Usa Thread

[Coss]

Or in America, almost 4 big macs a day, that's nearly a whole meal!

[gobbledonk]

Or in America, almost 4 big macs a day, that's nearly a whole meal!

 

Great if you live under a bridge and dont need anything other than those 4 BMs each day .....

 

The 2.13 is what they pay hospitality workers - they make their living from tips. The workers interviewed all had a faraway look in their eyes when they were told what the min. wage was for hospitality workers in Oz - the casual rate (no holidays or sick leave) is over $20 an hour and many get paid extra for working weekends and public holidays. I remember someone here outlining what it would cost to run a restaurant in the 'states a few years back, and it was pretty clear that owners had to watch every dollar they spent to make it a viable business - clearly, raising that 2.13 to anything resembling a 'living wage' would put a lot of those businesses in jeapordy in a country where fast food is just so insanely cheap.

[dean]

I just saw a report that Mc D made a 1.5 billion profit (I can't remember if that was annually or quarterly) but it cost 1.2 billion in government support programs for those workers. So, the U.S. Taxpayer is supporting keeping Mickey D open.

[Coss]

Great if you live under a bridge and dont need anything other than those 4 BMs each day .....

 

My point exactly.

[cavanami]

Fast-Food Chains Costing Taxpayers the Most Money

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fast-food-chains-costing-taxpayers-173510741.html

 

The fast-food industry is one of the nation’s largest employers of low and minimum wage workers. According to one group, often the industry workers' pay is not enough and many turn to government programs for assistance.

According to the National Employment Law Project's (NELP) newest report, because the fast-food industry pays its workers less than a living wage, U.S. taxpayers must foot the bill in the form of the public assistance programs these workers must use to get by. McDonald’s alone, according to the group, cost taxpayers $1.2 billion last year. Based on NELP’s estimates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the annual costs of providing public assistance to low wage employees working at the seven largest publicly traded fast-food companies...

[Flashermac]

Read "Fast Food Nation". Leading the fight to keep the minimum wage low is just one of the things they do.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia....ast_Food_Nation

[gobbledonk]

Curious to hear from the Americans on the board re why voters continually allow the CIA to enrage people worldwide with their antics ? Is it really worth the embarrassment incurred to bug Angela Merkel's phone ? If nothing else, it means the rest of the world has to endure images like this:

 

q

[gobbledonk]

Before someone tells me 'they all do it !' - no argument, but most are bright enough not to get caught. The wags are crowing that the US has managed to do what very few have managed in recorded history - unite Europe behind Germany (in their common loathing of the US). Way to go, Langley, way to go.

[Flashermac]

Ask the folks in charge ... Obama et al. Doesn't seem to matter who is elected. They are turn into clones of their predecessors.

 

Meanwhile, back at the fallen arches ...

 

 

Instead of Raises, McDonald's Tells Workers to Sign Up for Food Stamps

 

 

McDonald's has taken a lot of heat lately for the subpar wages it pays its employees, but the company does encourage its workers to find an alternate source of income — federal assistance. A fast-food worker advocacy group has a recording of a phone call made by a worker to the McDonald's employee helpline, called McResources. The operator more or less told Nancy Salgado, an McDonald's employee of 10 years, that signing her and her children up for food stamps should be no problem.

 

"You would most likely be eligible for SNAP benefits," the operator says. "You know it's a federal program, the federal money comes down the states, and the states administer it," the operator adds, making it crystal clear that Salgado would be taking federal money. Not paying your workers enough, then directing them to federal programs like food stamps is apparently one of the ways that McDonald's inflates its hefty profits.

 

Here's an edited version of the audio from the call, provided by the advocacy group Low Pay Is Not OK:

 

[on link]

 

If Salgado's name sounds familiar, that's because she's the same woman who confronted McDonald's USA President Jeff Stratton earlier this month and asked him about why she hasn't seen a raise in 10 years and was still being paid $8.25. He replied, "I've been there for 40 years." Salgado was then arrested for interrupting his meeting.

 

The push for fairer wages, and the recording of Salgado's call stems from a report last week which found that more than half of fast food workers have to go on public assistance programs because of their poor wages, CNN reported. "The report estimated that this public aid carries a $7 billion price tag for taxpayers each year," they explain.

 

Connect the simple dots, and it turns you're actually part of McDonald's and other fast-food companies' lucrative business plans. Suggesting your employees go get food stamps is technically legal, as The Atlantic's Jordan Weissman points out. It's sorta like suggesting they get a second job. Possibly adding insult to injury, CNN reports that franchise owners have to pay to allow its employees to use the McResources help line. So there may be employees who don't get access to this advice, and yes, that's another way McDonald's is making money.

 

 

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/10/instead-living-wage-mcdonalds-tells-workers-sign-food-stamps/70881/

[cavanami]

The last *** real *** American to try to stop the CIA ended up in Dallas with bullets in his head!