The Real Impact Of Automated Fast Food Kiosks On Society

As the progressives have increasingly pushed the 15 dollar per hour federal minimum wage, and with California already at $10/hour and rising to $15/hour, fast food corporations have been anticipated to pursue alternative methods to maintain profitability. Wendy’s recently announced that they will rolling out self service kiosks in the latter part of 2016 across the US. Technological advances and other sea-changes in society often reveal truths about our world, and the discerning man will find this no exception.

Although the pictures of the McDonald’s kiosks in Asia have been making the rounds on Facebook and similar recently with pithy predictions of liberal comeuppance, this is the first news of this employee headcount reducing technology coming to fast food in the US. Self service checkouts have been around in Wal-Marts and similar for years offered as an alternative to express checkouts, but these are deliberately designed to replace, not augment, workers, and that’s a different ball game entirely.

You’re only going to be paid what you’re worth

The free market is an interesting animal and responds in ways unpredictable to some. It is a symptom of the megalomania of Barack Obama and others in federal and state governments that they think they can regulate free market capitalism and make it do their bidding. If you have a river, and you want to make some power, you can dam it up and run it through some turbines to a certain extent, but, if you restrict the flow too much, the river will find an easier path in which to do so, and that is what is happening here.

The technology of the self service kiosk is the same thing as ATMs and self checkout machines and has been around for a while. It hasn’t been implemented into fast food joints because it probably wasn’t economically viable to pay the initial costs, the upkeep, and the costs of maintenance employees versus paying minimum wage to the cashiers.

Raising the minimum wage is not going to actually raise the wages of fast food cashiers at all. You can’t impose a value on a job (and thus, its wages); the value of the job is what it is. In the past, when the minimum wage has been raised, the whole economy has shifted to make the new minimum wage the floor again and left minimum wage earners with more money that was worth correspondingly less.

I don’t think that will happen this time. I believe the entry level cashier position is on the way out across the board. A quarter pounder will still cost a couple bucks, and the cashier job will still be worth some seven bucks an hour, but it will be paid against an expense line of buying that kiosk on a budget, not to a paycheck.

The bottom tier of the economy will remain the same, but it will be empty

Raising (doubling) the minimum wage will make all cashier jobs financially unfeasible, and we should look forward to a lot less errors in our orders at Taco Bell because of this. I believe that the determining factor of whether or not someone should be employed in a job versus a machine doing it will become if it is physically possible for a machine to do the job versus if it is financially feasible to do so.

Taking your typical fast food joint, these kiosks will replace the cashiers running the lobby, and eventually, once voice recognition or the format of the touchscreens get tuned in, probably the drive through cashiers, too. I don’t doubt that automated assembly and cooking machines are too far behind, either.

The ultimate evolution of this concept is that a fast food joint will have two employees per shift to replenish the cooking machines, hand out the food, and troubleshoot basic mechanical problems. Someone else will come along daily to remove the money from the kiosks.

People who formerly had these jobs will be out of work and will find they are faced with the harsh truth that, while the minimum wage has increased, the skills required for the jobs have also increased. Working at Taco Bell may require an industrial maintenance degree and relevant experience, which would, in a semi-ironic fashion, fix the whole problem with people trying to create a career out of burger flipping by forcing them to ass-up and get some skills for a real job, which is what they should have done in the first place.

That amp clamp ain’t a sex toy.

But, there will only be one maintenance guy for every five burger flippers, and people are lazy, so we will end up with the following.

More people will be on welfare

Normally, this situation would be self-correcting. If it is no longer viable to employ people at base level; then those people will not be employed and will have to find an alternative. They would either find a job that their skills could secure for them, level up their skills so that they could then secure a job with them, or mooch off family members in either a temporary or permanent manner.

However, being a semi-socialist country, most of them will simply go on welfare and make the rest of us pay for them. Public assistance has always been a parasite on great civilizations and contributes to their eventual, and inevitable, downfall. It sounds like such a good idea to help the poor out when you can’t understand the role of laziness in human psychology or basic math and how it impacts an economy.

Being on welfare should be shameful, and the fact that it is not is indicative of the problems in our societies. Part of our platform of neomasculinity is the concept of being skilled and providing for yourself. You need to learn a trade and have a work ethic. A basic high school education and a worthless “Choose-You-Own-Degree” College of Arts And Crafts bachelors in the courtship rituals of Victorian England along with a complete lack of grit from never having done anything in your life will leave you unprepared for ANY job.

The jobs are there. The pay is there. Most people are just unqualified and unmotivated; just ask Mike Rowe.

The dissatisfaction with the useless will grow

I’m an engineer, not a sociologist, so I’m not going to speculate on how race and religion affect work ethic, education, and productivity, but I don’t think it’s a race or religion or orientation thing. Rather, the problem with people in the US, and probably other countries as well, is that they are simply lazy.

I work in a car factory, and I can do any job the guys on the line can do; the jobs aren’t that complicated. However, I would never make the cycle time of the line because I wouldn’t be fast enough to finish my job on one car before the next one came piling in. Eventually, I could train up to be as fast as they are, but they work hard for their money and deserve it, just like I deserve mine by doing what I do.

I think we are going to see, as more and more people get on and abuse welfare, a dissatisfaction with lazy people begin to grow. Shaming will become the powerful force that it used to be, and worthless will become an insult again. I think this will occur regardless, but whether or not it happens before an economic collapse or after remains to be seen.

Conclusion

I believe that this minimum wage hike is going to disrupt the economy of the US similar to the problems of 2008 with the recession. In that recession, the economy downsized and laid off millions. It has since recovered profitability, but on a smaller scale, and many of those people that were laid off are still unemployed, and will perhaps remain permanently so. Those people are outside the economy as a casualty that was expendable to fix the situation.

Raising the minimum wage will do the same thing. Jobs that aren’t worth the wage increase that can be replaced by technology will be replaced by that technology, and those people will be out of work. They will either have to level up, or remain unemployed. Part of making a good sports team is cutting the bad players.  Our job is to make sure that we have marketable skills so that we’re in demand, and that we teach that work ethic and necessity of skill to our children.

Read More: The Real Reason Minimum Wage Must Be Raised To $15 An Hour

416 thoughts on “The Real Impact Of Automated Fast Food Kiosks On Society”

  1. “when the minimum wage has been raised, the whole economy has shifted to make the new minimum wage the floor again and left minimum wage earners with more money that was worth correspondingly less.”
    This is what rank-and-file liberals always fail to understand. The leftist leadership understands it, though, and it’s a purposeful part of their goal to blow up the economy/country and replace it with whatever Maoist/Stalinist model moistens their panties.

  2. I agree that people are getting fed up with the dependant caste. It’s simply grown too big. I know couples who would love to have a third child but can’t afford to because they’re being taxed to death and the hospitals are bilking them to make up for all the uninsured, unemployed people racking up massive bills that will never get paid. I know Democrats who are supporting Trump, often secretly, and reading Libertarian blogs.

  3. Bring on the kiosks! At least then if the order is wrong, it’ll be my own fault.
    On another note, the short-sightedness of those screaming for $15/hour to flip burgers is damn near epic proportions. Working at a fast food joint is a no skill job (coming from personal experience). The effect of increasing the wage of a fast food wages is across the board inflation. Why would someone who works a legitimate $15/hour job stay there when he can make the same amount at an easier job? He will either quit or demand a raise. This effect will cascade up the chain of jobs/wages until everything normalizes out on a higher bracket. In the end, fast food workers will still be at the bottom rung of society and everything will cost more.

    1. Unless I’m missing something here, wont someone still be in the kitchen prepping the food? As far as screwed up orders, I don’t see anything changing.

      1. The end result if the $15/hour thing came to pass would be a skeleton crew to mainly maintain the stock and troubleshoot errors with machinery.
        We have the technology that would allow McDonald’s to get rid of the cashiers and cooks now. You’d just need someone refilling the food/drink/condiment dispensers and to bag the food up for the customer.
        I used to work at an automotive manufacturing plant and the tech they use there far surpasses what a fast food joint would need to lay off 75% of their staff.

        1. Good point with the auto plant. I was thinking more short term. I could see walking into any given fast food joint within the next ten years and having be almost completely automated.
          Man, we’ll be going straight up Skynet with this stuff.

  4. I visited The City (London) recently and went shopping in Tesco. It was mostly white, bobo/yuppies with earbuds in taking things of the shelves, and the checkout was a long line of self checkout machines and two African immigrant security guards standing watch. It was so depressing. (I know you can’t draw too many conclusions from a market in The City.)
    It’s very common to see in supermarkets in smaller Chinese cities rows of women standing at the ends of the aisles waiting for you to ask them something. Or to have two cashiers: one to give you a receipt, one to bring the receipt to and pay. These are millions and millions of worthless jobs that will be lost soon.
    The US is in between these two examples, but the trend seems to be going towards The City. Immigrants overseeing the lowest jobs and low skilled natives descending into welfare dependency, drug abuse, depression etc…
    The scary part is that these kinds of changes in the 19th century spurred the spread of communism and socialism, which fucked the world for a century. It’s no coincidence they’re seeing a resurgence, but people are too ignorant to see that most of our economic problems come from the “solutions” of socialism.

  5. What the kiosks are doing is giving the employers the ability to say If we’re going to have to pay $15 an hour we’d rather pay it to people who have skills reflective of that pay. A tech that has learned to troubleshoot and maintain the kiosks is worth the money. Some retard that screws up your order every time–not so much. The whole thing means nothing to me because I don’t eat fast food.

    1. They have freaking pictures on the register and they still manage to screw it up!
      My wife worked for a local McD’s franchise a while back (as her second job to save for college) and was quickly put in charge of training new hires. The average turnover is like 3 months for an employee so she was doing trainings every week. They had a few basic rules clearly stated with every hire for training. The level of worker is so bad that she would have to turn away handful of people each time because they either didn’t bring any ID or showed up in sweat pants. Sweat pants. To your new job. Jesus.

      1. All true. For the short time I worked in fast food, all the teenagers there were complete imbeciles who wanted to take smoke breaks every 10 minutes. The night shift manager, who was just a few years older than me, was a trailer trash moron that would send half of the already lazy staff home right before the after work rush, just to boost his own numbers. The senior managers loved me because I was one of the few teenagers that worked from the beginning to the end of my shift without making a peep and had a functional brain. If I stayed there, I could have been made a manager in under 6 months easy.

      2. Last summer I ate at a well-known fast food outlet and sat in a booth next to the manager, who was conducting interviews for shift positions. In between I asked her (and it is worth noting that she was hardly out of her teens herself and probably hadn’t been in that job for more than a year) how many of these she does everyday. She said she has unbelievable turnover, and has to replace an employee just about every day. So if they can quite that easily, I don’t feel sorry for the minimum wage drones who can’t hack it.

    2. It means something because you live in society and society as a whole is impacted by the problem. You could say the Industrial Revolution doesn’t matter either, because you’re a goat herder, but it’s still going to matter and impact your life because it’s a major change in society and economics, as will the coming Automation Revolution.

  6. this is the first news? don’t your mcdonalds already have them? Canada has had kiosks for close to a year, I estimate as I don’t go in to fast food joints much.

      1. Some places already have apps you can use to create and submit custom orders. It’s always faster than repeating “NO ONIONS” over and over to some kid who can’t seem to find the clearly-marked “no onions” button on the register.

        1. There once was a lad called Unabashed
          And one day he needed some cash
          So he thought up a plan
          And climbed in a van
          With a clown who had candy in hand
          The van it was smelly inside
          But the clown said, “Enjoy the ride.”
          He laughed and he wiggled and Unabashed giggled
          When the clown began rubbing his thigh
          “Sir, you’re a creep, to think me so cheap!
          Why I’d not do that for one dime!
          ‘Tis sugary sweets that I need
          Now insert my fee
          One striped candy cane at a time.”

        2. I hate that question they ask too.
          “I’d like an iced tea”
          “Sweetened or unsweetened?”
          “Look you low rent moron, iced tea in its natural form IS unsweetened, the only time you need to specify the kind is for SWEETENED tea since you’re actually putting something MORE than what it starts out as! So when I say I’d like an iced tea then you hand me unsweetened mother fucking iced tea!”

  7. since technology is replacing these worthless jobs, i believe that this will force new college students to major in STEM or go into the trades and not major in worthless degrees.

  8. I worked in fast food while in college. Thankfully, it was only for 6 months before a new manager made the job insufferable and I quit. You can fire the cashiers, but you still need to hire minimum wage workers to clean the tables, the bathrooms, and kitchen. Even when I worked a 4 hour shift, it was a hard 4 hours in the kitchen alone. Floors must be swept, stock must be replenished, something needs to be cleaned. I wonder how they will staff their drive through windows. I heard many restaurants hire remote order takers. They still collect money manually.

    1. We’re seeing more and more credit-card machines just outside the window. There will probably be one worker running all the orders to the windows or counter, one cleaning almost everything, and a few making food at any given time.

      1. Or the bigger chains might hire cleaning contractors to clean up the franchises in a certain area.

        1. Our construction company tends to use the same cleaning contractors to spic and span our projects before we turn them over and they do a hell if a job. Makes me want to buy a van and either join them or at least do a bit of freelancing on my own.

        2. Cost of entry is surprisingly low if you have an SUV or equivalent storage space. All you need for most jobs is a good mop, a bucket, several rags, a broom, maybe a stepladder, and chemicals.
          Once you’ve got some surplus, you can always invest in a decent buffer or two, and you’re set.

        3. And basic skills in cleaning and plenty of stamina. I watched my mom working cleaning private houses, and the energy spent is a lot. And then look for good employees. Not to sound anti patriotic here, but I would have to rely on immigrants. I don’t think I could put up with millennials no matter how much I want to help my fellow citizens.

        4. If it weren’t for current immigration issues, we’d have to turn to teenagers for all that. Once upon a time, teenagers went around mowing lawns and cleaning houses on the cheap.
          You paid them under the table, of course. That’s just how it was done.

        5. Of course, the IRS would be rubbing their hands like Birdman nowadays if they found out you are not giving Uncle Sam his cut. Plus, don’t you know? That’s child exploitation. Doesn’t anyone think of the children?! And yet, American society thinks it’s ok to let children work as actors and models and athletes. Basically, like little trophies to be gawked at. Go figure.

        6. Eh, I don’t make threats on the internet. Every so often, someone takes it too literally.
          After the Revolution comes, though, we’ll have to seriously reevaluate all our accepted notions of what is and isn’t right for a society. The Founding Fathers were on the right track, but perhaps some of the Renaissance ideals they employed were faulty.

        7. Suddenly I’m imagining a black market for jobs.
          “Psst. Hey, kid. Wanna make some money? My ‘associates’ and I run a small cleaning company, and we need someone to man the mops. You in?”

        8. Whoop! Whoop!
          “Well, well. What do we have here? You boys not planning on doing a little work under the table, are you?”
          “No sir, we were just – ”
          “Save it and open the trunk! ….Aha, just as I thought, Swiffer mops, brooms, and…Mother of God…is that….Pine Sol? You boys are going to the clink for a loonnnng time. You disgust me.”

        9. I think it was Lee Iacocca’s last book where he said that before government can start any new project or make any new law, it should have to go through and audit and repeal any that don’t work.

        10. If anyone was dumb enough to get me elected president, my platform on new bills is this:
          1. No bill may be longer than five pages, using size 12 TNR font
          2. For every new legislation passed, one old piece must be repealed
          3. Prior to my inevitable assassination, the tax code will be 25 pages long

        11. So many people decry the lazy American teenager/young adult and pedestalize the hard-working Mexican immigrant. Two problems with that:
          1. Teenagers are only lazy because we have made them lazy. Parents buy them anything they want, anytime they want it, and do not make them work. They don’t need to make any money, they are given anything they want. Teens and college kids act so damn entitled because they have been coddled all of their life. The other piece of this is all the government rules and regulations like the minimum wage. Yeah, you could hire a couple of teenagers to come work on your construction site, but you’d have to pay them minimum wage, deduct their taxes, FICA, etc., account for Obamacare, OSHA, etc. If you are struggling to get a small business up and running, you just hire a couple of Mexicans for half the money and none of the red tape.
          2. Mexican immigrants work harder than young Americans because they generally grew up in *real* poverty in Mexico, where they had to work or they didn’t eat. They come to America and they make twice as much or more as they did working in Mexico. So, most of them are all into working and work damn hard… for the first few years. Then they learn about the welfare system, how to game the system, etc., and they only start showing up at the Home Depot parking lot when they need some extra money for weed.

        12. “Homeland security in a joint operation with the IRS apprehended suspects linked to a tri-state cleaning operation. Charges are pending.”
          In Germany you will see police raid buidling sites to ensure all the workers hold valid work permits and are on the payroll. This country will lock you away longer for tax evasion than murder.

      2. You guy’s are missing the point; it’s not about how many people are going to be working at McD’s. It’s more about the overall impact on the economy, IE inflation…

        1. It’ll happen, for sure, but I don’t study economics enough to evaluate effectively. I’m an engineer, so I’m looking purely at the logistic changes.

    2. Any thing involving food is high up on the worst minimum wage job list. The only good thing for me was that I was employed fulltime and racked in a shit ton of overtime. I made anywhere from 800 to 1000 a paycheck, plus a 100 bonus depending on my hrs for the pay period. Mainly due being short staff. All went downhill after we were bought out by a new company.

  9. In Britain, apparently, now they have pawternity leave, where they let you take paid leave to take care of your pet, ahem, I mean, companion…..Geezus.
    While I do support raising the minimum wage, it has to be done gradually. Perhaps, a 50 cents one year, 25 cents the next. All the way up to 15 dollars for flipping burgers, an ability that any teenager should be familiar with, that’s insane.

  10. It doesn´t matter how skillful you are, there always somebody with your skills asking for a lower wage. You focus your attention on uneducated people, but the problem it´s starting in the top layers, as corporations are everyday importing third world programmers, maths experts and so on.

