And now in Chicago we see fast food workers want $15/hour to serve you fries and a burger. Yeah, right!! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fast-food-workers-prepare-escalate-051201870.html Wasn't sure whether to post this here of under "Just Another Day in Chicago" as we'll probably see more shootings when this fails.
Fast food workers are protesting for better pay around the world. It appears that new, de facto unions are arising, thanks to social media.
Guess where all those McJobs are going now? Nice work guys you just priced yourself out of a job. Hamburger-making machine churns out custom burgers at industrial speeds Hamburgers are a multi-billion dollar business, and while fast food chains have got the process down to an efficient production line process, making them is still labor intensive with armies of burger flippers and sandwich assemblers. In a move that could put millions of teenagers around the world out of their first job, Momentum Machines is creating a hamburger-making machine that churns out made-to-order burgers at industrial speeds and aims to use it in its own chain of restaurants. According to Momentum Machines, making burgers costs US$9 billion a year in wages in the United States alone. The company points out that a machine that could make burgers with minimum human intervention would not only provide huge savings in labor costs, but would also reduce preparation space with a burger kitchen replaced by a much smaller and cheaper stainless-steel box. This self-contained, automatic device sees raw ingredients go in one end and the completed custom-made burgers come out the other at the rate of up to 400 per hour. The machine stamps out the patties, uses what the company says are "gourmet cooking techniques never before used in a fast food restaurant,â applies the toppings (which are cut only after ordering to ensure freshness), and even bags the burgers. The company plans to open its first restaurant in the near future and to market the machines to third parties, arguing that one can pay pay for itself inside of a year. The company is targeting restaurants, convenience stores, food trucks and vending machine applications. In the meantime, the device is still undergoing development with a feature to allow for custom-ground and mixed beef to be included in the next generation.
They can protest ... but that job is not worth $15/hour. I rarely go to a fast food place but when I do most of the time I see a good number of the workers going through the motions. And at $15/hour that's $31,200 per year. So if Mom & Dad both work full time at a fast food place you actually think $62,400 is pay appropriate for such a job? Further, there is no way places could maintain a profitable store if they are forced to increase wages by up to 100% short of raising prices quite a bit.
And this is just one more example as to why education is important. Back in the late 80's when I was working in the corporate world I was a part of the early introduction of robots, AGV's (automated guided vehicles), artificial intelligence/expert systems, ASRS (automated storage & retrieval systems) to manufacturing facilities and that did result in fewer human jobs. This hamburger machine is just an example of more automation, and probably more efficiency, at a lower cost.
You don't raise wages for the sake of raising wages. You pay a person a wage that is correlated to the job, skill level required and educational requirements. Just because people drop out of school they don't deserve $15/hour working at a menial job. You missed the point .. many CHOOSE welfare. Why not start with getting an education? And why not make sure they don't have kids when they're 17 or 18. People need to take some personal responsibility for their lives and quit with the 'woe is me' BS. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-hard-working-american-vs-the-government-parasite