(Yesterday 04:59 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(Yesterday 03:15 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(Yesterday 07:14 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 03:36 PM)JRsec Wrote:  ...the raises in the minimum wage which have more to do with 6 and 7 dollar hamburgers than the cost of ground beef..

I don't think the data supports your conclusion. Have you seen a study that bolsters this, and if so, can you please share it? I'd like to read it. Thanks.

Labor makes up about a third of production costs related to fast food---about the same as ingredients. So increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 is going to more than triple that third of production costs---which means the labor cost increase by itself would basically require doubling the cost of every food item in order to maintain the same dollar profit (and since the dollar value of the profit is the same---but the cost of each item is higher, the same dollar profit would yield a lower overall profit margin). Furthermore---given the fact that the law of supply and demand has not been repealed---at higher prices---fewer food items are being sold---thus the overall profit is likely down despite sales posting the same or even higher dollar amounts (simply because every food item now costs roughly double).

Why waste your time. The principles involved are so basic to the economics of any business that if they need explaining you are wasting your breath and time. When people don't grasp that an elevation in labor costs, or any cost of components for a product go up, that inflation is occurring to the price of the product then they simply don't understand how business operates. I might add that a raise in minimum wages for a food product will very likely impact every component of that product. The harvesting of lettuce, the picking of tomatoes, the pulling of onions, the harvesting of wheat used in production of the buns, the packaging of all of those items, the cost in shipping them, and the cost at the physical location of the fast-food place in producing the finished product. It's not just the fast-food worker's raise, though it is absolutely a component of it.

What most Dems who have never managed any business also fail to grasp is if the product is something for which foreign manufacturing is a competitor they end up destroying American jobs and relying on the child, slave, and cheap labor women all who live at the work site in poor conditions to make that cheaper product for them. And for the hard lefties that means the enslaved Muslim minority in China who are imprisoned and worked hard, a nice tactic learned from the Nazis. After spending two careers at various levels of management both in for profit and non-profit I don't feel like digging out some dipshit text book I had in undergrad to provide a citation for things I mastered in a lifetime. And as a moderator I would remind the board that statements from experience are only confusing and intimidating to the ignorant, that life is the greatest teacher, and that the principles of capitalism and the making of a profit in order to stay in business, and the impact of higher costs in raw materials are virtually a gestalt. And the use requesting some biased left or right sites material to bolster a point is just another case of whataboutism.

Well, if you read again what I actually said, I never made any such claim...that labor and/or product cost components increases...don't cause the price of products to rise (inflation)

I was remembering this study that I had previously read:

Quote:We find that the sectoral wage standard raised average pay of non-managerial fast-food workers by about 10 to 11 percent. Nonetheless, the policy did not reduce employment. It did increase fast food prices by about 1.5 percent, or about 6 cents for a $4 item, implying a price pass-through of 0.5 and a reduction in restaurant profits. Restaurant revenues likely increased; the royalty fees that restaurant operators pay to franchisors therefore probably rose as well.

Effects of a $20 Minimum Wage: Evidence from Granular Data on Wages, Employment and Prices

Now, how much has just beef added to the cost of hamburgers? That's the comparison you made? While it's impossible to know exactly...hence why I asked if you had a study. In California, beef prices have increased about 27% since that law took effect. And copilot estimates that amounts to around 14-22 cents more per burger just for the beef component.

(11-04-2026 02:23 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(11-04-2026 10:02 AM)bullet Wrote:  RCP has House 236-148, D +30

Pickups (Democratic unless stated)
AZ
CA (5)
CO
IA (3)
IN
KY
MO
MT
NC (but there are 9 undecided-Dems have won all 5 so far, so there could be more)
NE
NJ
OH (3)
PA (4)
SC
TN Republican pickup
TX (2 D, 1 R)
UT
VA (2)
WI (2)

Add:
MI (2)
NC (5) up from 1 (Dems have won all 9 and the other 5 could go either way with slim R leads in 3 and 2 basically tied)
NV
NJ (2) up from 1
244-151 + 38
One clear pattern is that Republicans lost a lot in the corn belt. High fuel prices kept farmers home or had them voting D.

Updated

RCP showing it 251-160 +42 for the Democrats with apparently only 5 of the 24 remaining Democratic held seats.

AZ (2) up from 1
CA (5) (R won a 2nd! Its 45-2 with 5 to go)
CO (2) up from 1
IA (3)
IN
KY
MI (3) up from 2 in the last update
MO
MT
NC (5) (Dems have won all 9 and the other 5 could go either way with slim R leads in 3 and 2 basically tied)
NE
NJ (2)
NV
NY (new pickup from last update)
OH (3)
PA (4)
SC
TN Republican pickup
TX (2 D, 1 R)
UT
VA (2)
WI (2)