Crazy For Big Macs!

Occasionally, I like to think insane, ridiculous thoughts. No, I'm not a republican, I said occasionally. 
 But, it's fun to get in touch with ones republican side and, in doing so, get an insight into how they think. 

Take the minimum wage argument.  A lot of republicans argue that there shouldn't be a minimum wage at all, that every American should be free to set their own worth. You shouldn't have to accept the minimum if you want more, or settle for the rate that some Union has arbitrarily set through arbitration either. Now, you may not get what you ask for but, you are free to keep moving on down the road until some employer is willing to pay what you ask or until your hat floats in the ocean. Interesting thinking in that it seems to favor the employee/job-seeker but, it doesn't at all. It's got management written all over it. See also: collusion.

As if that weren't nutty enough, those same republicans who claim to be looking out for you also don't want the minimum wage to increase because they are terrified of paying $15 for a Big Mac. They firmly believe that would be the direct result of any increase in the minimum wage. Do you know when Big Macs will cost $15? When the McDonald's Corporation feels they can get away with charging that much, that's when. The price hikes in the last ten years or so regarding Big Mac's can't be attributed to the minimum wage because that has crawled along at a snails pace since the 70's. There are lots of factors in what things cost and labor costs are very important in that consideration. However, last year ABC news studied the ramifications of doubling the minimum and determined that would add 68 cents to a Big Mac's price. In a Big Mac-based economy, that really isn't a bad thing. I haven't had a Big Mac in years but if I had to pay 68 cents more and I knew the guy who rang it up for me was making a living wage, I would be fine with that.

But, that's not the crazy thinking. My crazy thought, since republicans fear rising prices so much, is that we retain the minimum and make it the maximum.

Pay everybody $7.25 an hour. I mean EVERYBODY. Cab driver? Patent attorney for a Swedish car company? Power forward for an NBA team? Teacher? Bank president? Fry guy at McDonald's? $7.25 an hour! No exceptions! That's the crazy thought! How about that? You heard it here first, folks.

But, so is (and are) the republican fits of logic that preceded my musing. If you can set the rate for others, why can't others set it for you? Or for all of us? If a low minimum means cheaper Big Macs, wouldn't the same low rate for all translate into affordable everything?Wouldn't low prices for everything benefit all of us?

If millions of people making as little as possible is the key to economic success for a nation, millions more ought to be merrier. Makes some kinda sense right? How about slavery? Now, slavery is really some low labor costs leading to serious profits! Ask any plantation owner is the American South prior to 1861. After the initial cash outlay in purchasing a human being, it's just room and board after that. It might suck to be a slave but a lot of current republican politicians think that American slaves actually had it pretty good. And from a strictly Biblical standpoint, God himself was rather accepting of people owning other people. So, there is also that.

We are all in this together and we ought to start acting like it. And we ought to start thinking for ourselves because so many others are vying to do it for us. Some of these thinkers are batshit crazy, not just messing around like a Ferrerman. It's hard to tell the difference some days who is an easily manipulated idiot, who is manipulating the idiots, and who is the playful Ferrerman.