I’m as flabbergasted as you are, Lib. And, believe me, I’ve been where Lunapark is now. My wife worked full-time at about $8.00/hour after we were married while I went to school full time. So, I feel I can address some of this.
So, it’s not that the jobs aren’t there, it’s that you don’t want them. Check.
Yes, but he doesn’t pay taxes on it, does he?
Well, first of all, the profit margins in food service are pretty slim. Don’t confuse net income with profits. Second, maybe they’d rather a) give some money to the people who actually own the company, and b) open up more restaurants and provide more jobs.
It is? Why exactly? You don’t own the company, why should you share in the profits beyond your salary? Especially by government fiat?
Er . . . the clue phone is ringing, and it’s for you. When prices are raised on an item, consumers want less of that item. Ergo sales fall, ergo profits fall. Economics 101. Furthermore, products like fast food are fairly price elastic; if the prices at McD’s go up, people will go to BK or Hardees or Taco Bell or any one of a dozen competitors.
Setting aside the fact that inflation means that each dollar in your pocket buys fewer goods, it also means that each dollar McDonald’s earns is worth less.
It’s not that i don’t want them, I was just saying the jobs pay the same or less as the one I have now. So why would i switch.
No, but it’s still equals about the same as minimum wage. What’s your point?
You missed my point. I was usint Mcdonald’s as an example. BK,Hardees etc. would ALL have to profit share. So if they ALL raised their prices etc…
Granted I shouldn’t have ranted like that but I felt i should address pldennison’s points. And Libertarian I don’t know what you mean about unbelievable.
Oh, ok. Well then, after they ALL were sued for collusion and price-fixing, they’d ALL start shutting down restaurants and people would start losing their jobs because fast food would ALL become more expensive relative to other options. But, hey, at least you’d have that big check for a thousand simoleons.
How would they be sued for price fixing/collusion? Let me start over.
All companies with employees would have to profit share. That is a percentage of their profits (this is after they have paid all their expenses so they would not go out of business) would be split between employees. A lot of companies already do this. It’s not shutting them down, they’re just being nice to their employees who make the company what it is. And i’m just talking about a percentage. They are still going to have a profit.
Here’s a bumper sticker i saw on someone’s car:
Minimum wage, minimum work.
It’s for all the employees that make the companies what they are and make the companies successful. You think it is horribly unfair to split a tiny amount of the profits between the employees of a company? The company wouldn’t be as successful if the employees weren’t there. Companies already profit share so the the employees care about their jobs and the customers. This will help the company earn more if the workers know they are going to get a percentage of the profits and do a better job. So it’s better for all.
Oh, I agree. I’m in favor of eliminating the minimum wage.
I don’t think it’s horribly unfair to do so. I think it’s horribly unfair to force companies that don’t want to do it to do so. If people prefer to work for a company that does over one that doesn’t, they’re not bound by law to their current jobs.
The companies wouldn’t exist at all if the owners/shareholders weren’t there.
If the employees know they’re going to get a cut of the profits no matter what, they won’t be inclined to work as hard for it. If profit-sharing and bonuses are earned, they create incentive.
I hope you’ll abandon this silly notion of “they can just raise prices.” Raising prices=fewer sales=fewer profits=fewer employees.
If profits are suddenly split among more people, and/or dividends are decreased, shareholders and investors will take their money elsewhere, where it is more profitable. Less investment=fewer jobs.
I find it hard to believe that every job out there is paying the exact same salary.
I know it must suck earning barely enough to get by with, but I feel fairly confident that if you feel strongly enough about earning more, you will eventually be able to find a job paying more. Keep at it; in today’s economy even if you get turned down for 10 jobs, there’s probably another 10 you haven’t interviewed for - eventually you will probably find something that pays a little better and has some more growth potential.
WOW. We aren’t going to agree on anything if you believe this so i’ll just end this.
It’s is incentive because if there are no or slim profits then there isn’t any or slim profit sharing.
I just meant IF they do raise prices the profits will rise too i.e. the profit shares will be larger. I didn’t say “they can just raise prices.”
Once again here we are talking about a small PERCENTAGE of the profits. If every company is doing profit sharing then why would they take their money elsewhere?
