Posted on 07/30/2013 1:36:48 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
(Newser) – Fast-food workers want to make a "living wage" of $15 an hour. Chains say they'd have to jack up prices if that ever happened. But just how high? Turns out, not as high as you might think, at least according to a University of Kansas researcher. He found that if McDonald's immediately doubled the wages of all its workers (including the $9 million CEO), it would have to raise the price of a Big Mac 68 cents, from $3.99 to $4.67, reports the Huffington Post. Items on the Dollar Menu technically wouldn't qualify anymore, but that hike is relatively modest as well, to $1.17.
“Some folks online are complaining they will not pay $2 for their Dollar Menu, but the truth is that even if McDonald’s doubled salaries the price hike would not be 100%,” says research assistant Arnobio Morelix, who crunched numbers from the chain's annual reports and investor data, reports Forbes. He found that for every dollar McDonald's earns, about 17 cents goes to wages and salaries. Yes, a 68-cent Big Mac bump might be a lot for low-income diners, writes Aimee Picchi at MSN Money. But the nation as a whole might be better off, she writes, noting that minimum wage workers often need food stamps and other aid. "Looking at it that way, it may be a bargain to pay 68 cents more for a Big Mac."
This report from Huff Po citing some university researcher...
or....
"Looking at it that way, it may be a bargain to pay 68 cents more for a Big Mac."
I love the way “University Researchers” think they can figure out what the price of something will be.
If nothing else, it would pave the way for bringing in the robots. At $15/hour, I’m sure those jobs would largely be automated, just like Baraq’s bank tellers....
Crazy-ass cracka please. A Big Mac is barely worth what you pay for it now, much less another 68 cents.
So the big mac goes up .68, but the drinks double, right?
what utter fools these are
I remember when the Big Mac WAS 68 cents......
Just a guess here: I bet the first assumption made to obtain that figure of $0.68 per Big Mac is that sales will be constant (an unlikely occurrence).
The damage of unions to Detroit wasn’t lesson enough for the libs.
As the carpenter’s old axiom goes, I keep cutting the board, and it’s still too short.
Like increasing pay that much won’t cause the benefits (work comp, unemployment, FICA, short and long term disability insurance, etc...) to rise along with them. Looking at the differential of increased wages alone is myopic - it misses a big part of the equation.
This is typical managerial think - latch onto something because it sounds good, damn the consequences or unstated (but usually obvious) caveats, because we have something that sounds good right now!
I had my first McDonalds hamburger around 1961 in Ft. Walton Bch. Fl. It was only 15 cents which was cheap even back then. I remember being surprised how good it was along with the fries.
You could not go in but they did have tables outside with umbrellas over them.
I probably have eaten there only once in the last 30 years. I tried a cheeseburger from the dollar menu. It was more than a dollar btw. It was just awful. I can’t believe how far the quality has fallen.
It wouldn’t even be that much. At $15 an hour they should be able to get some motivated workers who are more productive and more like to stay.
In older times the $0.68 would buy you 4 hamburgers.
Prices would rise across the board and along with that hours would be cut and work load would be increased on the few employees left on any shift. This is always the result of minimum wage increases. The funniest thing is that these geniuses never factor in the fact that the newly “wealthy” employee as well as the employers tax burden increases and the cost of EVERYTHING else increases with wage increases. The net result being only one entity benefiting, the GOVERNMENT!
“Did you want a fry with that?”
Yep, that’s the party line they’re out pushing today.
That figure is allegedly based on a doubling of EVERYONE’s pay, including senior management and the CEO.
If you just double “worker pay” and skip those EEEEEVIL rich bastages, they claim it will only add a dime.
I don’t care if they raise the price of Big Macs to $10.00 or give them away for free. I will continue to eat the same number of them I have consumed in the past 10 years.
Zero.
Now, just don’t mess with the price of White Castle!
... and just how many businesses does this UK "researcher" own and operate?
Hmmm?
I thought so.
As a business owner, I say BS! If you double wages, you’re looking at having to increase the cost of that sandwich AT LEAST 50 to 60 percent, including all other product prices.
“University researcher”? Please.
Of course, raising the wage to $15/hr wouldn't cause McDonald's to lay off any "minimum wage workers". If it's only a $.68 increase when doubling the minimum wage, let's raise the minimum wage to $50/hr at McDonald's and then they won't qualify for food stamps. Of course, they won't have a job, either. Liberals seem to have the economic IQ of plankton.
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