That may be a conservative talking point but it is not the reality today for many workers at McDonalds.

I mentioned Starbucks because they provide full benefits to min wage employees. Which many companies say can not be done. Also, after you have worked at Starbucks you can start buying stock and the company will match it.  Thus employees become owners in the company and also get a share if they company pays a dividend.  They make extra money if the company does well.  Why can't McDonalds so something like this?

Take at look at InNOut, it's a company that starts employees usually around double minimum and pays them well.  Managers can make upwards of $50k and store managers can make over $135,000.00 per year.  Why would they need to go somewhere else.

Did you even consider my point about how employees should have a profit share if the company is successful?  And the ratio of ridiculously high paid upper managers should not be tolerated.

Also, I think their needs to be separate minimum wages based on the size/profits of the company.

The workers making min wage at McD's wouldn't hack it at an In n Out. In N Out has higher standards and thus pays a higher wage. I didn't know about the health care offered by Starbucks(although Mc D's also offers health care it varies by location). Also In N Out isnt really comparable, they aren't franchised out, they are corporate owned, so they can dictate the pay at every restaurant and have tighter controls on everything. Mc D's is franchised, so every location with a different owner may have different pay scales. We can do things like in n out, but what will happen is you will less over all employed people. In n OUt can do what it does because they very carefully choose locations, and do not over saturate. If McD's followed the same strategy they would simply have less locations, and less over all employees.  If these things can be done, than people who believe in them should start companies and start paying their workers 15 an hour. If its so easy. The problem is not everyone is the same, some people work hard, very hard, they tend to move up extremly fast in the food industry, some people dont work hard, they tend to not move up. If we make the starting wage higher we will just be hurting people who are trying to get a foot in the door work wise.

Edit: I know that its a reality that people are stuck in food jobs right now as careers. But its not what they should be doing, these are easy to train for jobs that require little to no skill or education. Just becasue the economy is in the crapper, and the government cant turn it around doesn't mean you make bad policies, that will hamper an employers ability to hire. If the government hadn't over regulatted many other business to death already perhaps there would be better jobs/careers out there for these workers to move on into.

Ok, have you ask you, what is McDonalds primary business?

The concept of fast food was devised to keep wages low, therefore the job at minimum skill level whilst pumping out foot at a fast pace. They want to be paid like a chef when they do jobs children could do.

Not sure what you mean. Their primary goal (as is any company) is to make a profit, they plan on doing this by selling food.

to make profit, and satisfy shareholders. the same thing for every other business in existance.

They don't deserve 15 a hour. However, they deserve about 8 or so starting out. I first made about 5.25 (I believe min was 5.15) on my first job. This was back in the mid to late 90s. Gas was about 1 dollar per gallon back then and is about 3.50 now.   So I could get 5 gallons for every hour worked back then but just over 2 gallons now if I made min).  Many basic items have gone way up in price. Counter argument is that prices go up everywhere if you increase the wage. This might hold some weight but seriously 7.25 a hour is way too fucking low with the way prices have gone up in recent years. Min should be at least 8-9.

A good friend of mine works at McDs.... He already makes like 50 cents above minimum wage, and has only been there like 4 months.

You can get a decent wage at fast food places if you're there for more than 2 years. The problem is that these idiots aren't working there very long and want more money.

You should either be working there to get skills for other jobs, or are trying to become a manager (managers routinely make $15-20/hr or more at a McDs or BK). The problem is that with low-skill jobs, there is almost no ambition to do or be better.

Would you admit that the buying power is less now than it was during the 90s?  My previous post I pointed out that I could get 5 gallons of gas for my near min wage of 5.25 back in the day (late 90s gas was usually at 90 cents - 1 dollar a gallon).  Now you can't even get 3 gallons of gas making min per hour.  I suppose the main point of that would be the huge rise in gas that started a little during end of Clinton and went big during Bush.  I blame Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for the huge rise in gas...  He promised cheaper oil with Iraq... 

Anyways, I'm done with my Bush bashing. Buying power is less now considering the dollar has fallen.  Like many have said 15 is too much but I wouldn't mind seeing the min be at least in the 9-10 range.

Their primary business is real estate.  The sale of food is lower down the line of importance.