What Will a Burger Cost in CA Now?

[HankB]

Analyze all you want, extrapolate all you want, kick it around and up and down.

Here's the nitty-gritty rock solid bottom floor truth to it:

California is firmly on board with "wreck the economy, therefore the nation, and therefore allow communism to be the 'solution' to our problems."

Laugh, deride me, shun me, call me an extremist, call me anything you want, but that's the solid honest-to-G-d truth to it.

I said it and I ain't takin' it back.

Signed,

Terry, 230RN

There's an old saying called Hanlon's Razor which goes something like "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Unfortunately, mere stupidity fails to explain what's going on - just consider, if politicians were governing by coin flip, they'd be getting it right half the time. But in many cases - THEY'RE NOT. Is stupidity going to give worse results than a coin flip? Not likely, not in the long term.

That leaves actual malice as the most likely motivation. Deliberate and intentional malice.

[AZRedhawk44]

I am making 23.50/hr at my job and 27 something at my PT job. Meanwhile if I want to be an overnight manager at Sheetz they start at 19. So why exactly am i doing skilled things that not many others can do?

These ratios cannot stand, and have skilled jobs entice people to invest so many years into building skills.

Used to be a burger flipper got $8 an hour, and a skilled industrial worker or EMT made twice that.  Now the industrial or EMT gig is only a couple bucks more than the burger job, and only representing 10-15% greater compensation.

There's going to be another wave of inflation as everyone plays "catch up" on salary expectations to get ahead of the moocher class.

[French G.]

These ratios cannot stand, and have skilled jobs entice people to invest so many years into building skills.

Used to be a burger flipper got $8 an hour, and a skilled industrial worker or EMT made twice that.  Now the industrial or EMT gig is only a couple bucks more than the burger job, and only representing 10-15% greater compensation.

There's going to be another wave of inflation as everyone plays "catch up" on salary expectations to get ahead of the moocher class.

To be clear, I am living an okay life. I have an $800/month fixed rate mortgage. My pay is about average for most jobs in the area. But some are rising faster. When I took my job three months before the great Rona my pay was okay. Not what I wanted, but okay. I had another job offer at the local aviation outfit for same money worse benefits. At the time my wage was a bit more than double the average fast food or c-store job. My pay increased at normal time speeds, theirs accelerated a bit. This year I have built numerous architectural metals that are to be installed within blocks of the white house, erected structural steel, various other millwright stuff, welded and/or machined anything that needed to be done, etc. Where is my replacement coming from if the money isn't there?

[HankB]

. . . Where is my replacement coming from if the money isn't there?

A Chinese-owned company will hire illegals from south of the border, managed by Chinese H1B visa holders willing to work for fish heads and rice. Work quality will suck, but the company will emphasize "EQUITY" so they'll be untouchable.

[French G.]

A Chinese-owned company will hire illegals from south of the border, managed by Chinese H1B visa holders willing to work for fish heads and rice. Work quality will suck, but the company will emphasize "EQUITY" so they'll be untouchable.

Meh, I am still optimistic about the state of American manufacturing. The unions and corporate greed together chased a bunch of work offshore but I build American stuff every day. At the height of the plague we were even making plague related stuff and selling it to China. My former fulltime job, now part time we sell automated meat packing equipment all over the world. The more labor costs go up, the more we sell.

[AZRedhawk44]

To be clear, I am living an okay life. I have an $800/month fixed rate mortgage.

I getcha.  My mortgage is a little above $900/month.  It's nice.  But no one can get such a mortgage any more.  I bought my 0.3 acre cul-de-sac situated house back when it sold for $180k.  I could list it for $450k today and get a bidding war going that would drive it near $500k. 

No amount of money buys access to a time machine and yesteryear's mortgage.  And no one thinks a burger-flipping job merits eligibility for a mortgage... but skilled blue collar jobs do.  The difference NEEDS to be more than 10-15% for the next generation of home buyers to emerge.  Not just due to inflation of property values, but for discrimination in earnings potential.  A burger flipper is effectively capped in potential.  Skilled blue collar labor is not.