    1. Granted, it hits everywhere. This article is hitting at the low-hanging fruit – the kind of jobs most kids end up taking for granted are going to disappear.

    2. True; faced with nations, some several times as populous as our own, full of people with ancient living expectations and a slave mentality, Trump-style nationalism and populism is the only possible sane response.
      One small justice is that some of the petit bourgeois – who years ago scoffed “dey took er jerbs” at blue-collar whites who were being destroyed by elite-and-bourgeois-instituted Latin-American immigration and demographic terrorism against poor white ZIP codes – are now being sacked from their jobs and having their pay depressed due to outsourcing and H-1B coolies. But we are living a massive-scale degradation of the working and middle-class people of the Western nations.

  11. Let me unequivocally state that fast food is for losers! Everyone I see at a McDonald’s or a Taco Bell is either on welfare or damn close to it. It will be the supreme irony that these losers on welfare will be served by the machines that put them there.

    1. I’m hoping the machines signal the death of fast food. I still don’t understand why welfare doesn’t come with a hoe and a bag of seeds.

        1. Nice. Get to the farmer’s market and get some starts. Planted mine last weekend. Gambling a little that we don’t get one last frost, but I wanted my kitchen table back.

        2. Yeah, I have some tarps if the weather is calling for it. Plus, as I am renting a house and the existing garden is in the most stupid spot imaginable (against an eastern fence so it doesn’t get sunlight until 2 in the afternoon), I am doing a container garden so could technically move all my stuff minus the peas.
          Later in the summer I will be building a PVC blooming tent for my cannabis. I like projects.

        3. Baby carrots – easily the best munchie food. Plenty of sugars, and enough water that dry mouth isn’t an issue.
          Call ’em “Organic Free Range” carrots, and charge $5/lb. It’s terrifying how many broke potheads will pay for that shit.

        4. We legalized so I am taking advantage. I used to buy a lot, but went sober and completely quit drinking and now only occasionally buy pot. Just too expensive and am saving for a house. However, having started to grow and put in the work, I’m now realizing why it is expensive. You have to get a strain that will grow where you live and make sure to get feminized seeds. I got two different “cold” zone strains and the one that is a cross of a Ukrainian strain is the only one really growing strong. Then I’ll have to worry about blooming and cutting the light to 12/12. Then harvest, trimming, and curing. Then making butter/oil. A lot of steps I never really thought about. Again, luckily I like doing projects.

        5. Love carrots as a munchie! Most baby carrots, however, are a giant scam because they are just shitty regular carrots cut down to a uniform size.

        6. Haha. Not unless you want to build a curing barn you’re not. Maybe try magic mushrooms.

        7. Find yourself a good Amish woman on Rumspringa and start a farm. I used to live close to the Amish and it definitely had a smell. I also used to live downwind to a large mushroom growing area. A southern wind at night and we got all horseshit stink. I’ve picked some bad smelling places to live.

        8. Haha, at least get her to wear a gingham dress. My wife just got a book on raising goats and has lye coming in the mail so she can make us soap.

        9. Yeah, as long as I am still in the city, that is my trouble too. You have build the goats a shack and you have to have at least two. That takes some space. Right now I can only fit the 54 and 5 lbs dogs and some training pigeons.

        10. Those really smooth ones that don’t look anything like a ROOT (which is what a carrot is, of course)? Fake.

        11. The funny thing is, it totally worked. According to wikipedia, Americans used to eat on average 6 lbs of carrots a year. When they started shaving them down and marketing them, it went up to 11 lbs. Proving once again, Americans are goddamn fucking stupid.

        12. Ha, mine only barks when people come to the door. Have you tried a bark collar? I’m kind of at a loss on what to do. His OB is good and I got him trained at the place command (we use “bed”) enough that when somebody comes, he’ll go and lay down but he is still super on edge just waiting to be released. Even tried doing some exposure work to try to bore him out of it, but he still gets hyped.

        13. I’m the opposite. I have a 45 lb shlong and a 20 lb butt. Wait… Delete please.

        14. You have to farm what the welfare department says to farm. For you, it will be watermelon and chicken.

        15. Running a tobacco plantation is a headache. You’ll need to buy slaves to help you pick it, and that can get expensive.

        16. No, I was thinking of tobacco. But if you only want tobacco for you, then yeah, you don’t need any.

      1. Exactly, there is a homeless colony about a mile from where I live in the orchards. These bums everyday go downtown get their government handouts and panhandle in front of burger king and taco bell with their mangy dogs instead of working the fields they live next to. Sadly the farmers hire Mexicans from Mexico to come up and pick crops.

        1. It’s only “work Americans won’t do” because we have so many great alternatives (welfare) and so much regulation (minimum wage).
          Drop the state from the equation, and you’d see hordes of Americans willing to do those jobs.

        2. Right in fact it was the losers and deadbeats of society that were responsible for bringing in the harvest of bygone generations. In fact the term hobo was not even a derogatory term as it meant someone who was a travelling temporary worker.

        3. My great-great-grandparents couldn’t afford land when they first came here, so the men would travel hundreds of miles to bring in the crops and drive cattle to market every year.
          It’s just what you did to feed the family and set them up to do better than you.

        4. “… the farmers hire Mexicans from Mexico to come up and pick crops.”
          Yeah, that’s because the Mexicans that are already here have figured how to get on welfare, too. The hard working Mexican immigrant is mostly a myth.

  12. Minimum wage jobs are entry level type of work, not career worthy profession. The type of work done on minimum wage is ideal for high school/college students to earn some cash on the side. As these job disappear, these kids will lack the real world experience of hard work and how handle people. Those who advocate for increase minimum wage have no idea on how to run a business or non-kenyesian economics.

  13. But… I always dreamt of becoming a professional burger flipper.

    1. Amusingly, those do exist. You find the local hidden gem, where dedicated artizans of the ground beef have plied their trade for decades, seeking the perfect burger.
      And then you pay $15 for that burger.

  14. Uncle Sam already steals 25% of my paycheck. I can’t wait for him to start taking 30-40%.

    1. Between ole Sam and the State taxes, you already do lose 30-40%.
      And to think, the Revolution was started over a 3% stamp tax.

      1. Well let’s repeat history already. No idea what we will end up throwing in the harbor but I don’t think it is going to be tea.

        1. That is a good start to a list. We can return the whales back to their natural habitats.

      2. That right there shows how utterly pussified Americans have become. Half our money goes to the government to do god knows what with it. But hey, I love driving by the newly renovated Town Hall that ended up being $100 million over budget (whoops, sorry).

    2. That moment when you realize “Uncle” Sam is just some old guy with a windowless van, promising candy but ramming you up the ass.

  15. The point was never to raise anyone’s plight. There are enough studies to show that raising the minimum wage(s) hurts (or a least does not improve) things for low-skilled workers.[1] It also hurts small businesses which liberals always purport to care about but secretly detest.
    The reason that leftists want to raise the minimum wage are many but can be boiled down to:
    1) FAR-LEFT LIBERALS WANT MORE PEOPLE ON ASSISTANCE, AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.
    Think for a minute. The poor, dependent but FRANCHISED citizen is a very safe vote. Raising the minimum wage will lead to higher unemployment for unskilled workers, put them on the welfare rolls, and keep their bellies filled with food stamps and heads filled with “the system is rigged/racist/sexist/[insert]-phobic.” A worker making a living that improves his lot in life may look at his paycheck one day and think, “gee I’m taking care of business here…why do I have to pay so much in taxes?” Such questions are terrifying to left, especially from a working-class person. In addition, a worker that improves his station shows that there is evidence that capitalism works the best (not perfectly) and the system is likely not rigged to the extent the left posits.
    2) RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE HURTS SMALL BUSINESSES, WHICH LIBERALS HATE.
    Liberals pretend to care about small businesses but, for the reason mentioned above, can’t really support them. If someone (especially a member of a minority from modest means) builds a business it goes against the leftist narrative. Furthermore, a minority business owner building success on his own further disrupts the narrative AND that business owner is likely to personally advance that hard work, not government assistance, is the foundation of success. Also liberals have a natural contempt for business owners and ascribe rather dubious motives on them. As Michael Moore himself wrote:
    “You know in my town the small businesses that everyone wanted to protect? They were the people that supported all the right-wing groups. They were the Republicans in the town, they were in the Kiwanas, the Chamber of Commerce – people that kept the town all white. The small hardware salesman, the small clothing store salespersons, Jesse the Barber who signed his name three different times on three different petitions to recall me from the school board. F*ck all these small businesses – f*ck ’em all! Bring in the chains. The small businesspeople are the rednecks that run the town and suppress the people. F*ck ’em all. That’s how I feel.”
    This has been the motive all along, like the Trojan horse of the A.C.A. Luckily capitalism is too nimble and leftists too foolish.
    [1] http://econweb.ucsd.edu/~mwither/pdfs/Effects%20of%20Min%20Wage%20on%20Wages%20Employment%20and%20Earnings.pdf

  16. Minimum wage jobs will always be shit tier. Exactly why parents should push their kids to get one the minute they’re allowed to work. That’ll at least encourage them to strive for better. The majority people pushing for this are failures beyond their yrs.

  17. Great article, lots to discuss tonight with my boys, I mean sons.
    This line is curious, “I don’t think it’s a race or religion or orientation thing”. Christianity has no real animus against productivity and hence we have Silicon Valley, where Islam exists to deny outsiders the pathway, benefits, incentives to be productive. Any Muslim country with advancement has been created by someone else’s labor, Dubai for example. The rest are righteous dumps and tribal hell-holes. If one isn’t in the protected tribe, they’re out of luck.
    My 3-tour Iraqi conflict brother told me his impression of the Muslims’ opinion of everyone else: “If it ain’t Islam, it ain’t shit.”
    Have a great day.

  18. These technological advancements were inevitable really. Raising the minimum wage only serves to hasten the advancement in this case.
    The issue is the existence of the welfare state. Since that is not going away because large corporations lobby to keep it around, we have to simply wait for it all to go bankrupt.
    Fortunately, we have a Presidential candidate who has experience with filing for bankruptcy….

    1. Only inevitable to a degree. When price of labor approaches or exceeds cost of innovation, innovation is inevitable.
      If McDonalds could afford to pay cashiers $2, I doubt they’d consider the kiosk idea. After all, they still use registers with little buttons for all the menu options, and occasionally you still find CRT monitors for order screens..

      1. If the cost of the $2 an hour cashier involves handling mounds of customer complaints on top of that though, you’d see innovation real quick.

        1. You can always mix it with Kratom or feed them Kratos before turning them into the food source.

  19. This also shows the problem with the idea of bringing manufacturing back to the United States by changing the tariff structure and other incentives. The corporations could just set up the factories but not have to hire any of Trump’s supporters to work in them because they can staff them with robots instead.

  20. The elephant in the room that business leaders and their political cronies avoid talking about is that everytime there’s an innovation or law that does away with employees or cuts their wages, with the argument that it’ll save businesses money, PRICES GO UP FOR THE CONSUMERS ANYWAY! It’s just greedy people trying to drive out competition and pocketing yet more money.

    1. Voted up for the healthy dissent. Libertarian types tend to simply worship the merchant class and automatically take its side in order to feel like bigshots, even if that is not the case. In fact, businesses large and small will charge not what things cost, but what they can. In the meantime, trade associations and Chambers of Commerce lobby indefatigably for things like open borders, coolie visas, and rent-seeking.

      1. Actually I take the side of business most of the time because it’s the side that is the most logical. Feelings and “outrage” and all that shit of the Left really doesn’t equate with my reckoning of how reality actually works. Fuck the market, and the market fucks you right back.
        And businesses should charge what they can, because if you’re only making things at cost then you’re not fucking growing a profit, which means that you’re also not going to have your business grow. Sitting in a society with 300,000 fruit stands doesn’t sound like my vision of paradise.

        1. I certainly do not favor a command economy or feelings-based policy, but I challenge libertarians not always to paint people who own businesses worth seven figures or more as more as Christ-like figures whose every whim must be met lest we be punished by (business-class-implemented) outsourcing or illegal alien labor. If you “take the side of business most of the time,” you are taking the side of open borders, untaxed outsourcing, and limitless coolie visas – all things successfully implemented by elites working on both sides of the political aisle.
          Business owners are simply a self-interested class like the rest of us, which is all that my charge-what-they-can line was meant to indicate. They are not interested in what is best for all society. The natural conclusion of President Gary Johnson would absolutely be the degradation of the American working and middle classes and the continuing decline of its white population.

        2. 1. I often come out against corporations, since they are joined at the hip to government.
          2. Being laissez faire does not mean not being nationalist. Taiwan has a border policy and is far more laissez faire capitalist than we are.
          3. Untaxed anything works great for me.

      2. Thanks. Years ago I noticed that Macy’s and upscale places that sold shirts made in France and by big style houses went for say, $100. Then one year I noticed that they were all made in China. And the price was still the same. . .$100. That’s a hell of a lot of profit for Macy’s, or whoever the middle man is. The main problem about that is that it’s not the same quality, but it’s being passed off as if it is. Note the big housing issues in Florida and California with drywall from China. Consumers are used to goods being safe and of certain reputation. And as long as the seller is charging the same price or more, consumers assume that what they’re buying is safe. Well, tell that to the homeowners whose houses turned into HAZMAT sights with the over-the-top priced drywall contaminated with toxic chemicals and mold.
        Where Libertarians should be concerned is competition. Businesses that want to do honest work, hiring Americans and selling safe, valued products, get run out by assholes who undercut the market by hiring illegals and buying stuff made by slave labor. And their hypocrites if they don’t complain about it, because bringing in foreign workers and junk is turning this into a third world country.

    2. The long term aim is to lower cost and increase profit for the owners. Most of the fast food chains are publicly traded. You have a 401k or IRA? You probably have their stock in your portfolio.
      Cost of doing business in some places will go up no matter if you cut jobs or not. Price of energy, taxes, fees, etc…

  21. The government idiots don’t care if people lose jobs or not. Raising the minimum wage has SHIT to do with helping people at the bottom. The reason it’s actually done is that most major Unions negotiate their salaries with the base of the Minimum Wage as the “0” point. Raise the minimum wage and their salaries/paychecks go up over at Ford.

    1. exactamundo.
      One funny consequence of this will be the price of Kona coffee. I love how the Kona coffee comes out for some outrageously high price and everyone goes nuts because it is sold as if Kona coffee is really great and that is the reason for the increased cost. However, the real reason is that Hawaii is subject to the Dept. of Labor so they can’t drive workers to death and pay them nothing the way Indonesians do which raises the cost of the coffee.
      Made in America is defined as “politically manipulated minimum wage used as a baseline for union negotiations for hourly work and overtime pay given to people who are immune from censure or dismissal by a castrated ownership using the least amount of effort as possible”

      1. I agree..and as an aside, I live in Kona. The mediocre coffee is pushing $40 per pound. Lunacy!

    2. The government idiots don’t care if people lose jobs or not. Raising the minimum wage has SHIT to do with helping people at the bottom.

      True, but as this does increase the number of people on welfare, and of course, the number of Democrat voters, I’d say job loss is the actual goal of this policy.

      1. Both effects reward Democrats. That’s why they push it so hard and so often. There are some idiots in their leadership sure, but I cannot believe that most of them don’t understand how all this does is raise prices across the board, which in turn makes salaries go up in time, to the point that the “new” minimum was is now “not a living wage” ten years later. Bunch of fucking bullshit artists conning a stupid populace.

        1. but I cannot believe that most of them don’t understand how all this does is raise prices across the board

          I would argue that the “top brass” in the Democrat party knows full well that prices will have to go up in order to pay a higher minimum wage, but don’t forget that those people are rich enough to be socialists.

        2. The left wing is not really so far on the left when it comes to their daily business. They’re all very strict capitalists, the difference is in the social policies they use to attract voters. Of course the $15/hr is attractive to someone making $8. It’s not hard to buy people off.
          The plans I read about were for gradual increases to $15/hr, which by that time will still be behind the curve of inflation. It’s really just a carrot on a stick.

    3. Yep, and every interstate highway project cost, building construction cost, teachers and nurses salaries, ad infinitum.

      1. It’s one big motherfucking happy party for Democrats across the spectrum. And, as usual, at our expense.

        1. I seriously don’t understand professional unions. I grew up in a coal mining area, know the history of Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the other union-busting barons, and have blue collar friends who work in dangerous professions so I can see the benefit for them. But why the fuck is working in a hospital or K-12 school based on anything other than merit??

        2. Most unions are outdated scams based off the mob. I work in the oilfield next to some and some do great but most are worthless and can’t get contracts because instead of protecting workers from unsafe work like they used to they protect them from actually having to work at all. I know some unions that don’t get shit done and can’t be fired either. California has laws that require oil refineries to give them so much work regardless of quality or bid price because somebody somewhere is getting bribed. I also work with ex Union hands who couldn’t stay busy but the union wouldn’t let them work elsewhere and still demanded their dues be paid even tho they new they were broke and unemployed. Why a grocery store worker or a city bus driver needs a union is beyond me.

        3. That’s likely the real impact, things will be made even worse.
          But then, that’s what the socialists within that party are truly aiming for, the dissolution and replacement of the USA to Under Social Authoritarianism.

        4. Organized theft. The unions give kick backs and big campaign denotations to democrats and also try to ensure voting block turn out.
          Ask any UAW or teamster.

        5. That and they ask for too much, some of the retirement perks they demand is what’s bankrupting companies and cities. I was staying in Vallejo California when it went bankrupt and the locals told me the police and city unions had a contract that whatever you made your last year you got 90% of that for retirement and so you had 55 year old guys getting as much overtime as possible then getting 90% from there on out. No city can handle that and if anyone on here has been to Vallejo they know it’s pretty fucking ghetto with no real industry. The city actually went to the unions and asked to restructure the contracts and the unions told them to get fucked so they filed bankruptcy which voided all contracts. They had to fire the entire police force and ask Sonoma county sheriffs department to babysit till they hired a new police force and of course crime went up.

