Online report of the Progressive Review. Since 1964, the news while there's still time to do something about it.
September 7, 2014
Easy math
2 comments:
Capt. America
said...
If McD's had to pay $25/hr, it would hasten the day when each store had only one employee. This would be a good thing if the benefits of technology were shared.
"The revenue of the person to whom it is paid, does not so properly consist in the piece of gold, as in what he can get for it, or in what he can exchange it for." ---Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations
When the Big Mac was originally introduced in 1968 it was priced at $.49. The minimum wage at that time was $1.65 an hour, which put in other terms translates to just slightly more than three Big Macs for one hour's work. The average price for a Big Mac today is somewhere around $4.40 with it selling for well over $5.00 in some locations. The national minimum wage baseline today is $7.25, which translated into our burgers for work analogy equals about one and two thirds Big Mac for one hour's work. So, in actual terms of employee compensation, it is clearly evident that through the years a combination of static wages and relentless inflation have eroded employee buying power nearly in half. As Adam Smith noted nearly two and a half centuries ago: " Money is neither a material to work upon, nor a tool to work with; and though the wages of the workman are commonly paid to him in money, his real revenue, like that of all other men, consists, not in money, but in the money's worth; not in the metal pieces, but in what can be got for them."
Today workman aren't able to get very much for the money they're paid.
2 comments:
If McD's had to pay $25/hr, it would hasten the day when each store had only one employee. This would be a good thing if the benefits of technology were shared.
"The revenue of the person to whom it is paid, does not so properly consist in the piece of gold, as in what he can get for it, or in what he can exchange it for."
---Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations
When the Big Mac was originally introduced in 1968 it was priced at $.49. The minimum wage at that time was $1.65 an hour, which put in other terms translates to just slightly more than three Big Macs for one hour's work. The average price for a Big Mac today is somewhere around $4.40 with it selling for well over $5.00 in some locations. The national minimum wage baseline today is $7.25, which translated into our burgers for work analogy equals about one and two thirds Big Mac for one hour's work.
So, in actual terms of employee compensation, it is clearly evident that through the years a combination of static wages and relentless inflation have eroded employee buying power nearly in half.
As Adam Smith noted nearly two and a half centuries ago:
" Money is neither a material to work upon, nor a tool to work with; and though the wages of the workman are commonly paid to him in money, his real revenue, like that of all other men, consists, not in money, but in the money's worth; not in the metal pieces, but in what can be got for them."
Today workman aren't able to get very much for the money they're paid.
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