If the employees know they are going to get a cut of the profits wouldn’t they work harder to make that cut bigger? It is an incentive because if there is no profits there is no profit sharing.
Many people agree that it’s unfair that someone should be working full-time and still not be making enough money to live on. One proposed solution is to turn the minimum wage into a “living wage”: here’s a cite from Campaign for a Living Wage.
PeeQueue:
I meant every job in my town that you can get without a college degree. I am moving in a couple months to a bigger city so that i can try to find a better job.
Many companies show a loss every other year: should these companies deduct 10% of that loss out of their employees paychecks.
Seriously, many companies offer profit sharing programs as an incentive to attract good employees. Other companies don’t: for instance, Saturn pays lower wages–signifigantly lower—than other car manufacturers. But they have a sophisticated incentive/profit sharing program that in good years increases the average employee’s wages to well above that of his GM counterpart. In bad years the Saturn worker makes less. Some people love the Saturn system (especially in good years), other people prefer the reliability of the GM system–bigger checks every month. The point is, car factory workers have a choice between which system they want to work under. Your idea takes that choice away and forces both employers and employees to work under the system that you personally prefer.
Luna, perhaps your inability to make more money in the world of business has something to do with your complete lack of understanding of Business.
I am a manager for two restaurant chains. Our profit margin is 3%. All expenses added together exluding the cost of our actual raw materials run at 8% of our total gross.
pld is right. as prices go up, consumption goes down.It is a quadratic formula creating an downward pointing parabola.
if every company were forced to increase salaries (by profit sharing or whatever) the price of EVERYTHING would increase. When prices all rise rapidly, a dollar buys less. This is known as inflation. You could actually be making more money and have less buyin gpower.
If prices are not raised, profits decline or disappear. Investors pull moeney our, and the company has only one choice left: cut expenses. Now, we can’t cut back on food…after all, that is our product. we can’t cut back on electricity or gas. The restaurant has to be lit and the food has to be cooked. Guess what is easiest to cut: That’s right, employees. meaning you quite possibly.
If you want your dollar worth less, less jobs, and thus less competition for workers (which drives down wages), then by all means, institute your plan.
Of course, you could develop more skills, take classes, search for a new job…NAH! that is too much work. IT is easier to ask for handouts.
Please remember that a large number of people making minimum wage are students. They do not need to feed a family, own a car or pay rent. If the minimum is raised, much of the money will be spent on those who have no need for the increase.
I guess things must be worse in other parts of the country. BK is paying $9.50 per hour and the Gap is paying $12.
I’m not asking for handouts and i resent that comment.
I’ve said a million times i’m going to move to find a better job. My profit sharing idea was an idea. I had to defend it to pldennison because i didn’t agree with her/his comments.
Manda Jo 's comments were much more intelligent.
It was just an idea. Of course it would have to be tweaked and may not be the best idea of all. But i was willing to discuss it.
Now that i’m being attacked as a lazy person asking for handouts I am not going to continue this discussion.
I am working 40 hours a week Mr. Zambezi and doing my best to make ends meet. I challenge you to earn minimum wage and try to live on it. Then when you don’t have enough money for food and bring up an ‘idea’ to better the system I’ll accuse you of asking for handouts.
Peaceful honest people should be free to make decisions with respect to their property. That’s a pretty straight-forward idea that you have challenged many times as baseless. Yet you offer the above quoted triple-loaded pre-cliché.
Who decides what “hard-working” is? Who decides what is “necessary”? And if you do decide to force peaceful honest property owners to pay what you say to whom you say, will you then at least stop seizing their property as a tax?
This is Great Debates. If you bring up an idea, be prepared to defend it. You were getting shredded by pld and using the same ineffectual arguments. I called you on it. That is what we do here.
for a couple of years, I did not have enough money for food. I am not saying that you are lazy, but what you are saying is that you want to have other people give you their money simply because you need it…not because you are worth it.
Now you surely feel that you are worth it. But if this is the best paying job you can find, you are obviously not worth more on the market. I Certainly feel I am worth more than I am currently being paid, which is why I am sitting here waiting to hear if I got a job.