        6. Public unions should be illegal, but that was another democrat ploy from the 60’s.
          I know of a situation years ago where the union got the workers fired up threatening strike. Owners were direct, it will be the last strike you will ever have. They had the strike, still got only the initial offer and the plant closed it’s doors and moved to Mexico within 3 years. It was the biggest employer in the county and had been there for 40 years. The town is now a dump and many had to move to seek employment elsewhere.
          The plant is still there empty, but at least the American Labor Union has another brick-and-mortar monument in the rust belt.

        7. It’s crazy how they’ll put themselves out of work over little things while paying dues to some crooked union boss. Had they just taken those dues and saved or invested they wouldn’t actually need the union, and be good at what you do/have an actual skill/trade. Good work is getting harder to come by so the idea of paying someone for a job is crazy when you’re willing to work hard.

        8. Agreed. I knew some of the employees– they viewed everything in the short term and really didn’t see beyond the next paycheck. They didn’t know it at the time, but when it came time to vote to strike, they voted themselves out of a job. The union reps realized too late what was at stake and did urge the workers to vote for the agreement at the last minute, but weeks of “we’re going to stick it to the man” rhetoric carried the day.

        9. I know vallejo very well, id pass it going to tahoe off highway 37. All it had going for itself was marine world/six flags

        10. Even teaching in a public school is wrought with internal politics and battles over working conditions. About 10 years ago, I had a contract for a music project at an elementary school. I always thought the teachers had it easy with 8-4 days and summers off, but I saw something different. They are loaded with an unreasonable curriculum which limits their ability to teach from their own skills. They now must check their own judgement at the door and teach by the book in a 1-2-3 order. Comments are canned, prewritten statements. If a student fails a subject, the teacher is on the hook with much paperwork explaining. As you can guess, a lot of students pass just so the teacher can avoid inordinate amounts of paperwork. The gifted kids are held back from their full potential because the curriculum is one-size-fits-all. The teachers at this school were Union, but in this case, they had been failed by the Union.

        11. Yes. Teaching has become a harder job due to all of the pointless bureacracy and ‘busy work’ that has nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with ‘accountability’ and upholding a false sense of ‘professionalism’.

        12. We have this same problem in aviation. I can’t depart until the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the airplane.

        13. That drive on a Friday afternoon was a nightmare. I was staying in Vacaville while working in Benicia one job and it would take me 2 hours to get home on a Friday so I just went out to eat and grabbed beers till 9 then made that short drive without the traffic

        14. How about govt public sector unions?? What the fuck is that about?? What work hazards do they have ?? Paper cuts? Ass sores from sitting all day??

        15. Johnstown PA used to be one of the premier steel towns in the US. People did well there. Today there are less people in Johnstown proper than what Bethlehem Steel used to employ in its heyday. I was told by an old-timer that a person used to have to step over sleeping drunks to get from point A to point B in the factory…union drunks. Go take a tour of Johnstown today…it is a lovely city reminiscent of Milwaukee and Detroit.

        16. I believe it, I worked outside of Pittsburgh years ago in a small town called Donora I believe. Same thing, it was on the river and was built for supplying the steel industry down river and now it’s a shanty town that looks half abandoned like a scene out of the walking dead. Beautiful country too just run down now.

        17. That’s what I’m saying it’s extortion basically and a lot of states have laws protecting unions and so you can’t get around working with them even when they aren’t compatible with the line of work they are in and demand too much.

        18. Im from marin the land of hot tubs and jihadi john walker, a liberal hell hole. Id take 37 over to party up in davis on the fridays/sats. I would wait till late aftr 9,10 and head up there, otherwise that highway 37 would get crowded and since its a one lane highway youd be stuck behind people for a few miles. Also by then the highway would be empty all around.

        19. Yea that highway is a nightmare at the wrong time and they had those concrete barriers up so you couldn’t turn around either. I used to go up around Santa Rosa I believe to the Russian river brewery and down the road to lagunitas brewery but sometimes heading back to Vallejo I’d hit that traffic and hate my life for about an hour or two. That entire east Bay Area can be a nightmare to get around if you don’t know the times it gets congested.

    4. Right…when you raise the minimum wage it then raises union wages automatically based on some formula right?

  22. Fast food has turned into a commodity any way, and commodity products over the long run tend to become cheaper and not very profitable when enough producers get into the market to compete with each other. The Prescott area has McDonald’s, In-N-Out, Sonic, Wendy’s, Burger King, Jack in the Box and Carl’s Junior, and they all offer similar products. I don’t see how this kind of market can sustain the high wages that leftist utopians want.

    1. When I was a kid looking for a summer job, I’d gladly have taken $5/hr over the $0 I was making.
      Eventually, everyone will be breaking the law. It’s all but inevitable.

        1. I heard that it’s virtually impossible to not commit at least one felony a week. Given the sheer number of laws on the books, I don’t doubt it.
          Lao Tzu said something to this effect: “The Law should be small and in line with the people. When laws become numerous, everyone becomes a criminal.”

  23. This article is such a clear explanation of a truth so obvious that it baffles the mind how it isn’t immediately understood a priori.
    Well done LS. Shame an article like this had to be written, but seeing as it did you did a great job.

    1. This comment is such a precise observation on a clear explanation of a truth so evident that it confuses your mind how it wasn’t acepted as the truth from starter, that I find it astonishing that it doesn’t get more approbation from the populace.
      Sorry, I can’t help it.

        1. Don’t force yourself to do it if you don’t feel like it. It drained me out. I’m going to sleep now.

        2. I’m a big pussy whent it comes to sleep. One hour missing and my brain goes all foggy.

        3. Damn, so have I ! Are we connected to each other? I think I did too much cardio and my immune system went weak in the process.

        4. My state is notorious for killing people’s sinuses.
          And also black people.

        5. It was there. I couldn’t resist.

        6. Where I live we surely denounced the Jews to the Germans, but we never showed them the good spots for picking mushrooms .

        7. There are some lines you just don’t cross.

        8. The gentleman’s attempt is understood and acknowledged, and further, said gentleman should feel no remorse or slight for the unsuccessful termination of said comment, as the attempt is well noted and the initiative expelled in the intention is properly noted and applauded. The gentleman is kindly reminded to double his dosage of kratom and try again tomorrow.

        9. Krieger as the singer was *perfect* lol.

      1. here we go again.
        This recognition that the comment was such a precise observation on a clear explanation of truth so evident, that I confuse my mind how it wasn’t accepted as the truth from the start, to your astonishment that it didn’t get more approbation from the populace is an incredibly decent gesture for which you ought to be lauded both as a gentleman, but also as the type of person who can recognize and help foster the spark of greatness in others.

  24. Good analysis, but the left will never admit it is wrong. When the $15 an hour minimum wage crashes and burns, they’ll for it to be raised to $30 an hour.

  25. “Rather, the problem with people in the US, and probably other countries as well, is that they are simply lazy.”
    while true….the real problem is our parents completely and totally failed us. yes nearly every last “Elder” failed us. no your mom and dad arent hard working people….statistically they failed us. completely and totally. they let public school take over and rot our brains. they ruined our sexuality via circumcision which has killed quite a few infants. they let TV invade the home. they let mcdonalds replace home cooked meals. they let women out of the home. they accepted politicians as liars. they embraced wel fare. they failed to teach us hard work. they let our churches become full of mangina preachers. before I was born they played fiddle while rome burned. before my 5 year old nephew was born, he never knew it, but there was once a blue sky and now he has only known a darkened sky. to him the clear blue sky is a thing of fiction.
    they in all things….churned out lazy apathetic assholes like me. the greatest generation they say? I say the greatest sell outs.
    this generation of people….is merely behaving EXACTLY LIKE THEY WERE RAISED TO BEHAVE.
    but guess fucking what? the 20-40 year olds? we are stuck holding the bill. the ones younger than us? may God have mercy on our souls for the shitstorm theyve been handed.
    whats worse? these old fucks think they are innocent. they think they did us good. they think they didnt screw up YET THEY DID….every single last one of them cannot comprehend the fuckery and ass raping they handed to their children and their grand children….they cannot fathom it.
    they fucked us….this article brings up a ton of good points…but we need some serious looks at the older generation, not praising them, but damning them for selling us down the river.
    I am a lazy apathetic asshole but because I was raised to be that way. I was raised on gold fish crackers, mcdonalds, mind numbing school and video games. I even went to church yet all these structures and more failed.
    Mom….Dads….Grandparents of the world….hear me now….you failed us.(yes i know they arent reading this but still, it sounded good.)

    1. I in no way disagree with this. However, two quotes indicative of the problem:
      “….the real problem is our parents completely and totally failed us”
      and
      “Mom….Dads….Grandparents of the world….hear me now….you failed us.”
      So before I comment I would like to point out once more, yes, yes you are right. Now for my comment.
      Grow the fuck up.
      Your parents and grandparents failed you? Go fuck yourself.
      The biggest failure of those generations is that they let other generations think that blaming a problem on someone else — EVEN WHEN IT IS SOMEONE ELSES FAULT — is a valid excuse.
      It is not.
      If you want someone to do you the favor of not failing you the way your mom, dad and grandparents failed you….the way mine failed me….well then I will do you that favor.
      Stop being a bitch. Decide what kind of man you want to be. Take the blame for your faults (even if the fault lies elsewhere just take the blame) admit you have a lot of work to do and then become that man you want to be.
      There, now you can’t say no one told you.

        1. The problem with this, is it could have wrecked your life. If I had married during my weak and submissive years, my whole life would be fucked. Sure, I could divorce, but in America you’re on the hook for years of alimony and possibly child support. Luckily it appears you married AFTER waking up, but millions fall into the trap of feminism, and are permanently scarred.

        2. That would actually make an excellent article. I don’t know if I could have turned things around in any of my relationships if I had woken up to the red pill in the middle. How did you do it? Sounds quite difficult to erase all the negative / beta opinions the girl had of you.

        3. Oh it’s still a bit of a struggle to this day. I’ve more or less established the frame of “If you threaten me with divorce, I’ll be out the door banging blonde bimbos by the end of the night” so she knows better than to try that shit on me. Right now, I’m learning more about incorporating dread game into a marriage. Mainly going with the passive approaches; getting in great shape, dressing well, and just going out to the bar (gets her hamster running). I’ve still got a lot to learn and to master, but I’ve noticed a STARK difference from when we first started out.
          It used to be terrible fights every day where the blame of all our woes was laid squarely at my feet. I used to dread her calling me because I knew it was going to end up in another fight where she’d berate me, insult me, and threaten to leave with the kids. I’d bend over backwards to try to appease her but things only got worse. It’s when I finally put my foot down and told her to shut up or ship out that the healing process began. Perhaps I might eventually write an article on my experience, but I feel I am still too much a novice to do it justice.

        4. Dude, please try. Go for @1500 words, and mail it to Winston. He doesn’t bite too hard on rejecting stuff. I think I’ve had two articles rejected for merit, one because someone else was writing on it, and nobody liked my short story, but the rest of the stuff gets published, and I’m just a hack. Give it a shot.

        5. I’ve worked with Winston before and published one other article with ROK. Great guy to work with, no doubt. I’m just still letting certain principles gel in my mind while learning how to apply others. Perhaps one day in the future I’ll hash it all out, but right now, I’m still establishing my role as husband, father, and leader of my family. A slow and arduous process but not without its rewards.

        6. I didn’t find the red pill until after my divorce. I don’t think I could have ever turned it around. I completely relate — hated getting phone calls, hated going home to “another fight where she’d berate me, insult me and threaten to leave with the kids.” Exact same thing, all the blame for everything squarely on me. I remember vividly her getting mad at me about the weather once, like I had somehow made it rain just to piss her off. I don’t think I could have done it, I was too beaten down and cowed, at least after the first couple of years. Divorce was the second best thing that ever happened to me, and the red pill was the first. Dealing with her is so much f’ing easy now, it’s amazing. She’s still a bitch, everything is still my fault, but I really and truly Give Zero Fucks and it infuriates her all the more. As soon as she starts trying to berate me or insult me, I just hang up, or put her texts on ignore. Then I wait at least a day before communicating with her again, and never even mention what she was mad about, like it never happened. I realize that is still passive, but I’m getting more active and calling her out on her shit when it involves the kids. So, I’m still working on it while divorced, I can’t imagine doing it while still married. Kudos to you, man, and good luck.

        7. Wow, chilling stuff. Anyway, good job at making it work. I was such a sappy blue pill guy with the girls I dated seriously, and they really weren’t the *right* girls for me, I was just doing whatever I could to try to make it work (one in particular complained that kissing her as soon as we got in her apartment was “too much for her to handle” because she didn’t like physical affection that much. Ha ha. (I wanted to marry that one for some reason!)
          So not only would it be an uphill battle trying to change the background that I had already laid out with my past behaviours, but I think they were fundamentally bad women for me. However, on the other hand, I will say, and perhaps your experience bears this out, that to a large degree it doesn’t matter who you pick as a partner, if you are a strong, confident man who keeps his frame. (Obviously you can’t go around marrying feminists or sluts and have things work out well, but I’m thinking more of how like in all the WW1 films, a guy dances with a girl, walks her home, on the 3rd date asks her to marry him, he comes back from the war and they have a happy family. A lot of that was just different times where society pressured women to behave right but the point is picking the perfect girl is secondary).

        1. I had a feeling you would like this one while I was typing it.

        2. It’s like you bored a channel right into my lizard brain and let loose with torpedoes of truth.

        3. once again with our uncanny likemindedness despite an enormous gulf of difference.
          IT really is true, what OP says, those generations fucked up. But obsessing over that wont help. They will be dead soon enough. Sometimes in life it is important to say “fuck the blame game” and figure out where you are, where you want to be and what the path to get from a to b is.
          Or, ya know, spend the next 30 years blaming the shit out of a group of people that are going to be dead soon. You get the moral victory in the end….oh, and you are still a fucking loser.

        4. I don’t want to say that the OP will do this because I don’t know him, but one of my favorite things about this generation is
          Millennial: We are ill equipped to deal with the world and we can’t handle rejection because our parents coddled us. It is their fault
          Person: Grow the fuck up
          Millennial: How dare you talk to me like that. I hate you!

        5. So many of their problems could be easily solved with Punch In The Face therapy.

        6. SLAP THE HELL UP MAN is here to save the day!
          Millennial: It’s too hard.
          Slap the hell up man: *SLAP*
          Millennial: OMG WTF…
          Slap the hell up man: *SLAP*

        7. I feel a mild tingle of catharsis just reading that.

        8. I made him up my freshman year of college, when the art students were complaining about how hard College Algebra was and I was cramming for Diff EQ and Physics.

        9. “shut the fuck up therapy by Dr. Denis Leary. Dr. I am not feeling so
          SHUT THE FUCK UP
          But Dr. I am kind of
          SHUT THE FUCK UP
          Well, he just told me to shut the fuck up. No one had ever said that to me before. I felt so much better.
          I think that he also mentioned something about childrens therapy being mowing the lawn and crying at the same time.
          “Well, the leary boy is in therapy again. Boy does their lawn look great!”

        10. I can’t even do effective XKCD fanart.
          Commission kukuruyo – the SJWs are coming after her in force after Rabid Puppies got her on the Hugo award list.

        11. Yeah, it reminds me of the whole bullshit global warming “debate”. The debate isn’t over whether the earth is warming, or what technologies should be used to combat this and what their drawbacks are, no. The debate is whether it is “man made” or not. Setting aside the fact that man cannot remove himself from the equation and properly guage to what degree he has an effect on earth, who gives a fuck! If it’s a problem, fix it. If not, move along.

        12. DoJ wants to put dissenters in jail. I guess pointing out how the computer models don’t reflect real historical trends (e.g. the 1930’s were warmer on average than any period since) isn’t PC.
          What else is new?

        13. When they start doing that, the global warming cult needs to be strung up from telephone polls.

        14. I see that you are a graduate of the Denis Leary school of helping people with problems, which I highly advocate in favor of with situations like this.
          My favorite is Leary’s skit done for “No Cure for Cancer” special, where he muses that most people who have ‘issues’ should/need to be told to ‘STFU’ and it would fix their problems. (or at least we wouldn’t need to listen to the whining anymore)
          Damit, after I posted I saw the next poster had already done so!

      1. You seem to not understand the difference between Institutional problems and personal problems. Something tells be you are a baby boomer…..

        1. I am not a boomer no.
          Further, I fully understand the difference between institutional problems and personal problems.
          However, here is where it gets interesting, the institutional problems are something that, in as much as it effects you, you can take personal responsibility for even though it is not your fault.
          Instead of crying about who is to blame you can try to understand the landscape and figure out how to manipulate it. Once you wipe your tears and find your sack you will find that the world is a very ripe plum for anyone who isn’t interested in being a sniveling baby.

        2. “However, here is where it gets interesting, the institutional problems are something that, in as much as it effects you, you can take personal responsibility for even though it is not your fault.
          Instead of crying about who is to blame you can try to understand the landscape and figure out how to manipulate it. Once you wipe your tears and find your sack you will find that the world is a very ripe plum for anyone who isn’t interested in being a sniveling baby.” Here is your problem. These are things that go beyond myself. These are demographic, economic, and social problems that are rampant within our society and I have no ability to fix them. As a result, these problems come back and negatively affect me.

