McMachines....

I've had many heated arguments over artificially raising the minimum wage. A point I've always made is business, which has a limited amount of funding, and normally labor is the largest part of its cost, will work around unfunded mandates. Here we go again:

Starbucks baristas say lines are getting longer for one troubling reason

Workers around the country are complaining that the chain's streamlined scheduling system is giving them fewer hours than they would normally receive, reports Venessa Wong at BuzzFeed Business.

"The change came with no warning or explanation from executives; some staff say their schedules were cut in advance, while others have been sent home during their shifts," Wong writes. "Many have taken to social media to complain, with some threatening to quit..."

...Starbucks denies making changes to its scheduling.

But BuzzFeed published an internal company memo asking field leaders to use a new forecasting tool to prevent "an overspend in labor."

While many Starbucks baristas aren't happy with their hours, the brand did recently change its dress code to be more lenient...

Now Starbucks is a very liberal business and they are getting their heads out of their ass. Look how another company is reacting to the artificial raising of low skill/no skilled labor:

THE NEW MCDONALD’S IN PHOENIX ARIZONA IS RAN ENTIRELY BY ROBOTS

...People have heard about McDonald’s being all over the news for problems with their employees wanting fifteen dollars and an hour and the protests that have followed.

A McDonald’s in Phoenix decided to solve this problem by thinking completely outside of the box and coming up with a solution that no one has ever thought of before.

McDonald’s has taken a huge step into the future and now the things that have only happened before in movies and TV will actually become a reality and you can finally say that you have been served by a robot.

That’s right, we said a robot! It is a truly out of this world experience that you will have to see to believe. McDonald’s had a choice; they could have either went and paid workers more or they could just invest in technology. We can’t say we blame them either.

The store is set to open July 4th in Phoenix, Arizona once the state-of-the-art robot remodel is complete. The restaurant will still employ a small team of human employees to insure all of the robots are working correctly, the food and cleaning supplies remain stocked along with removing the money collected by the robots. Visitors to the restaurant will see these new robots working in harmony at a speed of 50 times faster than the average McDonald’s employee, with no chance of error. If the test launch for the store is a success, people can expect to see robots working in McDonald’s restaurants all over the country and the world...

..“These things are great! They get their work done in a fast and orderly manner, plus they don’t ask for cigarette breaks.”

37-year-old Paul Horner, a spokesman for McDonald’s told reporters that because of the demand for a $15/hr minimum wage, the company has been playing with the idea of a restaurant run entirely by robots for years and believes their “McRobots” are the answer.

“With the high demand for a wage of $15/hr and theprotests getting worse every day, this is something we had to implement. Plus with the tremendous margin of human error, poor hygiene, lack of education, laziness, as well as the recent advancements in artificial intelligence it just make sense to automate our restaurants now rather than later.”

Local Phoenix resident, 52-year-old Tom Downey, who has been unemployed for the last 3 years, was excited about the opening of a nearby McDonald’s until he heard about the robots.

“Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to get a burger job.”

Shareholders can finally expect to see their stocks on the rise once again since employee salaries are not only cut, but eliminated. By cutting employees, McDonald’s says it is projecting to make a full financial turnaround and see their stock return to $105/share which was originally set back in 2014.

“Robots are the future of McDonald’s in the United States and around the world,” Horner said, “Human workers want more pay and this has created giant protests which need our attention now before it is too late. Robots will decrease prices, increase productivity and make for better food.

This article is a little self contradictory in that McDonald's (and other fast food industries) have been looking at automation to replace human labor for years. A kiosk cost a lot initially, but it doesn't call in, take breaks or lunch, and will not be disrespectful to the staff or customers. And with non-market forces pushing up the cost of labor, something has to give. Then again, the peopler really pushing this are not concerned about the low wage worker, they are after the union labor vote. Many unions have their wages set to the minimum wage. A McDonald's worker gets a raise, you the SEIU work get's his. The fact thousands loose entry level labor is of no consequence to liberals.

A season of discontent...and lies of omision....

As I sit at the Dot Coffee House, eating my breakfast and prepare to labor on Labor Day, I sit reviewing the daily propaganda rag in Houston, the Houston Chronicle. It has been hemorrhaging money and readers for years and this propaganda dressed up as an editorial is an example why.

Labor pains

Two groups that have it too good

It’s a season of discontent for too many American workers, but for two very different groups things are copacetic — for much the same specific reason. In 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute, chief executives of the nation’s largest companies earned 273 times as much as the average American worker. In 1965, the typical CEO earned only about 18-20 times what the average worker took home. And one reason why the gap has jumped nearly 14-fold in the past 50 years is that the raises of CEOs are too often voted by their buddies on corporate boards. If you’re looking for a fine example of crony capitalism, look no further.

And group two? Why, that would be members of public employee unions, especially those at the federal level. Their salaries and generous benefits are voted by the same politicians who rely on their votes for re-election. If you’re looking for an example of political cronyism, this is it...

Well you can argue about the issue of CEO compensation. Yes, they are paid multiples of what a "front line" worker but auguabely they are worth more. Would anyone disagree that Steve Jobs was more vaaluable to Apple or Bill Gates to Microsoft that a phone manufactrer in China? Not really. And one can argue if the public is getting its money out of the civil service. Fair enough. But how about some of these who don't get much bang for our buck.

President B Hussein Obama and his family. Over sixteen vacations since less than five years. Using a OSPRAY to transport a dog. Using a 747 for Fastass Michelle can got to Martha's Vineyard two hours before B Hussein. And I know, those 4 hour days are really something to recover from so he needs all the golf.

Or many members of the congress, both parties, who spend more time raising money for themselves that actually working. Or pass one law after another that's devastating on the American people (e.g. Obamcare) and conveniently exempt themselves. Although that may be a good thing. Like with B Hussein, less they do the better. An unlike the head of Ford or Apple Computers, these men spend other people's money.

How about union heads. Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, makes just over 300K a year. Not bad for a so called "working man"

Or the heads of major media like The Washington Post, NY Times, Houston Chronicle themselves. I know they are paid well but their organization is bleeding cash. Sounds like they are being paid well for running a sinking ship deeper into the water. It's only a matter until these organizaitons are bankrupt.

So yes, on this Labor Day, there are people making a lot for not doing much. And the HC, as usual, misses the more obvious examples.