Altruism? Yes but unthinking. The effect is to put the low skilled, many may be fine people, permanently out of work.
The problem as Objectivism would see it is to act from the heart not from the head.

Expect vandalism.

Well said. But who can blame the Snowflakes. The educational system has been promoting their self-esteem at the expense of a true education for years. When you have been told how wonderful you are since the day you were born, you come to believe it. Then they are told that the evil corporations are greedy and just want to make money for themselves and their stockholders. Well duh. In a Capitalistic society that's what it's all about. But every self respecting Snowflake knows that a corporation's reason for being is to give people jobs at very high wages.

As minimum wages swell, employment dwindles.
Economists have known that for as long as there have been employees. So have retailers. So...why don't entry level fast food workers? Because they want something for nothing? Or they are ignorant? Or I want mine and you can go to hell? All of the above? Automation is the child of unions. The grandchildren to economic ignorance.

You know, I just had some home-made turkey burgers. Made them on my Weber. They were pretty good.

People have this delusion that they are worth . . . Something ....just because they breath and take up space. Our value to our fellow man is dictated by what we do for him (no sexism intended). Jobs have value -- if you want more then do something that is more highly valued.

Why indeed?! Because they believe in the altruist
morality, and not in the rights of man. If we spread
Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal enough, maybe
we can change things.

Except that we don't need a commission. The best commission is the market itself. It's when we get government involved that we create problems!

"Minimum wage" just says: If you are not worth the minimum wage you are worthless.

I actually like McD's Big Mac, but also like the simple plain old choke burger, usually get two, fries, and a diet coke, but only about once a year. I think it might have affected my brain.

It got me to thinking, what if they mechanized the number one business in the world? What would happen to all the people currently working in that industry, could they be put totally out of work? It's also surprising how it has stayed so viable all these centuries especially with the ability to just do it yourself. Sorry, but that might be proof of McD's effect on my brain. The government should appoint a commission to study the effects of eating this stuff. Perhaps they already do.

Lol. Well said.

Very true.

we arent big enough to be noticed. Better to do things quietly, since there isnt anything he is likely to do which would make us more competitive with chinese labor. We used to have an operation in mexico, but its pretty corrupt there and it wasnt profitable compared with china. Now we buy 2/3 of our parts and subassemblies from china already, and do just smaller and smaller amounts of labor intensive work here in the USA.

Have you scheduled a meeting with Trump yet? :-)

I'll bet the one person working the register was making less than $15 an hour.

Minimum wages create a permanent underclass.

The cost of the machines is mostly capital, so once McD has bought them the operating cost is low. Should the error be seen and the minimum wage be abolished, the machines are still there, the jobs will not come back.

We have a big theater here in Oklahoma City that seems odd. I has about six windows which were built to handle big opening night crowds, but after they set up a half dozen kiosks for purchasing tickets via credit card, only one cash window remains open with a human cashier.

Me dino know what happened.
Yes, me know! Me dino know!
Basic economics happened.
Yay, me dino's tiny brain be so smart!
And also being an allosaur dino monster--
--maybe I should cull some stupid the human herd.
To improve a prey species is what predators do.

How dare anyone say that two free adults cannot contract for ANY amount of money that they both agree to as employer/employee!!!!!

I ate at the McDonalds In Springfield MO. (exit 80 I think) and they had these Kiosk already up and running. I ordered my own hamburger, and it was GREAT! (and I NEVER eat at McDonalds)

it was SO EASY to "build my burger" the way "I" wanted it. no mistakes.

And get this, I "built" my burger with Double meat, double cheese, DORITOS Chips, GRILLED ONIONs, Lettuce, Tomato, Jalapeno peppers, Pico d Galo, and lots of other stuff.

It was brought to me "open face"

they had one person working the register(s). They "would" take your order, but really pushed for you to step over to the Kiosk and order it yourself. Their job was to simply take your money once you order your own meal. (if you did not pay with a Credit Card right at the Kiosk)

I say, bring on the machines. I dont want to have to deal with the humans taking my orders for simple items. Machines can do a BETTER job, and a lot cheaper. They dont take vacations, go to the labor board, get hurt, etc. And you dont have to hire them and monitor their emotional moods to get production out of them.

I have a small business and if the $15/hr wage goes through, I will cut employment in the USA by 40% to remain competitive. We are already investing in changes in our products to avoid human labor in favor of machine labor, and changes in our procedures to rely more on computers (macs because they are easier to work without expensive IT employees).

In addition, I am moving labor intensive operations that cant be automated economically to China on a continual basis. Costs there are so low compared with USA labor costs that its an imperative to remain competitive.

I think George Burns said the same thing about his cigars ;) It's too bad that those people are the outliers rather than the mainstream. I could probably eat fries every day if they weren't so bad for my cholesterol.

My third job, at the age of 16, was at our local McD's. My brother joined me and we still laugh about the hijinks. First was a paper route at 12. Then, washing dishes at 14. I may completely retire at 55. I've worked long enough. F' it.

McD's food is pretty bad. It already tastes like machines make it. It was a little different in my youth. The egg mcmuffin isn't bad in a pinch.

The inventor of the Big Mac just died, age 98. He reportedly ate at least one a week. I'm thinking of adding them to my longevity protocol. With fries. :-)

I get one Big Mac every 18 months or so. After that the grease lining prevents my return until I forget. Obviously I haven't forgotten yet. :)