        3. You are crying, keep complaining it’s not fair. That will work.
          Here is a nickel’s worth of free advice. No matter how the deck is stacked there is always a way to win.
          You don’t need to fix the problems. That is your problem. The desire to “fix” things comes from you. It assumes that it was right before and it is wrong now and it can be fixed.
          Stop trying to fix things. Be honest about what the word is. You can not change it into a better place. What you can do is turn it around, bend it over and fuck it in the ass.
          To do that you need to be creative. You don’t look at a task and say “well this task would be easier if instead of ABC it was xyz” sorry, it is ABC. The question should be, instead of “how do I make this into xyz,” changed to “how do I make ABC work for me.”

        4. He’s a perpetual victim. I got done even bothering with explanations to him a few months ago. Now I just do a hit and run post to counter him and move on.

        5. It’s a shame because he doesn’t seem like an idiot. If only he found some discipline and some balls I am sure he would find his way.

        6. “You don’t need to fix the problems. That is your problem. The desire to “fix” things comes from you. It assumes that it was right before and it is wrong now and it can be fixed.” I do not care about these problems for myself, I care about them for society. Unlike you, I have a moral compass.
          “It assumes that it was right before and it is wrong now and it can be fixed.” No, I never assumed that. Society always has problems, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth fixing. Look how far society has come at ending hunger. Look how far life expectancy has been increased. Why would you say nothing is fixable?
          “To do that you need to be creative.” Oh see, you can be screwed by society.
          “The question should be, instead of ‘how do I make this into xyz,’” And that is though social revolution…

        7. I’m a little hungry now. I’ll go have a bite to eat. No wonder other generations failed you. You are far too much a loser to be successful. Enjoy that barista job and the rally for higher wages faggot

        8. “You are far too much a loser to be successful.” You don’t know me. You don’t know how much I make, or anything about my personal life or how old I am.
          “Enjoy that barista job and the rally for higher wages faggot” Why do you think younger generations are like this? Did some sort of biologically impossible phenomena happen that caused them to be inferior to older generations? Please, explain…

        9. “Because you are faggots” Who? As in millennials are faggots? 1) I am not necessarily a millennial. 2) I am not a homosexual. 3) I said what is the cause, as in, why are millennials all faggots?

        10. Okay, all you are doing is prove your mental inferiority with your ad hominems.

  26. It’s a great thing for society that we’re replacing these shit jobs.

  27. Might I suggest lowering minimum wage jobs pay to $5.15 an hour for let’s say 5 years
    that way prices will drop on goods and rent.
    If not expect more unemployment with $15 an hour.

    1. That is a fine idea in an ideal society but it would just wind up being taken advantage of. IN the end, a job is worth what a job is worth no matter what you pay for it, high or low.

    2. Most public policy people are stupid. They pretend that even the 90’s are a model for today’s economy. Heck, even from 2010 to 2016 is completely different. I had one of the original iPhones and now I have an iPhone 6. The difference is amazing.
      Laws take a long time to update to the actual economic market. But we need to realize that difference.

  28. Most people don’t understand that labor law is mostly from the 20’s and 30’s and reflects the economic market of those times. Other then a few minor overhauls in the 60’s and 90’s it has stayed pretty much the same and has never really been adjusted to reflect our current modern economic conditions. It completely ignores automation, education of the workforce, welfare state status, connectivity of society, etc.
    The whole point of the minimum wage was to set just that a minimum wage. If you were a blue collar worker you could expect to make a certain amount of money, no matter what position you were doing on the assembly line, no matter what company which employed you. This was a realistic public policy goal when employers needed men to perform essential tasks to create their products but is totally inapplicable today. At my local Wal-Mart one employee monitors eight self checkout stations (I also noticed his name badge had the title manager in it suggesting he was more professional staff instead of hourly staff). Automation has replaced what would have essentially been seven jobs. What do regressives (don’t call them progressives that is playing into their narrative) think is going to happen when they demand higher labor costs? Answer – automation. But, that just plays into their agenda to up the welfare state and push us further toward a single payer healthcare system.

    1. well said.
      People are so fucking stupid sometimes the way they approach a problem with a situation that worked in the past (i.e., dept of labor making sure there is a system set up which reflects the realities of the 20’s and 30’s).
      That would be the same as asking your dad what you should wear on a date and him saying “well son, I was the coolest kid in in school in 1973. Here is a outfit I would have worn then. Since it was the freshest outfit in ’73 I am positive it will be the freshest outfit now!”

      1. This debate only goes to show that the Luddite Fallacy will live forever.

    2. While you’re pretty accurate in your assertion, I would argue that the regressive’s agenda is terribly shortsighted. So they increase the welfare state to unprecedented levels…then what? We will collapse and go back to a capitalistic meritocracy. They’re looking at the short and mid-term game and not thinking about how they can sustain this indefinitely.

      1. Regressives are concerned about maintaining power. They have no long game. What increasing the welfare state will mean is that they will get votes for the next 10-15 years when unemployment goes up because burger flipping jobs disappear. It also helps their immigration agenda as you get more that want to come to America to get a free check.
        All that people want is to have a comfortable life, put food on the table, and be able to retire when they are too old to work. That might be achieved by taxing the productive class and passing those benefits on through wealth redistribution or through the free market where a man sets up his own business and makes money. The pioneer culture of America tends to prefer the later (non-government approach) where the Old World culture tends to the former (European cradle to grave approach). In the end though people just want the same food, shelter, comfortable living. How it ends up in their laps doesn’t matter to 98% of the population.

    3. Not only automation, but outsource entirely. Call centers have been exported to countries like Philippines and India. The workers there learn English to take your billing and customer service inquiries. They work odd hours there so they talk to you live when you’re awake.

    4. “At my local Wal-Mart one employee monitors eight self checkout stations (I also noticed his name badge had the title manager in it suggesting he was more professional staff instead of hourly staff). Automation has replaced what would have essentially been seven jobs.” Well shit, he better be making 58$ an hour, because he technically doing the work of 8 workers.
      “think is going to happen when they demand higher labor costs? Answer – automation.” Automation always has happened and will continue to happen. It’s called innovation, people need to stop complaining about it. We have had innovation for THOUSANDS of years, and yet we still have unemployment below 10%. Why? Because increased automation means we can have people work less hours and still get more pay. In the end, it does not cause unemployment.
      “But, that just plays into their agenda to up the welfare state and push us further toward a single payer healthcare system.” WHAT THE FÜCK? What does single payer health care have to do with this? How is this any way relevant to the conversation on automation? Anyways, why would a single payer system be bad?

      1. You are obviously a beta male. You can’t see the connection between common threads and want to rely on the government to provide for you. When is the last time you got laid? Also, are you trying compensate for your micro-penis?

        1. “You are obviously a beta male.” Soo what is have to do with any of my statements. You realize your ad hominems only make you look mentally inferior…
          “You can’t see the connection between common threads” Common thread? Please elaborate what you mean why this sir…
          “rely on the government to provide for you.” Oh, you are talking about the single payer system… Single Payer system’s don’t mean you can’t get private health care, it just means there is a free (whether it is inferior is ambiguous) option for you too use. This DOES NOT mean you can’t use private health care. In fact, in the UK, there is less spending (per capita) on health care than the US spends on Medicare and Medicaid alone. If people there wanted private health care, they could easily get it. But guess what, the majority of people choose NHS health care. Does that mean you can’t choose private health care? No, it doesn’t.
          “When is the last time you got laid?” None of your business and is irrelevant to the conversation. I don’t know what religion you are, but there are plenty of religions were people can pursue celibacy, does that make their opinion’s useless? Nicola Tesla, the man who’s inventions lead up to the internet you are currency using, was celibate, does that someone negate his genius or huge contributions to society?
          “Also, are you trying compensate for your micro-penis?” No. Why do you ask?

        2. So basically you are just a loser that can’t get laid and have a micro-penis. Good to know.

        3. “So you do have a micro penis” I do not have a penis less than 7 cm in length.
          “and can’t get laid.” Your basis for be being unable to get laid is???
          “No wonder you are so mad.” Actually I am in fact not mad. You wouldn’t be able to be able to know if I was angry even if I was, namely because we can’t see each other and don’t have tone, because well, we aren’t even speaking…
          Again, why do you dislike Universal Healthcare systems? Do you believe the words that come out of your mouth? If you do, you ought to have a reason to believe them.

  29. The problem is even if skills are upgraded there are not enough higher
    tier jobs for everyone to move up. The Retail & Service industry is
    full of people who have been let go from high paying jobs that have been
    outsourced.

    1. That happened to me, took me almost a decade to get back into something better.

      1. I’ve got a part time gig right now to suppliment my online income. The store is a glorified kiosk measuring 10′ x 14′ doing 1.2 million in sales a year with a total payroll of $800.00 a week. Nobody gets full time hours or any benefits, everyone who works there has had their former long term high paying job outsourced and now works multiple low pay jobs to keep the lights on.

    2. Well, that is why it is necessary to increase pay and decrease wages as productivity goes up…

  30. In Virginia, along the highway leading through the Shanendoah valley, I ran across a chain of gas stations that were serving food/etc. There was still a cashier for general store checkout, drinks, etc., but ordering of food – burgers, shakes, hot dogs, fries, etc. – was all done at several kiosks. You punched in what you wanted, options, toppings, and someone in the back brought it out to the counter, and you went to pay for your stuff.

  31. Saw the headline and the Fast Food ATM and I had to come down here and say that I for one look forward to our automated overlords, and am looking forward to ordering my BIG ASS FRIES, because Carl’s Jr says Fuck You!

  32. I’m still hoping to get together with other shitlords for the software project of all projects: fully automating and removing humans from Human Resources departments.
    After all, without people running HR, it’s the only way to be sure there is no “bias”. We don’t want bias, riiiiight?
    And the software should be open source, so nobody can suspect bias, and a peppering of programmers in the wild who might get hired to jimmy SJW into the software creates chances for exploit later on, such as, finding out corp XYZ hired someone to install SJW bias into their HR system, and the huge shitstorm that would come from it (only a matter of time).
    And I have no problem with putting SJW HR types out of work. Forever.

    1. actually it is already done. I see the ad for it every day. It is a totally automated bit of software that handles everything useful that an HR department does. Anyone with half a brain can put the data in. I will remember tomorrow to get the name when I pass the ad.

        1. honestly don’t remember. I walk past the damn ad every morning when I leave the gym on the phone booth and I never remember it.

    2. Isn’t the reason HR departments exist (ostensibly), just to administer employee benefits like health insurance, pensions, stuff like that, which, in a corporation of a certain size, do become complex enough that it requires a full time worker to handle? Sounds like the perfect job to be outsourced to a website. Log in, select your options, click submit.

      1. yeah, like I said below. Stuff exists. For the most part the employee is responsible for their own shit via a logon to the website and there is someone in the company (the owner, ops director, payroll clerk, whatever) who has admin access. All the actual work is done by the website.

        1. As someone who works in a department similar to HR (often a niche under the broader HR banner), it can be a bit more complex, depending on the company and the industry.
          Workplace investigations, advising on policies so that they do not breach worker entitlements etc. As in other professions, you get some great people who add significant value and some people who do not have a lot to offer.
          You try to help balance the strategic direction of the company with what the workforce can be expected to perform. Unfortunately while there are some workers who are more interested in screwing around or just act like tools rather than getting the job done a program cannot balance this.

        2. I think that the larger point here is that HR should have no plead in workplace investigations. Advising on policies and that worker entitlements are something which have created a culture of poor performance and even poorer companies which, in turn, have created a poorer nation and economy.
          The functions of the HR department they have value can be done by a program and the things that HR managers and SHRM have subtlety snuck their way into are for corporate operations and for people who are not just specialists in being specialists.
          I am fortunate in that a) I work in an industry which regards HR as, essentially, a payroll clerk and benefits administrator and b) have a position where HR answer directly to me.

        3. “which have created a culture of poor performance and even poorer companies which, in turn, have created a poorer nation and economy.” Yeah yeah, halt the bullshit. The stock market is at an all time high. I cannot take seriously that you actually think corporate America is doing badly. What do you think all this automation is done? Do you think Automation losses money or something? Don’t kid yourself, people are having poor productivity the same way the Real estate market in San Francisco is doing poor.

        4. I didn’t say the economy is bad, I said that the culture that human resources has created had hamstrung it.
          Aren’t you the same guy who was just wiping your tears with your tampons that you can’t find work?
          Make up up your mind babaloo.
          Human Resource departments have made a culture where people things that the employee is entitled to the job they have without regard to the value they add to the company.
          This leaks into “I want free college wahhhh” “I want more benefits wahhhh” “don’t fire me I am sensitive wahhhhhhhhhhh”

        5. “I said that the culture that human resources has created had hamstrung it.” Well apparently it hasn’t done enough to even make a minor dent in productivity or even bump wages up a little: https://thecurrentmoment.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/productivity-and-real-wages.jpg
          “Aren’t you the same guy who was just wiping your tears with your tampons that you can’t find work?” I never said I couldn’t find work. That doesn’t mean others don’t have trouble finding work, it also doesn’t mean workers are fairly compensated.
          “Human Resource departments have made a culture where people things that the employee is entitled to the job they have without regard to the value they add to the company.” Explain why that chart goes 100% contrary to what you are claiming.
          “This leaks into ‘I want free college wahhhh’” While I support the idea of free university , countries that have free university have very different models of education than the US. In those countries, only smart people and people who want to study go to university. This is very contrasted to the United States, where university has basically become a certification used to gain access to sectors of employment. In those countries, most people either get what they need in Secondary school, or they go on to a trade school to get certification. Most of those people who want free university, would not be receiving free university.
          “‘I want more benefits wahhhh’” Again, look at that chart, it’s fairly clear the workers in the US are very undercompensated.

      2. Every company that I’ve flown for has a site for HR. Good software, too. But there’s still 2 or 3 women hired to “man” it. Gotta steer clear of the employment discrimination lawsuits, I guess.

  33. On a related topic. Trump has advocated bringing back all those manufacturing jobs that have disappeared since the 1969-71 recession. That figure is well over 14 million by the way. If the US would ever re-industrialize on the scale that I remember back in the 50’s keep in mind a few things. Most companies would invest in robotics & other automated systems that would reduce the need for people. In essence, it would only put a dent in the chronic unemployment figures this country now has. There actually might be more manufacturing now because of all the new industries that never existed 60 years ago but the need for human resources would be null. Very important would be the workers themselves. Many will have two year technical school degrees related to the job, be drug free, possess a good work ethic, a team player, have a good attendance record, able to think & react quickly, be cross-trained & have superb mechanical & computer skills. The aforementioned will knock millions out of the job market right then & there. Just look at the current crop of young workers & would you hire them to work in a billion dollar assembly facility? Also, more than likely, new manufacturing plants will be located in rural locations for the obvious reasons. Look at the Japanese when they started manufacturing cars here in the US & where the assembly plants are located. Yes, I would like to see made in the U.S.A. again, like I did some 50 years ago. However, don’t look for steel to be produced in Pittsburgh again or Detroit to be the auto capitol of the world. Isn’t going to happen. Washington D.C., well the more things change, the more they stay same, especially in politics.

    1. This could have been done in the past but at this point, I’m afraid it’s too late. That ship has sailed, and it ain’t coming back.

      1. nor should it. That is progress.
        What worked before will not work again. It is time to let those fucking manufacturing jobs go to countries that can do them better, more efficiently and for less money and start focusing in on something else.
        It is sad to see americans play this old card. They look like a past their prime professional athlete who comes back into the sport and gets schooled by literally everyone (erhem Jordan on the Wizards).
        It’s over. Move on.

        1. Don’t you think that also applies to patriarchy in America? I simply don’t see a feasible way of reintroducing it.

        2. Yes, I agree whole heartedly with this. I think, at best, a sense of patriarchy in a man, properly used, is good for stirring deep seeded feelings in a woman’s subconscious making her want to fuck things….namely you.
          While everyone else looks backwards and laments that things aren’t as they were or tries to figure out some plan to make things they way they want them I am here doing a realistic survey of the landscape and enjoying the ripest fruits I can all courtesy of the fall of western civilization.

        1. I don’t know if it’s that drastic to be honest. I mean, second world, sure. The kind of places that have a few cool buildings and the remnants of infrastructure that’s crumbling. And you have to wait in 4 hour lines to use public transportation (Drudge had a story on the TSA doing that this week). And you have some basic public services (schools, water, parks) but they are poorly maintained and mediocre. I’m not sure we’ll hit third world status. Third world is really primitive. I mean it’s not like all our houses are just going to morph into shacks with dirt floors. But second world, absolutely. 🙂

    2. “Most companies would invest in robotics & other automated systems that would reduce the need for people. In essence, it would only put a dent in the chronic unemployment figures this country now has.” The benefit of these jobs is not just the jobs per se, it’s there quality. Manufacturing jobs are very good jobs, and even if only a few people have them, they can then go on to support many more service sector jobs. Also, as these jobs have become more productive over time, they (should) get better benefits. If one man can do in an hour with automation what one man used to be able to do in a eight hours, then that man should be making 8x the pay.
      “Just look at the current crop of young workers & would you hire them to work in a billion dollar assembly facility?” Oh boy, more “the young are lazy” bullshit. I am not even going to respond to this.
      “Also, more than likely, new manufacturing plants will be located in rural locations” Ummm why? Also, if they are built in rural locations, then cities will simply pop around them.

  34. It’s very satisfying to hear the issue being talked about in terms of actual value. The media and the politicians never ever talk about value. Consequently, nobody ever seems to realize that the “minimum wage” is essentially a meaningless, arbitrary number.

    1. They keep spewing that everyone is equal nonsense, so the idea of value contradicts that dogma.

  35. The politicians need more and more people dependent on government assistance so these people would vote for them giving out MORE government assistance.

    1. That logic is applied everywhere. Weak people have needs. Needing people accept to be ruled, exchanging power/freedom for comfort. That is why all aspects of strength and trust/hope are fought against (the feelings of belonging, of family, faith, nation; the ability to plan a professional future, etc.)
      Cultural marxism will create political and economical socialism…

  36. Soon you can just download an app from you favorite fast food chain and you can just order right from your phone. It can text you when your order is ready to pick up. Pay through your phone and would not need to interact with an employee at all.

