THE GREATEST CON WINS

Back in August of this year I published a piece "Donald Trump's Biggest Con" (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/donald-trumps-biggest-con.html).  Well, the Con Job worked and Donald Trump is President-Elect.

A large group of supporters of Donald Trump seem to be white working men.  They love when he says he is going to export millions of illegals from this country, that he is going to build a wall on the southern border (not a fence).  They howl when he says he is going to "lock her up (Hillary)."  They applaud hysterically when he says he wants to bar all Muslims from entering this country.

But they ignore it when he said the American worker's wages are too high on the Fox News debate of November 10, 2015.*  When asked about this the next morning on Morning Joe, he replied, "We have to become competitive with the world. Our taxes are too high, our wages are too high. Everything is too high. We have to compete with other countries."**  Joe Biden even made a point of Trump mentioning this in a speech in his home town of Scranton, PA.**

Maybe these white male workers don't care about wages and only want the emotional highs that satisfy the soul.  Maybe.  I doubt it, but they weren't listening.  I think they are going to be disappointed.

Andy Puzder last March wrote an article printed in the WSJ about restaurant automation.***  I find the article to be very good in general, though he seems unaware of just how much automation could replace in the fast-food business.
They bread chicken tenders by hand, prepare complex burger orders, hand-scoop the ice cream for milkshakes, ... the company I lead, our Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s employees make biscuits from scratch. and the restaurants offer table service. None of these tasks can be effectively automated, and we wouldn’t want them to be.
Of course you could automate making biscuits, bread chicken tenders and scoop ice cream, and they might even be better than doing these things by hand.  I am not enamored with "hand made."  I was in a restaurant once that advertised hand-made lamb patties.  I told the waitress that I preferred machine made, but will take hand made if that is the only choice.  But maybe  others that are attracted by "hand made."  I knew a store owner once who insisted that listing an item as  $1.99 instead of $2.00 made a difference in sales.

Incidentally Puzder mentions Eatsa automated restaurants, but these have a very restricted menu. These are not an upgrade to the old Automat chain.  Only dishes with Quinoa are served at the Eatsa restaurants.  As I have mentioned elsewhere, I was in a Automat**** in 1940 as a child and found it to be lots of fun.  The chain has never really taken off, however.

* http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-wages-too-high
** http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wages-are-too-high-2015-11 https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/biden-trump-says-american-workers-wages-are-too-high/2016/11/06/d109ac0a-a450-11e6-ba46-53db57f0e351_video.html
*** http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-restaurant-automation-is-on-the-menu-1458857730
**** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/03/restaurants-going-fully-automatic.html

RESTAURANTS GOING FULLY AUTOMATIC?

So Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr and Hardee's, threatens to go fully automatic.*   What he forgets is that things like the Automat** have existed in America since 1902.  There is no wait staff or people behind a counter.  Why haven't they caught on before now?  Yes, you find vending machines in various places that may serve some sandwiches and even broths, but in a limited variety.  When I was 9 yrs old, we visited New York and I went to an Automat that had several tiers of food along a wall with a great variety of choices.  They are huge vending machines.

Well, people like to be waited on, I think, so there will always be a need for full service restaurants.  And if some drop out?  All the better for those remaining.

Of course there will always be cafeterias also that have a few helpers dishing out food which reduce the number of employees and then there are the fast-food places that have just a few people at the counters taking and passing out orders.

Also although the Automat cut out the waiters and waitresses and servers behind the counter, somebody had to prepare all that food and stuff the containers so they are not totally labor free.

What Puzder and others complaining about an increase in minimum wage don't seem to take into effect is that the other restaurant down the street is in the same boat as are the mom and pop places so it is a level playing field.  I guess there is a worry that prices will go up so much because of increased labor charges that people won't be able to afford to eat out.  Well, maybe, but wages are not the only expense of restaurants.  There is rent and facilities (gas, water, and electric among others).  I think the estimate for a $15 minimum wage at McDonald's is 5%.

* http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/17/1502801/-Fast-Food-CEO-threatens-to-go-fully-automated-because-of-Bernie-and-Hillary?detail=email&can_id=af3794f2758d0c72ac0763afb2350d28&source=email-gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_referrer=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neuteredher-response-is-epic-2&email_subject=gop-congressman-elizabeth-warren-needs-to-be-neutered-her-response-is-epic&link_id=3
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat