14 Nov Robots vs minimum wage hikes
Image created by me using Canva
Another article that John references is that Newsom has approved minimum wage for health care workers and we can find this on Politico on October 13th. It reads, “Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a closely watched bill that would raise the minimum wage for California health care workers to $25 per hour.” And one of the things that John talks about in this video is that as we get these minimum wage increases, it’s going along the same lines of firing up the printing press, and just making more and more money. As he says in the video, and what I will say here: there’s no argument that there are people who are underpaid. I mean, when you look at, I would say let’s especially juxtapose the amount of money that the average CEO makes in relation to their workers. When you look at the CEOs and the freaking billionaires of some of these huge companies that employ minimum wage workers it’s just crazy. I’m not going to name any names, I think we all kind of know some of the companies that I’m talking about where it’s like the family that owns the company or the CEO that’s in charge of it make insane amounts of money, but then they have workers that are making minimum wage, they can’t make ends meet and so they have to go on public benefits. So it’s like the low prices that society thinks we’re getting at the stores really aren’t because we are subsidizing those stores with our tax dollars. But yet there are people that still think we don’t have crony capitalism. They don’t. It’s like they have their blinders on. They can’t admit the one and the other. You get the neolibs that are in love with the state but hate Corporate America, at least seemingly. And then you have the neocons that are on the opposite side of it. And it’s like: they’re all working together, it’s called collusion. Look into it. The one hand scratches the other one, I can promise you on that. Nobody is saying like, “Well, people just don’t deserve to make more money. Screw these people. Forget about somebody on minimum wage and forget about the health care workers.” No, no, no, no, that’s not the point that I’m trying to make here. There are plenty of people that are overworked and underpaid and they need they deserve to have more money for what they do. What I am saying is what I said earlier in this broadcast: Corporate America always wins. Like the house in Vegas, they always win. They will figure out whatever they need to do to come out on top in the situation. So if they agree to some kind of rate hike after employees go on strike or after there’s some kind of intervention with legislation from their politician cronies saying, “You need to pay these people X amount of dollars or more per hour or you’re going to be in violation of the law,” Corporate America is still going to figure out a way to win. Always. Whether they bring in scabs that cross the picket line or they just bring in artificial intelligence and robot employees that much faster, they will. They’ll figure out a way to employ less people: “Okay, if you have to get 25 bucks an hour minimum to walk through the door, we’ll just hire less of you. We’ll have more robots and more AI to take your jobs. And that’ll be the end of it.” Or: “We’ll find a loophole and hire people 1099 freelance and get folks that are in developing countries that are willing to work for pennies on the dollar in comparison to American / western world workers.” Hello. It’s happening.
-“Bonus Episode: Things are a mess” published October 21, 2023 (emphasis mine for this blog post) https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/13803965
Chipotle founder turns to robots
Chipotle founder Steve Ells is gearing up to launch a new venture: a largely automated, meat-free restaurant chain called Kernel, The Wall Street Journal writes. The first location is set to open in Manhattan in early 2024 and require only three human workers, relying on a robotic arm, a programmed toaster and conveyor belts once orders are “beamed to the kitchen.” The goal is to charge prices similar to competitors’ but offer better pay and benefits to the leaner staff, said Ells, who left Chipotle in 2020 after outbreaks of food-borne illness.
Ells has invested $10 million and raised an additional $36 million.
Meanwhile, Chipotle plans to raise prices to offset higher wages mandated in California.
–https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/chipotle-founder-turns-to-robots-5812876/ published November 13, 2023
WARNED YA!
If you think other companies won’t follow this lead, you’re dreaming.
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