| Mr Khan said: Businesses won't have to raise prices on everything. Compare McDonald's prices from the US to, say, Australia, where cost-of-living is about the same but minimum wage is higher. Actual prices don't go up that much. The price rises will be minimal compared to the real money in people's pockets, especially poor people who actually spend their money rather than just shunt it into some hedge fund like the rich. The net effect would be quite beneficial, but for the bitching of businesses who only see the short-term shock to their bottom lien. |
Australia is actually a pretty bad choice. McDonalds in Australia actually are a bit of an outlier on the big mac index because the Big Mac is smaller there. In otherwords, prices are higher then one would believe.
Additionally, the big mac index is actually at a low in most places. Due to the Global Financial Crisis, prices in the US rose faster elsewhere because people were more likely to eat big macs here, so Mcdonalds prices have been subsidized here, vs everywhere else. So mcdonalds prices across the board could very well go up.