    1. I have 1 word for you POST-FUCKING-MATES
      I have literally gone from hungry to ravenous scrolling through the hundreds of options of everything from fast food to fine dining, order is super fast, all goes through app, I get a receipt, I have a picture of the person delivering then I can an in app notification asking if I want to tip and how much as well as give a rating. FTW that app is the next step in my never leaving the house.

  37. The Western economy didn’t really “recover” after the 08′ recession, it’s decline just temporarily halted, and now it’s starting to get worse again. In the near future there’s going to be an economic collapse in the West that will rival the Great Depression if our governments keep pulling this shit.

    1. It’s out of their (governments’) hands, now. Their currencies are mortgaged, their economies rely on companies which are nothing other than administrative heads of groups of factories in cheap labour countries. Most of their political systems are totally discredited by the public and slowly imploding, like Spain or Belgium, unable to take effective measures at all.

    2. Just FYI, the government pretty much followed a Libertarianistic budget policy before the Great Depression. Obviously it didn’t work out…

      1. Just an FYI, it wasn’t socialist policies that pulled the country out of the Great Depression, it was the World War.

        1. “an FYI” English motherfÜcker, do you speak it? Okay now that I am done being silly on a serious note: In WWII the US had full on socialist policies, like beyond anything I would do. There was food rationing. There was production quotas. Many Industries were Nationalized. The US economy had already started What in WWII would you even think caused economic growth? Oh wait, government stimulus of the economy, basically a more hard-line continuation of the pre war policies.

        2. Oh no did my grammatical error trigger you? As to the socialist policies that preempted entry to the war, it has been widely circulated that they actually stalled economic recovery, not help it. In fact outside of the TVA they are seen as a waste of resources that would have been better utilized in manufacturing things we were selling to both sides of the growing war. Food rationing and the like were needed to supply the war effort and you may notice that they were discontinued after the war ( apparently it was thought of as a hindrance to economic growth, weird, huh?). The factory production quotas were actually purchase orders from the government to be utilized in the war, not to give people jobs. Not only that, but many of the facilities that the government took control over initially were released back to the owners, because government operation proved inept and unable to produce the necessary goods to conduct the war. The growth after the war had to do with the free market when the soldiers came home with wages they had earned used them to buy things like houses, which the free market supplied and caused the money to circulate, causing the availability of more jobs, etc.
          Don’t worry Andrew, I realize this fall on deaf ears, as your pathetic need to lash out at a simple grammar error(due to a hasty lack of proof reading) first and laced with profanity( typically the sign of low intelligence unable to form ideas fast enough to actually contribute to a conversation or worse the childish belief that it somehow lends weight and sophistication to the user), informs me that regardless of actual facts and logic you’ll continue to cling desperately to your narrative and even if you were to dare attempt to actually view another view point, you would be too fearful to venture towards anything so above and beyond you, just as the monkey in his tree, too scared to venture into the prairie for fear it might discover fire and evolve.

        3. “Oh no did my grammatical error trigger you?” Na, I was just kiddin man.
          “Food rationing and the like were needed to supply the war effort and you may notice that they were discontinued after the war ( apparently it was thought of as a hindrance to economic growth, weird, huh?).” Well yeah, of course. But the point is that WWII was way more socialist than anything I am proposing, yet there was still economic growth.
          “The growth after the war had to do with the free market when the soldiers came home with wages they had earned used them to buy things like houses, which the free market supplied and caused the money to circulate, causing the availability of more jobs, etc.” This isn’t true at all. The Gross Domestic Product of the United States dropped by 13% during the first 8 months after WWII. In 1933-1936 and then 1938-41, there was still very high amount of economic growth. How do you explain this growth? Still, assuming your soldiers coming back with money is how to get out of a depression, why shouldn’t the government just give everyone a huge lump sum of money every time an economic crisis happens?
          “Don’t worry Andrew, I realize this fall on deaf ears, as your pathetic need to lash out at a simple grammar error” It was a joke. Poe’s law can be kinda annoying sometimes.
          “first and laced with profanity” It was actually a reference to pulp fiction. Here is the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0x6vIAtFcI

        4. The GDP slipped initially due to the fact that the free market had to shift gears and retool to serve a domestic instead of military market. (it’s a measure of production, not just a dollar figure). Furthermore the fact that the war ended didn’t mean the soldiers were instantly back in the US to spend their money, it took months to get them home, in fact it took until DEC 1945 for the fist 1 million of the 12 million serving to be discharged. As for why not giving out just lump sums, was because the government interference wasn’t the stimulus event that kept the growth going, it was the free market causing the circulation as I mentioned. Such sums do nothing if they have nowhere to go and if done repeatedly just drives down the value of the currency causing even more problems ala post WWI Germany.
          The growth in 1933-1936 and then 1938-41, were bumps that only brought employment back to the number (not percentage) of employed in the height of the 1920’s (despite the fact that the population had grown by 4 million people) and were also contributed to significantly by the arms sales into the build up and ignition of the Spanish civil war and later by the arms race build up into WW2. So it wasn’t socialist intervention( unless you want acknowledgement that we selling weapons to communists and fascists, which I’ll grant), but the market being able to do what the market is supposed to do.
          As for quoting such an over rated film as pulp fiction, it actually lessens any respect someone should have for the lack of thought displayed. It definitely does nothing towards validating your own cleverness. Maybe if I vomited something back from another of his crap-fests like Kill Bill or the like it might reach you, but I’ve no desire to sink to such depths.

        5. “The GDP slipped initially due to the fact that the free market had to shift gears and retool to serve a domestic instead of military market.” Military market? Oh, you mean the government buying shit? SOCIALISM!
          “As for why not giving out just lump sums, was because the government interference wasn’t the stimulus event that kept the growth going, it was the free market causing the circulation as I mentioned.” Your logic seems to be that something is only the free market if my emotions agree with it. Typical republican…
          “Such sums do nothing if they have nowhere to go and if done repeatedly just drives down the value of the currency” Oh, you mean exactly what happened during and after World War 2?
          “So it wasn’t socialist intervention( unless you want acknowledgement that we selling weapons to communists and fascists, which I’ll grant), but the market being able to do what the market is supposed to do.” So let me get this straight, military spending isn’t socialism? Becauuuuuuuuuse why?
          “As for quoting such an over rated film as pulp fiction, it actually lessens any respect someone should have for the lack of thought displayed. It definitely does nothing towards validating your own cleverness. Maybe if I vomited something back from another of his crap-fests like Kill Bill or the like it might reach you, but I’ve no desire to sink to such depths.”Okay, get over it. You are now just acting like an SJW with your complaining about how Pulp Fiction triggered you…

        6. “Oh, you mean the government buying shit? SOCIALISM!” WRONG, the government owning part or all of production does not equal being another customer of capitalism. If Japan buys guns from an American manufacturer that wouldn’t be socialism, so if the US government buys from the same manufacturer it’s still not socialism.
          “Your logic seems to be that something is only the free market if my emotions agree with it. Typical republican…”
          Nice attempt at projecting, but your anything good= socialism, capitalism=bad circular thinking isn’t something I get stuck in. In fact I actually believe that government has a very important function in a capital market environment, but that doesn’t mean they do it better( because mostly they don’t) or that they should run everything thing.
          “Oh, you mean exactly what happened during and after World War 2?” Yes exactly what happened right at the end of WWII as I explained further in my post, because the government hadn’t unwound itself from all the places it was wrapped up in. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you conveniently ignored that part.
          “So let me get this straight, military spending isn’t socialism? Becauuuuuuuuuse why?” I could just point to the top of this response again, but since I’ve noticed your selective reading bias allow me to repeat, ” the government owning part or all of production does not equal being another customer of capitalism. If Japan buys guns from an American manufacturer that wouldn’t be socialism, so if the US government buys from the same manufacturer it’s still not socialism.”
          “Okay, get over it. You are now just acting like an SJW with your complaining about how Pulp Fiction triggered you…” Projecting AGAIN? Actually, I’m pointing out that as I originally asserted, you have NOTHING to actually contribute(outside of the poor example of what a do-nothing Bernie-esque ( I don’t really know your political affiliations, nor care) mentality champion of socialism, without actually knowing what it is), and the fact that you used a quote from one of the most over-rated writer/directors of recent times and his over blown flick, just illustrated that you had even less to contribute, than I originally gave you credit for. You went even further by trying to tie me to so SJW type tactics, much like if I disagree with the current POTUS other oxygen wasters will cry “racist”, because they too have no actual counterpoints or ability to contribute.

        7. “so if the US government buys from the same manufacturer it’s still not socialism.” Okaaay… So what do you define as Socialism? Give me an exact definition, because I am confused as to what you are even talking about at this point. You seem use Socialism to mean anything you don’t like.
          “but your anything good= socialism, capitalism=bad circular thinking isn’t something I get stuck in. In fact I actually believe that government has a very important function in a capital market environment, but that doesn’t mean they do it better( because mostly they don’t) or that they should run everything thing.” 1) I don’t think the government should run everything either. 2) I don’t think Capitalism is bad.
          “I could just point to the top of this response again, but since I’ve noticed your selective reading bias allow me to repeat, ‘ the government owning part or all of production does not equal being another customer of capitalism. If Japan buys guns from an American manufacturer that wouldn’t be socialism, so if the US government buys from the same manufacturer it’s still not socialism.’” The fact that the government is buying guns is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it is guns, or ships, or roads, or power plants, or rockets, or food, or anything else, the point I am making is that government stimulation DOES WORK, as it did in World War 2, and guns are one type of stimulation.
          “Projecting AGAIN? ” Are you talking about Freudian projection? What are you talking about? What point are you trying to make? That I get offended by pulp fiction jokes and am projecting that onto you? What am I projecting?
          “Bernie-esque ( I don’t really know your political affiliations, nor care) mentality champion of socialism” Bernie Sanders? He isn’t a Socialist, you are just talking out of your ass now. You clearly don’t have an idea what Socialism are are just projecting…
          “and the fact that you used a quote from one of the most over-rated writer/directors of recent times and his over blown flick” ehh, I can actually agree with that lol.
          “You went even further by trying to tie me to so SJW type tactics” those aren’t SJW tactics, no, they are just shitty, emotional, arguing. SJW’s weren’t the first people to make a fallacious argument.
          “much like if I disagree with the current POTUS other oxygen wasters will cry “racist”, because they too have no actual counterpoints or ability to contribute.” What, when did I say you are racist because you disagree with something Obama said?

        8. “So what do you define as Socialism? Give me an exact definition, because I am confused as to what you are even talking about at this point. You seem use Socialism to mean anything you don’t like.” Apparently poor reading comprehension is a recurring theme for you, but I’ll indulge. As I stated in my last post SOCIALISM is ” the government owning part or all of production “.
          ” The fact that the government is buying guns is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if it is guns, or ships, or roads, or power plants, or rockets, or food, or anything else, the point I am making is that government stimulation DOES WORK, as it did in World War 2, and guns are one type of stimulation.” No it actually doesn’t it’s similar to taking a hit of cocaine,( try to keep up here because I’ve seen your ability to comprehend a comparison is lacking as I’ll address later) the user may feel a short term rush, but the it’s just stealing from more productive processes and the long term effects are more far reaching and destructive. And the fact that the Government is buying anything just means it’s a customer of the free market, not the overseer of it as it would be in socialism.
          “Are you talking about Freudian projection? What are you talking about? What point are you trying to make? That I get offended by pulp fiction jokes and am projecting that onto you? What am I projecting?” I’m pointing out the fact that when you try to pin me with the behavior you’ve exhibited: “now just acting like an SJW “, ” Your logic seems to be that something is only the free market if my emotions agree with it. Typical republican”, etc. you’re doing nothing more than trying to shield shallow arguments which just goes to strengthening the points I’ve made. So yes Freudian projection, and by trying to run down that little tangent, you haven’t added anything towards a point. (and before you try to skew that one, I’m talking about your pointless rambling and not some type of artificial score)
          “Bernie Sanders? He isn’t a Socialist, you are just talking out of your ass now.” Umm he’s an outspoken self proclaimed socialist, more recently coining himself a “democratic” socialist. You might want to research his public record and again the definition of socialism(the government owning part or all of production, just in case you’ve forgotten already).
          “ehh, I can actually agree with that lol.” At least we can agree on something.
          “those aren’t SJW tactics, no, they are just shitty, emotional, arguing. SJW’s weren’t the first people to make a fallacious argument.” Do I need to bring up projection again or will that just elicit you asking what kind I’m referring to again? And yes you tried to tie me to it as SJW behavior as in ” Okay, get over it. You are now just acting like an SJW with your complaining about how Pulp Fiction triggered you”, so as they’re your words that connected them to SJW, let’s just move on.
          Last, but not least” What, when did I say you are racist because you disagree with something Obama said?” I did not say you did, but allow me to repost what I said ” much like if I disagree with the current POTUS other oxygen wasters will cry “racist”, because they too have no actual counterpoints or ability to contribute.” If you had utilized reading comprehension skills, you would have noticed the use of ” other oxygen wasters ” and at NO TIME did I say you ( or even imply you) in the part about dropping the race card. It was a comparison to illustrate the subpar tactic you attempted to use by the use of the phrase ” You are now just acting like an SJW…”

        9. “No it actually doesn’t it’s similar to taking a hit of cocaine” Well actually this is part of my economy plan, the government boosts the economy during the lows, and then uses that to keep the highs from turning into economic bubbles. But short term stimulation is not the reason why I support (moderate) Socialism anyways.
          “Umm he’s an outspoken self proclaimed socialist” Mitt Romney the grandfather of the Affordable Care Act is a self proclaimed conservative, I think we both know that he isn’t though. Under the definition we both agreed upon, Sanders is not a Socialist, he doesn’t want state ownership of any industries (discounting the postal service and the few already existing state owned industries in the US). At least, as far as I know he hasn’t advocated nationalizing any industry in his platform, but maybe you have read something I haven’t.
          “Do I need to bring up projection again or will that just elicit you asking what kind I’m referring to again?” Lets just bury our hatchets on this one, I apologize for the times I used those arguments, let’s just move past this…

        10. Going in backwards order this time.
          “Lets just bury our hatchets on this one, I apologize for the times I used those arguments, let’s just move past this…” Agreed, in fact I’ll capitulate to your being the better man for broaching this first, and extend my own apologies for my own behavior that was lacking in adult manners.
          “Mitt Romney the grandfather of the Affordable Care Act is a self proclaimed conservative, I think we both know that he isn’t though.” In all fairness to this particular twit, by comparison to his fellow politicians in MA, he is, but I do agree he’s not really all that conservative.
          “At least, as far as I know he hasn’t advocated nationalizing any industry in his platform, but maybe you have read something I haven’t.” I have and I’m familiar with his past political record where he pushed for control of TV stations he didn’t like, direct control of utilities when he was a mayor, and even petitioned a sitting president to confiscate the property of a private citizen, due to his feelings that the person didn’t deserve it. Also many of the bills he’s sponsored as a senator have pushed for overreaching government control.
          “Well actually this is part of my economy plan, the government boosts the economy during the lows, and then uses that to keep the highs from turning into economic bubbles.” This is basic Keynesian theory, which is the current practice and so far has only served to inflate and pop bubbles in quicker succession. I’m more prone to lean towards Hayek myself as I believe the free market has even burst through in unforeseen and profound ways that Keynes never would have imagined. Again though, I agree the government does have its place in the market, because unfettered it would be too easy to run amok. There is also the role they have played in science too big for private industry to initiate.

        11. “I have and I’m familiar with his past political record where he pushed for control of TV stations he didn’t like, direct control of utilities when he was a mayor, and even petitioned a sitting president to confiscate the property of a private citizen, due to his feelings that the person didn’t deserve it. Also many of the bills he’s sponsored as a senator have pushed for overreaching government control.” Interesting. I have only really studied his platform since the dawn of his presidential candidacy, and so I only understood him as a Social democrat (no affiliation with the US democratic party), and I had gone back and looked at how he was previously against illegal immigration (because they bring down wages) and how he was against trade deals and the such. It was a really let down when he sold out to the #fucktrump and SJW crowd. After that I wouldn’t be surprised if he did all the things you pointed out.
          “This is basic Keynesian theory, which is the current practice and so far has only served to inflate and pop bubbles in quicker succession. I’m more prone to lean towards Hayek myself as I believe the free market has even burst through in unforeseen and profound ways that Keynes never would have imagined. Again though, I agree the government does have its place in the market, because unfettered it would be too easy to run amok.” I sort of believe in a “modified” Keynesian theory. From what I have observed of Keynesian’s, they practice this policy: Is the economy doing good? Yes? Well then lets stimulate it even more! Oh now the economy is doing bad? Stimulate it until it’s better! I also disagree with Keynesian inflation policies, I think the state should practice a policy of keeping 0 nett inflation , and I think money (added in to keep away deflation rather than to inflate) should be added in as a basic income to everyone rather than to a group of bankers. But in general, I try to be more open to different policies, and if one fails, it should be replaces speedily, whereas way to many people are very solid in there positions on issues and will never recognize when something fails.

        12. Yeah I have to agree on the ” people are very solid in there positions on issues and will never recognize when something fails”, in fact that is one of my biggest issues against big government. When programs fail they aren’t typically repealed, but kept in place with just more poorly thought out band-aid programs put on top of them. I also don’t really believe that basic income programs would work as they would just drive up prices and discourage more actual labor putting a growing burden on producers. By extension, I don’t think shuffling it out to the big banks has done any better either. While it seems harsh, the best thing I think would have been to allow the “great Recession” to actually unwind itself and deal with the pain we’ve been putting off for decades. As it is, our little morphine-esque QE will just worsen the eventually painful withdrawal that is coming.

