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

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

#391

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Usually 36-40% is the standard. Around $1000 assuming $15 minimum wage and full time employment. There’s already a standard for this with things like Section 8 vouchers. It’s hilarious how many HN commenters think these are intractable, impossible problems.

You realize that’s got the direction wrong? “Given the affordability of housing somewhere within a pretty huge circle, what must the local minimum wage be?”

Not sure why this is so hard to compute.

The federal government already tallies prevailing rent for every US city/county.

If the policy goal was to set minimum wage to a 40% of full time gross income, and the prevailing rent for basic housing is $1000/mo, 1000/40%=$2500, or $15/hr. You can rent an apartment for $450 in the small town I grew up in. Same calculation would be $6.75/hr.

Most employers use a similar methodology to set travel expense thresholds, etc.

A system like this could be subsidized by tax credits on the payroll side.

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

#392
post #40

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A universal basic income would have some advantages over a minimum wage. Minimum wage interferes with supply and demand in the labor market, which is why some economists dislike it. UBI moves the supply curve to a different place, but it allows those principles to function.

1) UBI is not UBI unless everyone gets it. 2) Any income surplus generated by UBI is rapidly consumed by middle people and rent-seekers. That’s how we get inflation.

I agree with #1, although also with the person who mentioned taxes can be changed to effectively control who gets how much net benefit.

On #2 I think your claim needs evidence or support, I doubt that would be true for the most part (maybe to some extent).

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

#393

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“Minimum wage” is different for a single guy and a single mother. Business shouldn’t be responsible for making sure everyone has a “livable” wage. If you believe that should be a policy -and I agree. Then that should be the responsibility of the government. We already have something like that - the earned income tax credit. It just needs to be expanded. Every administration before Trump - both Republican and Democrat…

EITC is too little too late. I agree that this is the job of the government, to make sure everyone has livable wages, but basing something on an optionally claimable tax credit which most low/moderate income people are only dimly aware of and gives you a net payment from the IRS doesn't help when the cost of living rises suddenly and you face the question of eviction. In general the US government is very bad at handi…

And you expect every private business to do it?

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

#394

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That sounds all well and good but I live in a desirable central coast city and thanks to SB9 I can now build 4 extra res units on my property. You are mistaken if you think anyone is going to spend that effort and charge anything less than current market ... maybe more, new houses are expensive. What we need is subsidized housing close to mass transit, single payer medicine, progressive tax reform and subsidized chil…

We do not need subsidized housing further driving up prices. We need fewer people in the market and that means less availability of large loans and taxes on commercial real estate loans. You can't have so many people competing to buy real estate to rent to you and pushing out people who want to buy. And people need to be comfortable when a region doesn't want to grow, force them to curtail their commercial zoning, an…

When there are no real infrastructural/environmental limitations for population growth in sight, “our region doesn’t want to grow” paints a picture of some residents placing their own emotional attachment to how things used to be above all else.

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

#395
post #268

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For one reason or another (all of which we must be empathetic to) many people resist change even to their own benefit. I think all humans are guilty of this in some form or another to varying degrees. For some people, change in job / career is met with severe resistance. It takes a catastrophe for people to get going into finding something better.

Extremely neoliberal perspective

Interesting, thank you for the insight

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

#396

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I hire alot of people, I pay them based on the value of what they produce. One guy I work with has 8 children. Another is married to a partner in a law firm and lives in a home likely worth >$5M. I don’t pay them any different.

Okay, so you wouldn't hire anyone who produces less than minimum wage. What if a teen wants to learn about your profession and is willing to work, but wouldn't really contribute or produce that much? If there was no exception to hiring people who are financial dependents you wouldn't be able to hire on such a person for a small rate. You'd either have to overpay, discouraging you from hiring them, or not hire them be…

I do that too. For college students some start earning credits before moving to a paid intern position.

In my business, interns are super valuable. We pay $20-25/hr depending on skill.

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

#397

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My pet theory is cities are malthusian. Contrary to popular belief, Malthus didn't predict runaway population growth. What he actually predicted (and was right for most of human history), is that any gains in productivity would be eaten up by population growth until the average wealth per person diluted down to it's previous level. So back to cities. Here's my pet theory. You build more apartments, or faster trains o…

There is also the Georgian explanation that rent seeking landlords will always increase rent to match any gains in production. Assuming that a landlord will always charge the maximum they can that market will sustain, any increase in production will mean an increase in what the market can pay for housing, and with time, what the landlord can extract from tenants. It neatly explains how cost of living correlates to jo…

Isn’t that where remote work kicks in but we’re too stupid to realize? If the tech people don’t need to concentrate in one area, good luck jacking up the prices to siphon off that wealth.

Tech needs to create a box. Literally, a hurricane proof box that that plugs into plumbing. Drop it anywhere in the world and fucking live in it. It’s the same box for everyone, like the iPhone, iPhones are not more expensive in Bay Area or NY. All this nonsense over the fact that we all simply need to live in a box somewhere.

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

#398
post #174

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>Otherwise it sounds like you don't think anyone should be able to live anywhere reasonable without roommates? I think your confusing "should be able to" with "shall be able to, enforceable by law". I don't expect that a 15 year old working his first job as a fry cook at an Arby's should be compensated enough that he can afford to live on his own. In fact, that could be dangerously disincentivizing his hard work towa…

But should a 27 year-old fry cook make enough money to live alone? Labor is labor. Pay shouldn’t be less because it’s going to an acceptable to abuse class of person.

Why is it a right to live alone?

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

#399
post #343
post #10

This is the reason why communities like r/antiwork are so massive. The sad fact is that working class people who don't possess rarer skills are frequently mistreated this severely. In other words it's much easier for a sociopath to exploit unskilled labor than skilled labor. This in my opinion is part of the responsibility of the government which they've been largely failing at lately, it's supposed to balance busine…

More people need to learn some labor history. The oligarchs and people at the top aren't your friend. Granted, neither are most middle managers or small business owners, they just have a smaller pool of people to throw into the furnace so it's in their own best interest to show some restraint.

[deleted]

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

#400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you hire a teenager for a relatively large amount of money?

Are they not producing the same amount of work as anyone else?

No? They have less experience and education on account of being young. Some teens may be geniuses who are better than anyone else, and business owners would be well advised to hire those genius teens at market rates, but some teens will not be as productive as their older counterparts and they shouldn't find themselves forbidden from working just because their labor cannot sell for more than minimum wage.
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