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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

#471
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

What's wrong with roommates?

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

#472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is always finding good roommates who aren’t secretly murder hobos. Sharing can work, but it seems to be getting harder and harder as we have to rely more and more on close vetting via friends and family.

Why is it hard, and harder now, to find "good roommates who aren’t secretly murder hobos"? I and many others I know have found plenty of roommates, no problem. Not every roommate is perfect, including you and me, but there have been zero murder hobos.

I think the internet might be the problem? It used to be that we would use personal networks to find roommates because that was all there was, but with the internet, more people are connected to each other, and there is less intrinsic vetting via social circles. So that friend of a friend on Facebook could be anyone.

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

#473
post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is always finding good roommates who aren’t secretly murder hobos. Sharing can work, but it seems to be getting harder and harder as we have to rely more and more on close vetting via friends and family.

> The problem is always finding good roommates who aren’t secretly murder hobos. As in a roommate who murders hobos or who is a hobo that murders? If a hobo becomes a roommate, are they too stationary to still be a hobo? A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: A hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if po…

These are sort of outdate terms, I was just using the murder hobo as an extreme example from video gaming culture:

> A character who wanders the gameworld, unattached to any community, indiscriminately killing and looting.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/murderhobo#:~:text=Noun,commu....

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

#474
post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone have a good explanation (or resource) for why this wouldn’t happen?

The theory is just supply and demand, which is how prices are determined in a competitive market. If you give everyone $20k, would you expect grocery stores to raise the price of bananas to $20/lb? Probably not, since people can just go to the grocery store down the street. Now if everyone suddenly wanted to buy more bananas with their new cash that would have an effect, but that’s how markets are supposed to work. I…

Who would supply these bananas? After receiving $20,000, do you think the farmer's laborers will go to work the next day for the same wage as before? The trucker? The grocery store cashier? Will the "grocery store down the street" be immune to the higher labor costs?

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

#475
post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory is just supply and demand, which is how prices are determined in a competitive market. If you give everyone $20k, would you expect grocery stores to raise the price of bananas to $20/lb? Probably not, since people can just go to the grocery store down the street. Now if everyone suddenly wanted to buy more bananas with their new cash that would have an effect, but that’s how markets are supposed to work. I…

Why wouldn't rent just increase to capture this new income for most people? If UBI is high enough to afford mortgage payments on an owned house, housing prices will skyrocket (even more than now) until those receiving the UBI are priced out of the market once again. Because once the mortgage is paid off, the value of the property is expected to grow, and that's a bet lots of people are taking, even now in this crazy…

> Why wouldn't rent just increase to capture this new income for most people?

Of course it would. It's happening right now.

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

#476
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Companies would simply assume This could be defined by local governments with additional standards not written in to this internet comment.

Nothing stops a local government, to my knowledge, or a state government from raising minimum wage for the unique conditions their locale faces and the ideals they want to reflect. People too often think about federal minimum wage, but think about how diverse the environments are that federal minimum wage affects. If you live in a city/state where the minimum wage is lower than you think it should be, you'll probably…

Indeed in California where I live we have our own minimum wage, and I believe cities like San Francisco have their own too.

But when someone says

> 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.

Then "nothing stops local government from doing it" seems to me to lack the aspect of wonder the parent had intended to evoke.

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

#477
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

This rationale is always based on the fact that a "teenager" doesn't need a livable wage. The problem with this, is that not every fry cook is a teenager that doesn't need to pay for food and shelter. Fast food is a $300bn industry in the US. It doesn't need to be subsidized by parents.

Also...the whole argument falls apart when you realize fast food is open during school hours. Legal working hours for teenagers start after school and end before typical closing times.

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

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the article said it was from a regional manager. That counts as an Applebees corporate exec.

Not when it’s a franchise that affects a small portion of their stores.

Exactly. A regional manager of a franchise of a restaurant chain isn't an exec. It's some random dude without.... a lot of brainpower. As can be seen.

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

#479

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?

Its some dude at a franchise. He isn't an economist.

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

#480

I appreciate the quote from corporate: “We are still scratching our head about what this gentleman was thinking.”

Yeah, right. They know exactly what he was thinking.

I really doubt it. Can you imagine being an exec at some company and some random dude who is a manager at a franchise does something this stupid? You'd be pretty annoyed.
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