        13. “I also don’t really believe that basic income programs would work as they would just drive up prices” Well I didn’t really want it as a specific income, but when deflation happens, the money would be directly injected into bank accounts. So it would only be used to counteract deflation.

  38. On the other hand, in this country, companies change chief officers as much as underwear. With every swap, there’s normally a large compensation package included in the deal. One $8 million package is worth well over half a million man hours at $15/hr. That’s a lot of burgers. But that’s a problem with our laws in this nation-they allow heavy wasteful spending at the top while also allowing minimum wage to trail far behind inflation.
    There’s going to be losers who will abuse the welfare. It’s a hole that can’t be fully plugged. There are people right now working for minimum wage that truly wish to dig themselves out of their hole, and a good wage would give that opportunity. Who gives a shit if your cheeseburger goes up in price 75 cents? It’s not good for you anyway, you fatass.
    Also, corporate welfare abuse is a problem that needs to be minimized as well. If you’re really concerned about your tax dollars, take a look at how much money yearly could be in our coffers.

    1. You have absolutely no idea how the “free market” works, how an increase in the minimum wage would actually hurt the people you suggest we should help, and how the people you want to hurt really help the economy.

    2. “It’s not good for you anyway”
      Where would the country be without people like you determining what is good and bad for everyone. Cough.

      1. You have an emotional and snappy response, but it’s without content. It’s interesting how Americans can consistently get upset about a burger going up a few cents but have absolutely no idea the mechanisms in place that make it happen. Do you really know who determines what’s good for you in this country?

        1. Sarcastic response to some one full of themselves perhaps, but not emotional.
          I know very well the mechanisms that make businesses operate. Purchasing, recruitment, training, ERP systems, supply chain, tax schemes, production, overhead, budgeting and forecasting.. you name it.
          “Do you really know who determines what’s good for you in this country?”
          Me. However those who belt out the SJW, cultural Marxist clap trap are constantly trying to take that decision out of my hands. If you think some else is better suited for you, then you are prepared for a master and deserve one.

        2. We’re just having a discussion, so I don’t need your background proven to me. I hope you hold better frame than this with the ladies.
          It doesn’t take an SJW to know that working people are getting burned, badly. That’s universal. It’s not just burger-flippers, either.

        3. “..I don’t need your background proven to me.”
          You posted: ” It’s interesting how Americans can consistently get upset about a burger going up a few cents but have absolutely no idea the mechanisms in place that make it happen.”
          So you insult Americans and one of them takes umbrage and demonstrates that they know the “mecahnsisms” as well as what the consequences of increasing labor costs does to said industry.
          Feel free to disassemble the plight of the “working people.” I have heard it most of my life and the answer is always the same– more regulation and taxatation. Go team proletariat!
          More pseudo-concern and moral genuflecting while biting the hand that feeds you.

    3. Who gives a shit if your cheeseburger goes up in price 75 cents?
      I do.
      Because it’s not just about burgers. Is my grocery store employing anyone at or close to minimum wage? I can’t afford my eggs and milk and bread and spinach to go up 75 cents. There are others, like some facilities maintenance positions and low skill laborers like movers.
      Don’t talk yourself into a bad idea and justify it by saying ‘well, the burgers are bad for you anyway’. Ignoring every other industry that employs minimum wage workers distorts the analysis of the effects of raising minimum wage.

    4. Let me tell you about the Legend of the Yacht Tax. Back in the late 80s, there was a thriving yacht industry on the American East Coast, building, outfitting, customizing, servicing and catering to big luxury yachts. Millionaires would come from all over the country, even the world, to buy yachts here. Then, one day, some SJW-precursor said: “Hey, that’s not fair. Rich people are evil and shouldn’t be rich, let’s pass some laws and take away their money!” So, a big fat tax on buying yachts was passed, and all the hippie liberals rejoiced at sticking it to the rich people and the government started planning how they were going to spend al the next tax money they were going to get. Except that’s not what happened. The yacht industry on the East Coast dried up, because the millionaires didn’t want to pay the stupid tax. So the yacht building businesses started to close. Some of them went out of business altogether, some moved to other places where the tax wasn’t so high. All the people who worked in the ship yards, who ran the ship-building businesses, and who supplied the ship-building businesses started to lose their jobs. As more businesses failed and left, more “regular folks” lost their jobs, from the guys that did the accounting in the yacht building businesses, to the guys that made the leather seats for the luxury couches in the yacht, to the people that serviced and catered to the yachts. And where do you think all that new tax money went? Well, first of all, as the sales of yachts rapidly declined, there was less and less actual revenue. See, increasing tax rates can actually decrease tax revenue. Also, what little tax money was collected went to people on welfare and shit who didn’t have jobs. Some of those people where the ones that got put out of work by the tax. I’m sure they were really happy to have that welfare, unless they realized they were only on it because of the stupid tax in the first place. Since most of those guys were actual workers and businessmen, they had to start over, find new businesses, etc., so in the end, the welfare went to the usual suspects: welfare queens and crackheads. The end.

      1. That’s a great bit of Von Mises economics right there 😉 It’s a pity the only thing taught in colleges today, and practiced by the government, is “Communism for dummies”.

      2. Which is why John Kerry parks his $7m yacht in Rhode Island instead of Massachusetts.

      3. Do you know about corporate welfare? It seems you are living in your neighborhood bubble, picking on easy targets-people without shit to lose anyways. The gov’t blows billions on companies who by all rights, should be acting in the interest of the people. Instead, the staff becomes, leaner, overworked, outsourced. People go on social assistance. So yes, the free market is understood, but it is a failure for working people. That’s what I wanted to address. Capitalism can be great, but the access to the system has been restricted to fewer people.
        Your career can end next Monday. You can get fucked out of your retirement savings and investments as so many did 8 years ago.
        You may need to suckle from that teat to survive.

        1. Companies have zero responsibility to act “in the interest of the people,” comrade. Companies exist for a single purpose: to make money for their owners. Companies do not exist to create jobs, or to serve the public good, or even to pay taxes. The people who are employed to run companies have a single job: to make money for the company’s owners. If there is a tax break in the tax code that they can use to decrease their taxes and increase profit, they do it. If they don’t do it, the people that own the company will fire them.
          Company managers don’t outsource jobs because they hate America or because they are evil Republicans. They outsource jobs because it is cheaper and easier to do, thereby increasing profits. For private companies, the increased money goes right into the owners’ pockets. For public companies, increased profits means your stock prices go up and more people invest in your stock, increasing your capital and allowing you to expand and make more money.
          A company manager does not generally want overworked, underpaid employees, because they are usually less productive… except in China where you basically have slave labor. But if the manager has to tighten the belt to increase profits, he will do it. Why? Because that’s his job. And he gets paid millions of dollars to do it because the company he is running is bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars for its owners.
          Now, the money all those evil company owners make from profits is supposed to go back into the economy. They don’t burn it or stuff it in mattresses, they invest it or buy crap with it. Those evil CEOs do the same thing with their money. It doesn’t disappear from the economy, it goes back into the economy in different ways, creating wages and jobs for other people. Go ahead, whine about some multi-millionaire CEO buying a $50 million house. Don’t think about the fact that most of that money went to the people supplying the materials and labor to build that house and all the stupid stuff in it.
          The problem is that the government is screwing the system up by using the tax system for control, for social engineering, and for political purposes. Driving up the minimum wage will only cause more outsourcing, more overworked and underpaid employees, not less. How is that not readily apparent?
          If you run a company, and your job is to make money, what are you going to do if your labor costs double overnight? You’re going to (a) reduce your labor costs, (b) increase your sales price, (c) both, or (d) lose your job and get replaced by someone who will. The reason people say “corporations never pay taxes” is because they pass all the costs of the taxes on to the consumer. If you doubled the taxes on every company, the prices of everything they produce will double overnight.
          Now, if your market research says you can’t increase your price without hurting sales, you have to reduce your labor cost. That means outsourcing or firing employees.
          Is the government giving huge sums of money to corporations? Yes. Should they be doing that? No. The government should not be “giving money” to anyone… not corporations, not individuals, not other countries, not charities — no one.
          Are there evil and greedy people? Yes. But you cannot legislate morality. You can regulate and provide reasonable oversight, but strangling the entire economy to punish rich people or people that “make too much money” is a fundamentally retarded approach to trying to stop the Bernie Madoffs of the world.
          There is cause and effect in the “free market” (I use quotes because our system is hardly “free” and that’s part of the problem). Raise taxes or increase the minimum wage, and the people who pay that are not the evil rich executives or the mega-rich evil owners, but the employees and consumers. You cannot change that, and every law or rule or regulation that any government anywhere has ever instituted to try to change that has resulted in the evil CEOs and the evil owners finding ways around it, and usually screwing up the market even worse.
          The entire F*CKING healthcare debacle is purely a result of this crap. People used to pay for their own healthcare. As the government tried to “stop corporations from paying C-suite employees too much money”, the corporations started giving those C-suite employees benefit packages, primarily free health insurance. This trickled down to the employees, until now people believe that it is the moral responsibility of their employers to pay for their health insurance, and that companies exist just to give them free healthcare. This clusterf*ck is part of the reason medical costs keep spiraling out of control.
          And do you really want the government controlling who gets paid what, comrade? You really thing the government can do a “fairer” job running companies than the average board of directors? Go ask anyone in any state or federal job anywhere how well their compensation system works. You think the people working in your new Federal Office of CEO Salary Oversight won’t tinker with the rules to make sure Google and Apple can pay their officers whatever they want while any conservative company will get regulated out of business?
          Seriously, wake up. Corporations are only as bad as the people that run them. But people run the government, too, and they are usually just as bad, if not worse.
          You cannot simultaneously decry “corporate welfare” while promoting government limits on corporate compensation or governance. The same people who run one will run the other, and they will screw it up just as badly.
          The answer is not more government and more regulation. The answer is more people checking out of the corporate model and freeing themselves from consumer slavery. The market is teetering on a razor’s edge, being propped up by the banking system printing money faster than the ink can dry. The closer you are tied to the government, the more reliant you are on any corporation (including salary, services and products), the more screwed you are going to be when the correction comes. Because it will come, one way of the other. And it is going to hurt.

      4. Yup. I was in the yacht business in the eighties. We were driven out of business.

      5. SJWs and their precursors do not understand the meaning of the word “If”.
        As in, “If you buy a yacht here, you will have to pay a big tariff on it.”
        Because the rational response of the buyer is, “Okay, I won’t buy a yacht here; I’ll buy it from your competitor state or nation up the street who isn’t forcing me to pay a tariff on it. Or I’ll find some other non-taxed way to spend my money.”
        This concept is why the Laffer Curve has such importance for government revenue. In essence, there is a hard limit to the percentage of income you can pull out of a workforce. Tax the workforce above that limit and tax evasion grows to such a point where it is not cost-effective to recover the tax that was not paid.

        1. “This concept is why the Laffer Curve has such importance for government revenue. In essence, there is a hard limit to the percentage of income you can pull out of a workforce.” Yeah no sh!t. But we are NO WHERE NEAR that limit. It’s almost Universally accepted as being at 70%. Can you give me one example in US history where lowering taxes increased revenue? Not that a 70% tax rate would be good, but the government isn’t over taxing to the point of losing revenue.

      6. “See, increasing tax rates can actually decrease tax revenue.” I don’t know how big this yacht tax was, but it must have been FÜCKING HUGE, because the Laffer Curve peaks at around 70%.

    5. Who gives a shit if your cheeseburger goes up in price 75 cents? It’s not good for you anyway…

      Problem is that’s not the only thing that becomes more expensive. All the healthy food becomes more pricey too.

      1. Let them eat off the dollar menu while I get my prime steaks and kale for 1/2 what it costs in the cities

      2. Eating fresh Is very difficult to do, even for middle-class people. It’s a shame that junk is so affordable and more accessible. And so tasty.

        1. Eating healthy is WAY CHEAPER than eating unhealthy. It’s pretty easy to figure out. Do you know how many stages of labour have to go into making a cheeseburger? If you were to make your own from store bought ingredients, I assure you it will take away a very large percentage of the cost. The biggest problem isn’t money, it’s time. Women working means they can’t home cook meals. The only solution to this is to reduce the workforce and increase pay (and productivity). How do we do this? We raise wages!

  39. A significant part of the American economy is made up of essentially useless companies/industries that do little more than take a few cents out of every dollar that pass through them. We have, as a society, come to believe that these businesses/industries are necessary, but ultimately, they are useless. The health insurance industry, for example, if rife with this kind of thing, and it is a big part of the reason that medical costs have skyrocketed. In fact, basic health insurance is no longer really “insurance” at all. The HR department of any company is essentially the same thing. Maybe a third to a half of HR duties are just complying with useless bureaucratic rules and regulations. The rest is hand-holding, back-scratching, and a way to employ useless people. Much of the legal system is self-created… legislators (who are lawyers) creating jobs for themselves and their cronies through laws and bureaucracies. Accounting is another industry that is heavily subsidized by legislative over-regulation. I’m not saying law or accounting are useless, but I am saying that more and more of these fields are being devoted to complying with byzantine and make-work laws and regulations rather than actually adding value to their clients. Think about how many companies or even entire industries you know that do basically nothing. They just shuffle paper around or take money form one hand and give it to another. They exist solely to comply with meaningless laws or social constructs. They produce nothing tangible or valuable. Look at all the “DMV 4 U” shops out there — people you pay to go deal with the hassle of the Department of Motor Vehicles for you. A significant part of the American economy is useless, producing nothing of value. Worst of all, that useless part is continues to grow and grow, while businesses with actual value and production leave the country, while our economy heads towards a big decline.

    1. “Accounting is another industry that is heavily subsidized by legislative over-regulation.”
      Just to be clear, the accountants didn’t ask for it. Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) is a complete scam and even if it was in place at Enron, Arthur Anderson still would have never detected the fraud.

    2. That tells us that we live in a fragile, unreal economy. When a great storm takes down the first of those companies, the others will all fall like a house of cards.
      Think of European banks. the 2009 crisis destroyed them ALL. If it wasn’t for governments pay for their debts, they would ALL have closed doors. What are they doing now, so many years after? Closing offices, firing thousands and thousands of people, in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Germany, etc. Replacing employees with machines. The unemployment was high. Now it will be higher.
      people are not needed in this model of Society, if it is to be kept in the future. Unemployment will rise and rise ever so high, driving puchasing power down… And then, lack of demand, more companies closing door. Get ready. Automation is the end of the industrial era.

      1. “Unemployment will rise and rise ever so high, driving puchasing power down” That isn’t how money works. Having higher unemployment and lower production costs will drive purchasing power up.
        “people are not needed in this model of Society, if it is to be kept in the future. Unemployment will rise and rise ever so high, driving puchasing power down… And then, lack of demand, more companies closing door. Get ready. Automation is the end of the industrial era.” That really isn’t that big of an issue. We just need to make a smooth transition to socialism. Sure, it sounds like we are going to become Soviet Russia, but keep in mind that this is a situation where Supply has eclipsed demand, there wont be any bread lines.

        1. Absolutely disagreed. That IS how money works. Purchasing power requires high income and lower production costs imply lower income. The very clothes you are wearing, the technological hardware you are using, are produced by miserably paid asian employees. This trend will only get more pronounced. If 90% of your production line (instead of 20%) depends on automation, human labor is unnecessary, ergo overabundant, ergo, less valued. If human labor is less valued and less needed, you have an excess of supply, and a lack of demand. This is devaluation’s basics. And then, you have raw materials getting rarer and more expensive, which also means machines will naturally turn more expensive to be built, over time.
          I am not doubting illuded people will continue to push it for Socialism (as Lenin did in Russia before the NEP). Part of being a Socialist is to ignore reality and human nature and grab a calculator to “distribute”, as any pig farmer would do.
          The thing I am most sure of is that Socialism was thought to be an utopia of the Working Class™, and the concept of class warfare is needed not “in the transition”, as it is said in the propaganda, but as a constant reminder, to allow purges and to achieve the ultimate social goal of Submission (termed Equality). Any Man trying to walk on his feet stands above the Workers™, and is therefore, an enemy of the people. The great misery you watch in post-Socialism is not material misery (USSR was a good deal to countries like Kazakhstan), but moral and ethical misery. You can offer people bread, but not the will to live when it is hopelessly crushed into nothingness.
          In nowadays’ context of clash of civilizations (Islam against atheist Societies), of dehumanization of economy (as I referred, the removal of humans from production) and of cultural destruction of the individual (cultural marxism IS the path to social Socialism, and it is already among us), International Socialism risks to triumph and destroy Humanity.
          Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

        2. “Purchasing power requires high income and lower production costs” Yes, and automation decrease production cost, and thus (it should) decrease prices.
          “The very clothes you are wearing, the technological hardware you are using, are produced by miserably paid asian employees.” They are actually paid fairly well for where they are. Sure it seems dirt poor in America, but compare working in a factory to say, a rice farm.
          “This trend will only get more pronounced. If 90% of your production line (instead of 20%) depends on automation, human labor is unnecessary, ergo overabundant, ergo, less valued.” Yes, but that 1 person who is now doing the work of 10, should be getting as much pay as those 10 men combined. He is then going to take that money and spend it, which is then going to circulate towards other people. Again, as wages go up, we need to shorten the average work week/day so that unemployment is kept to a minimum.
          “. If human labor is less valued and less needed, you have an excess of supply, and a lack of demand.” Again, this is why wages need to be kept up with increases in productivity.
          “And then, you have raw materials getting rarer and more expensive” Except for the fact that this isn’t happening when you adjust for inflation. Petroleum is basically at the lowest price in its entire history. Iron has stayed within the same range for the last 100 years. Copper has become more valuable, this was only really from 2004-2007 and sense peaked off. Aluminium has actually been deflationary, being only a fraction of the real price 100 years ago.
          “I am not doubting illuded people will continue to push it for Socialism” I am not advocating to have Socialism right now, I am talking about the point where Human labour is unnecessary in the production process. At some point, no matter how much you decrease work times, you will just not have anything for people to do in jobs. At that point the only option left is communism, how could a capitalist society even function in that kind of situation?
          “The thing I am most sure of is that Socialism was thought to be an utopia of the Working Class™” Socialism (within Marxism) isn’t the ultimate goal, communism is.
          “but moral and ethical misery.” And this is why I do not advocate a revolutionary/totalitarianism/Single Party ism/you know what i mean. I simply advocate that at some point in the future, we will need to adopt the economic policies within Communism.
          “and of cultural destruction of the individual (cultural marxism IS the path to social Socialism, and it is already among us), International Socialism risks to triumph and destroy Humanity.” 1) I do not like cultural Marxism, and Marx probably would have laughed if someone proposed it’s ideas to him. 2) I dislike internationalism, what ever economic model it uses. 3) At what point did you think I live cultural Marxism?

