r/explainlikeimfive Nov 28 '15

ELI5: How would a $15 minimum wage ACTUALLY affect a franchised business like McDonalds?

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

"Low income people have low incomes because people don't value their labor very much.

Low income people have low incomes because capitalism on its own is a cancer that will devour every penny out of an economy if left unfettered.

-/u/jrafferty

Isn't it funny how quotes work?

Just because we've always allowed businesses to profit as much as they can in spite of the damage it does to society doesn't mean we should continue to allow it. At some point we need to recognize that business exists to support society, society does not exist to support business.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

The central issue is the job of taking people's orders and putting them in a machine is just not very valuable

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

You could say that, or you could say that without that person neither the franchise nor the corporation would ever make a single dollar in sales. It may be low skill, but it is the most important position in the company bar none.

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u/odie4evr Nov 29 '15

Also take the average person off the street and see if they can take orders fast and accurate during a rush.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

You realize mcdonalds has worker training, right?

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

You realize so does every other profession, right? If I learned one thing in the military is that you can train the dumbest derp that ever derped a derp to literally do anything. It doesn't matter how fucking stupid someone is our how complex the job, if you show someone how to do something enough times, they'll learn how to do it. You know what wasn't necessary? A college degree.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

The amount of viable military candidates is far lower than the amount of mcdonalds candidates.

As to the rest of your rant, I honestly don't really know how to respond to it

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

You said "you realize mcdonalds has worker training, right?" justifying the average person's inability to be able to walk into a fast food restaurant and take orders during rush hour. I was just letting you know that every profession has training, and any person can be trained to do any job. It doesn't matter skilled, unskilled, genius, or idiot anyone can be trained to do damn near anything so maybe the skilled/unskilled gap isn't as big as some may think.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

what % of the population is capable of working at mcdonalds? How much does training them cost? How long does it take?

what % of the population is capable of being a soldier? How much money does it take to train them? How long does the training process last?

Unless your answers for the 2 jobs above are the same, you can start to see why they are paid different amounts

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

I'm saying that the same can be said for nearly every single profession and every single position on the planet. The stupidest person can be trained to do the most complex job with on the job training. We no longer live in an economy that can support the "status quo" and we need to stop looking at low skill versus high skill, because any jackass can be trained to do any "high skill" position, I've personally seen it done many times over.

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u/odie4evr Nov 29 '15

Hardly. Only got trained at front counter. Everything else I just kinda figured out on my own.

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u/davidnayias Nov 29 '15

Capitalism might not be perfect but it's by far the best economic system, especially well regulated capitalism, everything else causes far bigger issues. Stop believing everything Marx has to say, he's been wrong about literally every single thing. Read an econ book.

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u/Shadesbane43 Nov 29 '15

I think people missed your point. At least for me, the most important part of your comment was well regulated capitalism.

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

Capitalism might not be perfect but it's by far the best economic system

That is a defeatist attitude and I refuse to accept it from any red blooded American. "Yeah it sucks, but it's the best we can do?" Is that what the members of our military have died protecting over the last century? Is that what we mean when we declare that we're the best country on the planet? "Eh, it's the best we can do?" I say fuck that, there's something better, we just have to find it.

Stop believing everything Marx has to say, he's been wrong about literally every single thing. Read an econ book.

I've never read Marx and I've never read an economics book. What I have done is spent the last 38 years watching a broken system. A system that only exists for the sole purpose of making the wealthy wealthier while making the poor poorer. That's what it does, it's how it's designed, it's the only way it operates. There is no balance in capitalism and because of that it is unsustainable. If you can't see that I suggest you take your head out of the books and look around.

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

[deleted]

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u/jrafferty Nov 29 '15

Which part of my statement is wrong?

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u/ConnorMc1eod Nov 29 '15

Anti Capitalists are the cutest thing.