The Real Minimum Wage Is Zero: McDonald's Rolls Out Automation

I told you so....

by Rod D. Martin
December 29, 2022

During the dishonest #FightFor15 campaign, I warned my liberal friends that absurd increases in the minimum wage would lead to layoffs and unemployment among the very poorest workers.

Predictably, they scoffed. Obviously, giant corporations and the fat cats who run them have unlimited sums of money to poor out on people whose only skill is saying "Do you want fries with that?", and anyone who says otherwise is an evil hater. Probably a racist.

Well, it turns out that paying teenagers $30,000/year for entry-level work is a bigger strain on small businesses (which employ most of these workers) than the caricature suggested. So McDonald's has come to their rescue, inventing a fully automated store: no workers needed.

The U.S. version still has workers in the kitchen. There's a European one with a fully-automated kitchen as well. One presumes they'll still need a manager or two, who won't be making minimum wage.

So congratulations, Democrats: you pushed up uni…