    3. tl:dr please break it up into paragraphs so I can focus on your solid points

    4. “They just shuffle paper around or take money form one hand and give it to another.” The entirety of the banking industry. Why doesn’t everyone get a bank account like they get a social security number? Why do people have to pay to spend there money? It’s a whole industry based off taking other people’s money with minimal effort.

    5. I occasionally assist a photographer friend of mine on shoots. Recently we did a shoot for a large food conglomerate that owns several restaurants chains. Everyone that we dealt with was a late 20s or early 30s female. It occurred to me that if all of their jobs went away that it wouldn’t affect any of our lives in the slightest. The power grid would still be up, The Internet would still work and my UPS shipment would still show up today. In fact if the all of the chain’s restaurants closed tomorrow it may be a slight bump in the road for those who lost their jobs but we’d still be fine. Don’t think so? Anybody been to CompUSA, Circuit City, Zayre, Montgomery Ward or Mervyn’s lately?

  40. If there was one place they should have installed kiosks years ago, it’s at the drive-thru. I hate yelling into that tinny ass speaker, and having the person on the other end repeat themselves 3 times because I cant hear their crackling voice. And lo and behold, my order is fucked up yet again. God I hate drive thru.

  41. Every time I hear about some coal miner tragedy my first thought is “people still do this fucking job? we seriously need to get a machine on this tout suite”

      1. I have a fairly broad field of knowledge but it is all set in an urban setting. I have no idea how things get to Manhattan like electricity or food or the Sun’s rays.

    1. Well I will need a full report from you after spending about 6 months down there. It isn’t anywhere close to what their grandfathers experienced so it should be a picnic for you to automate.

      1. I’ve got no idea what it’s like. I just think it is a tragedy when these guys die and wonder why jobs like this can’t be done with machines.

    2. Mining has become much more automated over the years, but machinery still requires humans to operate it.

  42. I for one look forward to this Harry Harrison future, just as long as I can get some McBunnyburgers and McCatwiches …

  43. This is so awesome. I live in DC and we have the worst customer service in the country. It’s going to be so nice not to have to deal with food service and retail employees.

    1. Most are welfare recipients who are told to go get a job. You can see the anger on their faces. They thought that they were going to suck on the Government teet like their mothers did.

      1. as much as I would like to say yes, it certainly feels pretty equal opportunity for bad customer service. Admittedly I’ve never done a survey.
        Now for the falling apart DC subway, that’s definitely dindus.

  44. I love how Silicon Valley is supporting this ad the progs are falling for it, not realizing that the $15 minimum wage is just a way to subsidize tech firms.

  45. Ah yes the transfer of social welfare to the corporations. The lazy fat social welfare recipients go to McLardass burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Spending their hard earned cash on shit food and eventually end up in the state subsidised health system popping expensive pills or in an emergency ward.

  46. The problem is an even broader societal one. Kiosks, while a good solution to the min wage problem corporations are encountering, still won’t work. Think about the population that frequent McDs. Going out on a limb here, but I’ll bet they are similar to those that want min wage to increase for people in positions such as cashiers. As the obvious has already been stated–these are low skilled workers, the majority of this same demographic probably can’t walk and chew gum simultaneously, so to ask them to place their own order on a simplified machine is absurd. If it would work, Walmart would have already fired all of their cashiers (all 3 in a 15 lane store) and replaced them with kiosks, but Walmart knows their average customer base would have difficulty operating them.
    Darwinism is real and no amount of gov’t control will fix that. People must reframe their paradigm on how life works and how harsh it can be; then figure out what skill(s) they can acquire to put themselves in a better situation. The “real impact” on these kiosks will be people realizing how unintelligent our population has gotten, and corporations realizing these kiosks serve as more ad space to further program your average “citizen.”

      1. Actually they’re an efficient solution to a bunch of economic illiterates who don’t understand how they’re impacting their own lives. I celebrate these entitlement minded morons voting themselves out of work.

        1. Have you ever used a kiosk at a store? It would be nice if they actually every worked… I challenge you to even test it. Go to a store, have a list of items you will buy, and use the self checkout lane. Exactly one week later, go back to that same store but use the regular checkout lane. Self checkout Kiosks are very very inefficient and have lots of technical issues.

  47. If you think this is about “maintaining profitability” you have been fooled by the super wealthy. Who do you think buys fast food? The sort of people that work at fast food restaurants that’s who. Shift the burden of payment off of the fast food companies and on to the tax payers (which does not include the super wealthy) and their profits get that much better. The rich get richer and anyone in the middle blames the poor. Recognize the real problem; global elites are left unchecked because they have fooled the middle class in to blaming the poor for America’s problems.

    1. Super wealthy? Global elites? If a company doesn’t maintain profitability, it is operating at a loss. It can only do that for a short amount of time until it starts cutting to survive or shuts it’s doors. No conspiracy there folks.

      1. Profitability? That’s total BS! It totally discounts the effect of the global elites, the jooz and the nefarious schemes of our alien overlords!

        1. Shhh! “They” are listening. Heh.
          I find it strange when meeting people who believe companies exist to give them jobs while not understaning the balance of exchange taking place. They tend to be union or public employees natch.

        2. Drives me nuts too. I find it more and more with office employees thanks to HR departments. It’s like the bread the entitlement of unions, the entitlement of public sector employees and the entitlement of milenials to create a whole new demon for of entitlement.
          I am fortunate. I work on the corporate side of construction as an ops director so I am well placed and in an industry where I can still be expected to exert some kind of will and force.
          But the shit I see going down. in 30 years shit will be so bad. It’s so good in on the cusp where I can watch the collapse but be retired and enjoying my twilight years when everything really comes falling down

        3. “But the shit I see going down. in 30 years shit will be so bad.”
          With you on that one. I believe we are about the same age, but when I speak to others in my industry are finding it hard to find anyone. The entitlement mentality finds alot of young people leave quickly as they are not cut out for it. Plus long hours, additioanl projects and some travel are expected. Non-negotiable.

        4. Yup. Same here. No travel because we are based only in Manhattan, but same deal. A few months ago I worked on a project where i was doing 80-100 hours a week easily and that doesn’t count the fact that because it was so much it is all I thought of when I was done.
          That’s work. Fuck it. I hope it is considered at the end of the year when bonuses are dolled out. But in the end, my employer intends to squeeze as much value out of me as he can, as I do out of my employees. They cost x dollars. If I get x – 0.0000001 I am operating at a loss for that employee and they have to either pick it up or get gone. No amount of “maybe if I had shorter hours and more money I would be more enthusiastic about my job” is gonna do. Your enthusiasm will come from one of two places, deep within yourself or my foot in your ass.
          That said, the worst is that they blame their parents for not instilling discipline and then blame you when you try to instill the very discipline they complain they weren’t given as if discipline was a fit we got for Christmas with a bow on it and not the outcome of decades of being driven like a mule with punishment for failure and not rewards for success.

      2. Yes those are obvious statements about business. If you think these fast food companies can’t afford to pay employees wages that at least attempt to match rising inflation rates you are a fool. Would they have a narrower profit margin? Of course. But they would be fine. Only the people at the top would need to take pay cuts but they still make millions. If you somehow think that the guys at the top of these companies work that much harder or are that much more talented than an average guy that they deserve millions a year in bonuses you still have the blue pill in your blood.
        If you don’t think there are global elites or super wealthy I direct you to this essay.
        http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2014/saving-horatio-alger

        1. “Would they have a narrower profit margin? Of course. But they would be fine.
          You know that how? Magic? Who gets to determine the acceptable level of narrowness?
          “Only the people at the top would need to take pay cuts but they still make millions.”
          But those who own the company determine what to pay the executives as they see fit as they strive to keep it profitable. If they didn’t, they would not be in those positions for long. Why do you, or anyone else, who bare no risk think they are qualified to make such an estimate? If an “average” guys could do those roles, they would. Some of them actually work their way up, but then they would no longer be average. n’est–ce pas?
          Reeves? A Brit “working principally on issues related to intergenerational mobility, inequality and social change.” I see he is one of Nick Cleggs bitches as well.
          Read some Sowell.
          http://www.amazon.com/Economic-Facts-Fallacies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465022030

        2. That essay was mildly interesting but its constant shilling for Democrats and liberal government was pretty unnerving.

  48. Without entry level jobs, NO ONE will be employable. The minimum wage is just a harmful scheme to buy votes from entitled losers. The cost of those votes is the elimination of entry level jobs.
    Our civilization is collapsing because we think education is lecturing children. If we eliminated minimum wage and child labor laws then we could have apprenticeships. Children would learn real skills in real situations in an adult setting.
    Our current system is children (ie. “Teachers”) preaching to other children. Of course people appear stupid and lazy: we have subjected them to a system designed to retard their maturation.

    1. Apprenticeships really wouldn’t work. Trade based jobs just don’t exist anymore, and sorry to burst your bubble, but they haven’t for a long time.

      1. Trade based jobs don’t exist? Are you fucking kidding? Do you know what a union electrician, plumber, carpenter, mason makes in NYC. Once established, a plumber with welding certs can often pull 150+ with a benefits package that would make you cry.

        1. He’s a Leftist. The world is one giant void of depression and victimhood to these types, regardless of the reality on the ground. A dude wants to go into a trade in Ohio, and is a native who speaks English, will have contractors up bidding each other to get his attention.

        2. Here too. As far as I know everywhere. I just do not understand victim mentality when there is such an abundance of opportunity.

        3. He means trade jobs lefties are willing to work don’t exist. Like women… just because all of the dangerous high-paying dirty filthy icky jobs are done by men doesn’t mean anything.
          We demand high-paying desk jobs as programmers and vidya game designers else we’re going to accuse you of sexism! :^)

        4. First sentence I was ready to call you king faggot!
          Nice juke right.

        5. “Trade based jobs don’t exist?” Some still exist, but not nearly to the extent as they used to. For example, Printing used to be a skill/trade job, and it has sense become a more factory type job.
          “electrician, plumber, carpenter, mason” Exactly though. They basically are limited to construction jobs and various smithing jobs. Though these jobs are important and have very good benefits, they still represent a fairly small percentage of all work. Anyways, any reasonably good School should already have metal and wood shops, and we already have a form of apprenticeship called being an intern.

        6. Exactly. That’s what I keep on trying to tell these idiots. That these careers are extremely niche. Start training thousands, f*ck, millions for these same spots and watch wages take a free fall. They don’t get it.

  49. Without going into the systemic issues of such a change… Many fellow red pill engineers across the spectrum often bring up these issues with me. Are we seeing a massive paradigm shift? Yes. Will this kill the economy for those without substantial capital or know how? Yes. Can automation produce a better non consumable product? Certainly.
    Do you want a burger cooked by sensors and mechatronics? Probably not. Would it cost significantly more to automate and MAINTAIN such precise machines? Answer: take an old ford vs newer VW into the auto shop for the same issue…
    One must understand that if automation comes into full effect as most believe it to be there are many unintended consequences. The first of these would be the complete lack of further innovation once a certain threshold of productivity is met. This means that it would be unprofitable to question anything as it stands except at a very simplistic level of improvement. The engineers of today are not even close to the level of the grizzled veterans in the many disciplines of mechanical engineering. I am a younger guy but understand that even the best computers and simulations really have nothing on (and the programs tried and failed to learn from) the older generations.
    That said I am a person who automates everything I touch. I do not believe in an internet of things via the internet. That is a recipe for total control. Imagine if someone hacked your fucking stove or heating system etc. For myself my most recent automation was a refined central thermostat. I do not believe in hermetically sealing my home and like having lots of windows open but maintaining decent temperature inside. I placed a handful of RF thermistors and button sensors around so the central unit knows when windows are open. It reads outside air temp and only kicks the furnace up on a specified PID algorithm. Just a small example but one I am fine tuning. Do not be afraid of automation. Just don’t pay money to kiosks or self checkouts

    1. “The first of these would be the complete lack of further innovation once a certain threshold of productivity is met. This means that it would be unprofitable to question anything as it stands except at a very simplistic level of improvement.” So you mean when Supply eventually eclipses demand? Well in that case pretty much the only functional option would be a move to Socialism…

      1. I will add that this is not specifically targeted at one specific product for a supply/demand analysis. It is more about business being content with a specific device and not innovating further. As for socialism, I wouldn’t trust the government to run a laundromat.

        1. “It is more about business being content with a specific device and not innovating further.” But the thing is, this just doesn’t happen. Look at the shaving industry, it was pretty much perfected 80 years ago when they made the twist to open safety razor. But after this, companies continue to look at (unneeded) ways to innovate, all of which don’t actually innovate or improve products. Gillette started making the double blade razor, then the triple blade, then the quadruple blade, then they bumped up to five blades. None of these extra blades actually do anything, but it’s just added because companies need to have infinite growth.
          “I wouldn’t trust the government to run a laundromat.” And at this current time, I don’t the state should have control of most industries either. But eventually it’s just going to be the only option. At some point we will be almost 100% automated and there wont be need for humans to work anymore, so capitalism will just cease to function because there is no longer any exchange of goods/services for pay.

  50. Why not have an app that connects to an ordering system through the establishment’s wifi? Customer brings their own touchscreen!

    1. Same reason why Russia and China are in a currency war with the US. Who gets the % on the electronic purchase and clearing house?

      1. And for those who don’t have an Adenoid or Apple phone: what? Are these orders placed through an “app” or on a web site?

  51. Minimum wage isn’t the only thing that makes automation cost-effective, but it’s part of the same culture. Stealing from John T. Reed here:
    “Robots do not receive pay; sue; strike; leave; unionize; demand higher wages; require human resources departments; trigger employer requirements to withhold taxes, pay unemployment, workers comp, life insurance, or disability insurance; trigger jurisdiction by OSHA; steal from their employer; require payment for health care other than cost effective repairs, receive pensions, have to be counseled for not doing a good job, have to be coached to do better, require parking spaces, take vacations, require break rooms, sleep, come to work with an AK-47 and blow away co-workers, don’t need to cross picket lines to get to work, require office space, go to the bathroom, forget what it has been told; require lights or indoor climate control to be around 70ºF; use the telephone; use the Internet for inappropriate purposes; loaf; get holidays off; require out-placement services.
    Ever heard of Cesar Chavez. He’s the big Latino hero in America. What did he do? To hear his supporters tell it, he was the savior of the grape pickers getting them much better wages and working conditions.
    Do you know any American grape pickers? Ever seen anyone picking grapes?
    Me neither. Grape picking was hard to automate cost effectively. Grapes grow on trellises. They do not all ripen at the same time. The pickers had to make several passes through the vineyard picking only the rip ones each time.
    What did Chavez really do? He made human pickers so much more expensive that it became easier to justify the cost of an automatic grape picking machine. They had to widen the space between trellises. That made the fields less productive but it was worth it to get rid of Chavez’s various requirements.
    How can the machine tell if the grapes are ripe and only pick those? They switched from wood to wire trellises. The wire has to be tightened to a certain tension. The machine has a metal wand that strikes the wire with a precise amount of force. That amount of the force that knocks the ripe grapes off, but not the unripe ones. They fall into a trough that is part of the machine. As with the humans, the machine must go through the vineyard several times during the harvest as additional grapes become ripe. If you drive by a grape vineyard nowadays, you will see that the alleys are wider and that the grapes grow on wires, not wooden trellises.
    Thank you, Cesar Chavez, our hero, for getting us all fired.”

    1. Automation happens regardless of Unionization. The only real solution is too constantly decrease hours and increase wages. If one person running a robotic arm has the productivity of 10 regular workers, then that 1 person should be making 10x as much.

        1. But it’s spelled irregardless, and technically that isn’t even a real word, it’s regardless.

    2. Cesar Chavez was also opposed to illegal immigration he knew that cheap imported labor reduced wages. Of course it’s unrealistic to expect to get rich picking fruits and vegetables, but a decent wage would be a better alternative. Wages in some food production work have actually gone backwards such as meat packing which is dominated by illegal and legal immigrants.

      1. Factory work in general, for what we still have left in the US, is almost completely immigrant labor. The lefties that keep pining about the days their Great Grandfathers used to be able to afford a house and two kids on a single job forget that there used to exist jobs that didn’t require a college degree and actually paid. It was right after a war and hundreds of thousands of men were removed from the workforce. Mostly because the were all shot. A shortage in men increases the cost for everyone as companies bid to keep and win laborers.
        … it’s also part of the reason they tricked women into joining the workforce. Oops, sorry goy… wages are stagnant. And now you need two incomes to afford a house? Simply a coincidence.
        I worked at an injection blow-molding facility for a few months. I was one of three white people on the entire 12 hour shift. The other two were managers. The floor was 95% Mexican immigrant (male and female… women did assembly, finish work, putting labels on things, packaging line, etc.) and a few black females also on finish. We used to joke about how I was the college educated white boi who was stealin’ some Messican’s job.
        I moved on very quickly because pay topped out at $8/hr. They didn’t need to pay more. There was an endless pool of labor willing to work cheap and wire most of what they earned back to Mexico.
        That’s another huge problem the left doesn’t speak of — what money these immigrants do make isn’t even helping our economy. They shop at their own stores, in their own little mexican districts, and most of the money they earn leaves the country. It’s a complete economic drain that benefits absolutely no one but the owner of the facility.

