. To me that would mean including scumbags, somehow the invisible hand would create paradise.

Paradise is here, it's just not evenly distributed.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#84

Post by bladegash »

karmasimida wrote: post #42

I don't understand the reasoning. If the inflation is up, why won't the employees demand more wage to cover the rising cost? It isn't like Applebee is a high-sought after career, isn't it?

Think the premise is that people who work there don’t have many alternative options other than continuing to work for them. In addition, greater financial pressures presumably contributes to forcing them to remain employed where they already are.

These are not employees who get paid time off and can take days off to go looking for other jobs/interview.

Meaning any time they take to find another job might be eating into their finances even more, and really be more of the same (e.g., another restaurant).

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#85

Post by tshaddox »

Grollicus wrote: post #55
endisneigh wrote: post #3

I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic. The static (both in the nominal and inflation adjusted sense) for minimum wage doesn't make sense imo. Minimum wage should be tied to some level of living (not necessarily a great living, but something ) This guy smh

There'll be a bunch of cheap singular apartments spread all over the US - let's for convenience's sake assume they're about a one hour drive apart from each other but that's a totally random number of course. You can rent them for very cheap but just as you're about to move in they suddenly become unavailable for whatever reason? Probably the owner lost their keys or something and then lawyers can argue for years if…

> You can rent them for very cheap but just as you're about to move in they suddenly become unavailable for whatever reason?

I mean, presumably in this hypothetical situation we wouldn't want to simultaneously dissolve basic renter's rights.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#86

Post by [deleted] »

metadat wrote: post #2

> Wayne Pankratz, executive director of operations for Applebee’s franchisee Apple Central LLC. > “The advantage this has for us is that it will increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage. How you ask? > “Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck. Any increase in gas price cuts into their disposable income. As inflation continues to climb and gas pr…

[deleted]

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#87

Post by _jal »

karmasimida wrote: post #42

I don't understand the reasoning. If the inflation is up, why won't the employees demand more wage to cover the rising cost? It isn't like Applebee is a high-sought after career, isn't it?

The core idea is the more desperate people are, the lower you can push their wages.

Same reason exploitive employers oppose increasing the minimum wage, single payer, etc. Keeping people wretched means a steady supply of new bodies if the ones you're employing start thinking they can negotiate.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#88

Post by tshaddox »

gruez wrote: post #69
endisneigh wrote: post #3

I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic. The static (both in the nominal and inflation adjusted sense) for minimum wage doesn't make sense imo. Minimum wage should be tied to some level of living (not necessarily a great living, but something ) This guy smh

> I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic. More labor being "outsourced" to cheap counties, for one. Rather than a restaurant making meals on site, they'll do most of the prep work 50 miles away where the CoL (and minimum wage) is cheap and truck it in.

I'm pretty sure any restaurant in the United States that prepares meals on site does so because that's a crucial part of the product they're offering, not because it's cheaper to prepare the meals on site.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#89

Post by stonemetal12 »

aerovistae wrote: post #9

Quoted post unavailable.

I saw this on Reddit yesterday, the comments were much worse.

In this thread there is a mention of Ethics, and even a post that shows the thinking of how someone could write the email without being Satan's brother.

Re: Applebee’s exec urges using high gas prices to push lower wages, sparks walkout

#90

Post by aluminussoma »

crate_barre wrote: post #53

Is it better that this was said or left unsaid?

Exactly. He is not the only person thinking this; he was just the only one who put his thoughts on paper. I remember when American capitalism was about succeeding by making other people successful. This kind of business - succeeding by sucking the blood out of your employees - should never be tolerated.
Post reply on HN