  52. The kicker here is that disposable incomes would be significantly better without the welfare state. Those with fewer skills but with motivation would have access to plenty of opportunities, while those without the motivation would simply cease to exist. This would increase the disposable income for everyone, which would automatically improve working and middle class wealth via lower taxes..
    At the moment the system has been engineered in a way that allows the individuals that are the least capable of producing the opportunity to breed in large numbers, while those most capable of producing don’t breed at all. This has been allowed to happen because SJW’s believe everyone is equal, except we aren’t equal, not even close. Are the 7 children to 7 fathers raised on welfare going to become hard working, productive members of society? No, not a fucking chance, even if 1 of the 7 did, the taxes paid by that individual wouldn’t go close to covering the cost of the remaining 6 delinquents.. It’s regressive..
    Western society needs to cut with the equality experiment that is clearly failing and move back towards the nuclear family. The nuclear family works because it encourages productive members of society to raise productive children, as such everyone benefits. The least productive need to be allowed to starve, as horrible as that sounds it is reality. The longer you sustain these individuals with welfare, the more they will breed and the worse the problem will become.

    1. We just have to wait for population control to begin and hope that the Jewish elite consider fucking white males to be worthy of the 500,000,000.

  53. The social engineers know exactly what they are doing with minimum wage increases. They want more power over society.

  54. Then again – so what? How many people could replace taxis with rickshaws if they’re willing to work for next to nothing?

  55. People aren’t unemployed because they are lazy, they are unemployed because we have too many workers for not enough consumers. We just don’t need people to work 8 hour shifts anymore, and shortening work times would fix quite a few ailments of our economy.

    1. “We just don’t need people to work 8 hour shifts anymore, and shortening work times would fix quite a few ailments of our economy.”
      No, it wouldn’t. The French tried that 30 years ago and ended it within a year.

      1. Walmart is doing it now. How do you think Obama “created” so many jobs? Full-timers were all laid off and replaced with two, three, sometimes four part-timers to fill the same hours.

      2. With high unemployment? How would that not decrease unemployment?
        :The French tried that 30 years ago” Yeah, no sh!t Sherlock. Guess what, it was 30 FÜCKING YEARS AGO! Before they had robots doing 90% of labour.

        1. “Before they had robots doing 90% of labour.”
          Not quite my emotive friend. Trade Union, regulations, high taxes and restricitve labor laws ensure high unemployment, lack of investment and policy failure. Asking people to work and earn less simply multiplies the misery.

    2. We don’t need to shorten the work week if we simply ended immigration the work force would shrink and wages would go up. The open borders crowd wants to keep wages low and they do that with the two million immigrants they let into the US every year.

      1. Exactly… Immigration should be suspended as along as the workforce participation rate is in the shitter.

      2. “We don’t need to shorten the work week if we simply ended immigration the work force would shrink and wages would go up.” I agree with this. But due to automation, at some point we will inevitably have to cut back on hours. Anyways, wouldn’t everyone like shorter hours with better compensation?

    3. Yeah, we have like no real consumers in this nation, everybody instead sits out of the market and frugally holds onto their money, daring to not spend it. That defines modern America really, frugality and common sense economic decisions.

      1. Dude, you are on a role! lmao. I need to gtfo and get some work done. I’m going to laugh about this later on today. ROK you made my day…. Americans… frugal. lol, I cant even..

        1. Real wages have stagnated since the mid -90s, but you seem to not grasp why.

  56. While half of me chortles gleefully as these greedy, lazy, unskilled and worthless slugs lose their jobs due to their own shortsightedness…
    The other half is not nearly as happy. This simply serves to grow the pool of social leeches who live completely off welfare and bennies. And now instead of being locked up at McDonalds & co, where they can do little more than get my order wrong, and spit in my food, they’ll now be out on the streets, with more time to pillage, loot, rob, rape and murder.

  57. One thing to consider is that the coming older generation which will be higher in numbers then x.y and the milenialls will not use the kiosks. They like to talk to real people when making a purchase or even a waiter/waitress. The lines would become so unbearable while grandma is trying to find a coffee with cream on the screen.

    1. Yeah man, Millenials totes reject technology and are so social and shit. I can’t get them to stop talking to me wherever I walk.

    2. You’re crazy, this new gen will want to text the order and have it ready when they arrive and by the way.. Grandma has an iPhone, the kiosk wont confuse her. Where the heck do you live dude? As for lines, it’ll be a lot quicker than dealing with the illiterate cashier who heard cheeseburger when you really said 1/4 pounder. smh

      1. I agree the new generation and a lot of boomers will be fine but many will not. Mpls by the way and I see it all the time in grocery stores and people using Menards more the Home Depot which forces you to check out yourself. When the t-mobile millennial was upgrading gramps to the smart phone recently I could see there is going to be big problem upcoming. The oldies all occupy these places during the day so it will be interesting to see how they adapt. I am taking care of 4 of them and constantly answering tech questions. FYI I absolutely do not agree with $15 a hour.

  58. Sorry, but work ethic is definitely a race thing. Whenever I walk into a fast food restaurant, I know how long I’m going to have to wait for my food based on how dark skinned the staff is.

  59. Can someone get rid of these click bait ads at the end of every article. Very unprofessional.

    1. …says someone who is reading here FOR FREE. What is your suggestion for monetization? I think it’s a great website, and they should get at least some ad revenue out of it.

      1. Yes and I can ready plenty other one for free too. How about ads for things we would actually buy instead of this click bait bs.
        There’s plenty of ways to monetize a blog. These ads make the site look cheap.

      2. I would be fine with actual advertizing that’s somewhat relevant instead of the literal jewbait trash and scam products.
        “He turned one shekel into six million!”
        “You won’t believe what happened next! It’s like annodah shoah!”

  60. “The free market is an interesting animal and responds in ways unpredictable to some. It is a symptom of the megalomania of Barack Obama and others in federal and state governments that they think they can regulate free market capitalism and make it do their bidding. ”
    Luke is whistling past the economic graveyard here. The “free market” system is dying of its own internal contradictions. We can run from the dialectic but we can’t hide. Once the inevitable publicly owned economy is in place, technological innovations that reduce employment will be held back to facilitate the ultimate goal of full employment.

  61. The left is pushing for a full Star Trek economy where all basic needs are filled in exchange for an absolute police state and obedience to some global overlord Government. Never Jetsons, though… they were a stable two-parent white family with good morals and loving children, and that kind of future must be destroyed.
    Honestly, I’ve stopped caring. I’ll take my free pony and sip margaritas on a beach somewhere and watch the fires as white nations are wiped from the Earth by the scourge of the Jew. What we pay burger-flippers is so low on my Give-a-fuck meter it hardly even registers. It’s a distraction.
    Not everyone gets to see an empire fall, and most of us will get to live through at least two of them. Like father, like son.

    1. Careful about mentioning the “chosen.” Our resident JIDF member is back, and will get butthurt.

  62. “The jobs are there. The pay is there.” Cite your sources or GTFO. You do realize that if everyone went into trades, the value of those crafts would plummet as well?

      1. Exactly. The author of this essay has zero solution. Only speculation.

        1. Solutions would be for less state interference and deregluation. The US has the hightest corporation tax in the world which hinders Investment. Americans still have the best technological edge, but the feds need to get the fuck out of the way and stop subsidizing failures. Also, break up the monopolies and end corporate welfare. Goldman Sachs and GM should have been forced into bankruptcy.

        2. Well, there are some very interesting libertarian type proposals that I feel would work out. For example, harassment of the homeless in this country needs to end. If you don’t want to pay for subsidized housing and homeless shelters, fine, but that doesn’t give the ultimate welfare recipients(police), the right to assault and harass them. Just because some poor bastard is living in a cardboard box doesn’t give the state the right to criminalize.
          Ending the “war on drugs” and “public education” would do wonders for the economy. No more cultural Marxism. Unfortunately, many of the same proposals that I speak out for are ironically enough squashed by the Republicans as a whole. I can’t shoot up heroin or snort coke, but by God, I can drink, smoke, pop pills to my hearts content; racking up heart disease and liver cancer by the bushel.

  63. I am afraid this article is very sort sighted. First I assume that most of the people in such “red pill” sites are against everyday mass political ideologies, and endorse some sort of nationalist views, especially ethnic nationalism. One of the classical justification of nationalism is that a nation is a large enough type of group of people so it contains individuals of all the range of many different parameters. IQ, health, physical characteristics, artistic, scientific, but also men not so bright but fit to occupy more menial tasks. Tribes fiefdoms and regionalist states were too small, empires very large, so it was/is the perfect balance between homogeneity and required diversity.
    With modern terms we can say that in each parameter the national population follows a normal distribution, or a bell curve. So there will ALWAYS be even, in a closed border nation, people in the left side of the curve. In a healthy nation they are not useless they will do the menial tasks. The state and the stronger members must take care of their dignity and protection of most weak strata. The advice: “get skills” so they can all hypothetically move to higher standard jobs is futile. First it will create a vacuum which the left will claim that it must be filled with even less improvised and hostile alien nationals, and they will be… right. Second it will create pressure in higher levels of the pyramid of job market. If the lower levels of job market has to continually keep adding skills, certifications, like a domino the higher levels will demand even more qualifications. It is already happening a single university degree today looks inadequate, people keep chasing degree after degree well into their late 20s even 30s, can’t have families, lowering fertility rates, which left uses it to cry for more immigration. The solution based on solid ideological foundries not thrown away pieces of thoughts, is obvious. Almost completely closed sealed borders. Protectionism and state control of the well being and dignity of the lower working classes of the nation. High or low basic income is secondary, it is an economical tool not a dogma. In some circumstances it might has to be lowered, in others it can be the other way.

  64. AND the US is importing more low skill labor via immigration. More low skill people on top of our own low skill native born folks. One reason is that a honduran illegal won’t sue for disability if he gets a paper cut at work. I am vehemently against all immigration and think we need a 20 year moratorium on all immigration but the work ethic of the native born here has a lot to be desired….

  65. The burger-flipping jobs were going to be automated anyway, $15 minimum wage or no. Given the choice between trusting a machine to work as promised and praying some teenager shows up for the morning shift on time and sober, it’s no contest.

  66. ”I work in a car factory, and I can do any job the guys on the line can do; the jobs aren’t that complicated. However, I would never make the cycle time of the line because I wouldn’t be fast enough to finish my job on one car before the next one came piling in. Eventually, I could train up to be as fast as they are, but they work hard for their money and deserve it, just like I deserve mine by doing what I do.” — — —
    Not every job is for everyone. Some people are perfectly happy with a certain line of work and are genetically predisposed for that line of work. I watched migrant workers once picking apples and this one guy was like a midget monkey. He’d hang by his legs upside down, tossing a perfect pitch and he’d fill more bushels than anyone else on the field. That job was made for him and no one else, certainly not me.
    Hard work is good. It makes you better regardless of what they pay you. If it feels good doing the work and your basic needs are met, then work is a pleasure especially when you’re naturally cut out for the work. Being a housewife pays little monetarily but it’s not about the money. Robo nannies are the devil so they will never come to fruition. Rest assured ladies, tit feeding is the most grand and honorable profession for you to fall back on. Let men tinker, invent and explore, let them battle, conquer and climb ladders, heck let them rob banks if they’ve got the crazyballs to do so but let them be men.
    Let’s compare two samples of ‘men’ here. One man places manly pursuits above diaper changing while the other will gladly stoop to grab the wipes.


    This is 2016 by golly. Man is on the rise. Which ‘man’ speaks virtue now? Is shitwiping really a man’s job too? Those who cleave to the feminist rhetoric will be destroyed when the patriarchal consciousness begins sweeping the nations. Our species cannot fall to bitch rule. We lose our soverignty as a species to alien forces immediately upon our surrender to bitch rule. A green bug eyed face lies beneath when you peel away the mask of ‘bitch rule’. Bitch rule never.
    As for how proficient a leader Trump will be is to be seen but he surely will survive the line in the sand when the patriarchs names be called. When man returns to the throne, a spirit and sense of freedom will come over mankind, like a sovereign human pulse or heartbeat we never knew we had or never noticed or heard. Once the bitch screaching stops, we hear once again the beat OF MAN. Women can never rule men. Any man under the thumb or under the rule of a female can testify that it certainly isn’t her that’s doing the ‘ruling’. The ‘spirit’ a woman supposedly ‘rules’ with is clearly not a human spirit. There is never ruling woman – only fallen man.

  67. >>> Working at Taco Bell may require an industrial maintenance degree and relevant experience
    The US Military used to churn those people out.
    That was then; this is now.

  68. Great article. I like when RoK handles hard politics and economic issues. I don’t know how well shaming will work as a tactic against laziness. People in Europe seem to have no problem with this, and until the culture changes to one of self-sufficiency, we’re going to see people enjoying being on welfare and all the free time they have to do all that art and drink all that craft beer.

    1. I’ll never forget when a friend started bragging he “works for the government”, To which I responded “right, so hop on over to the supermarket and pick me up another six pack you lazy rat, I ain’t paying you to sit around doing nothing”..
      It took a few seconds for him to realize what I said, but he never fucking bragged again about it around me.

      1. Ouch. Was he just bragging about having a good job, that just happened to be for the government, or was he explicitly making the point that he works a government job? If the latter, then yeah, fuck him, haha.

        1. It was the latter, hence my response. He was bragging about the specific benefits that no private sector jobs have. I don’t begrudge someone for working for the government so long as they don’t try to rub my nose in it. Don’t piss off the hand that feeds you;-)

        2. No kidding! Overpaid paper pushers, unless he works for the FBI or CIA. I applied for a government job once, but I had something very minor on my record, like I think my DUI, and it immediately disqualified me.

  69. It means a bigger public sector and more political shift to the left. I think the course of our nation is gradual shift to the left from its inception, until there is socialism followed by eventual upheaval. Europe is the same but farther along.

  70. what most ppl don’t understand is this process was going to happen no matter what minimum wage is set at. all these so called robots and kiosks have been around for at least 30 yrs. The industry i worked in had instituted one red light with a communication device and that 50,000 dollar piece of machinery cut 2 men of every line of employment. this was in the 80s. the so called robot automation is a job killer. and for those of you who think that we will still have to have ppl who will maintain these machines, remember they have a machine that can do that also, so there goes that position. automation is a job cutting innovation. this article says that. instead of having 4 ppl behind the counter waiting on customers they will have 2 now let’s take wendys as an example 6,000 stores 2 employees per shift (to begin with) that’s 4 employees per store times 6,000 stores, that’s 24,000 ppl out of work. if this automation keeps going the way i see it going all dept. stores will be set to do the same. I refuse to eat in a restaurant and use the kiosk screen to order or pay my bill. applebees and some other restaurants already have these screens at every table and I refuse to use them. I don’t use self checkout at wal-mart or any grocery store. these machines are job killers.

  71. First, fast food is POISON. Don’t eat that swill. Secondly, this central banking system that rules us is essentially a ponzi scheme. Capitalist or communist, it is the same con. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
    Do not fall for all that automated, technocratic, utopian bull. Automation, self driving cars and the internet of things will rip you off. Welcome to the brave new world prison

  72. Thanks for the article. There is alot of ignorance in the US on economics, and politicos have been using that to grandstand on issues such as these.
    In California, however, there is another option ,and ts to hire illegal labor and pay well below the state mandated wage. Ironically, this will benefit privately owned fast food restaurants. Another option is that companies will outsource this labor, as they have with janitorial services. A third point is that previously, substituting capital for labor shifted employment to higher skilled labor that can operate the machines.
    Two problems with this last alternative – there will still be a net reduction in employment, Second, in the US as it is now, there will not be an increased demand for skilled labor, because the companies who make capital goods moved out of the US. Thus, an increase of unskilled skilled labor cost will have the effect of increasing demand for skilled labor outside of the US.
    Economics is all about unintended effects – some times called ‘second order’ effects. So it will be here also.

  73. I actually like the kiosks. I don’t have to have a 2nd language in ebonics to understand what it’s saying. Plain, straight, english. Without attitude. Winner winner chicken dinner.

  74. “It has since recovered profitability… ”
    Uh, No. This recovery is fake brought on by federal reserve tinkering via three cycles of quantitative easing. Sure, the stock market went up, but only because you can’t make any money saving money. Even with rock bottom interest rates, the rest of the economy is crap. Jobs are disappearing, A few rich Silicon Valley types are having a great ride, but overall this “recovery” is a complete sham and there is little more the federal reserve can do to paper over the real problems.

  75. Lets do some basic math: 24 hours a day X 7 days a week X 52 weeks a year = 8,376 work hours a year. The cost of this automated system is $35,000. So the hourly cost of running this machine is roughly $35,000/8376 hours = $4.18 an hour. Meaning that we could lower the minimum wage to only $5.00 an hour, and workers still wouldn’t be able to compete. This isn’t about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It’s about low skill labor becoming irrelevant.

  76. Min wage has always gone up in the US over time. The raise to 15 dollars is not a lot and they put that hike off a lot longer than normal. You guys just suck at math. Healthcare companie are paying nurses 90k a year with what 2 years training… that job is not hard, but it’s in demand. Sometimes you have to adapt and learn the job that’s in demand.. not demand the government produce the jobs you want.
    If you plan to wait for housing jobs to come back, plan to be poor for couple decades, especially if you don’t let immigrants in to fill up all those empty houses. WTF are you ppl thinking.
    You have empty houses sitting around you country and you want to build a wall to keep ppl out. YOU ARE SO STUPID ITS UNBELIEVABLE.

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