Scattershots – 31mar24

George Rebane

‘The Rise of Third-World U.S.A: An Immigrant’s View’  The rapid and visible decline of America under the ministrations of the nation’s socialists (aka Democrats) has long been an alarming theme of these pages.  Now this tarnishing of our shining city on a hill is even apparent to immigrants, at least of the legal variety.  Even Bumblebrain has had to relabel our land as one of “possibility” from its historical land of opportunity.  One immigrant observes –

“This demotion of America doesn’t happen all at once. Like the frog slowly boiled in water, we mistake the new conditions as tolerable. Creeping socialist policies in economics that fuel inflation, increase government control and misallocation of capital; the weaponizing of the justice system against political opponents; the decline of law and order, from the border to our cities; the lowering of standards and enabling of bad behavior—it all looks too familiar to a third-world nation. It’s tragic because, after America, there is nowhere else to go.”

The rise of the burger flippers.  $20/hr is the new minimum wage mandated by Sacramento’s butt-stupidos.  The dictum goes into effect tomorrow in California’s fast food outlets, and promises to reduce employment while not decreasing poverty by one whit – oh yes, and you’ll be paying more for your Big Mac. (more here)

Comments

[scenes]

"$20/hr is the new minimum wage mandated by Sacramento’s butt-stupidos."

Ya can't go wrong with central planning.

It's funny think back on when fast food was the domain of first-jobs-for-teenagers, and now it's a profession intended to pay the family living expenses of 'undocumented workers'. The State will probably turn down the screws on Wendy's so that they provide health insurance for absolutely everyone.

Naturally, the Laws of Unintended Consequences will amp up. Low margin, fairly high capital businesses like chain restaurants will (and have) swing into action with kiosks, burger robots, more pre-prepared foods, pushing the labor onto the customer, etc. It'll be interesting to see just how few employees they really need.

[Individual Juan]

Dining out is for the wealthy, the rest need to make their coffee at home, and learn how to make a sack lunch like they used to do in the olden days.

[scenes]

re: IJ@7:57AM

You can make that case, plus the food quality can vastly increase.

It would be interesting to see small towns that weren't commercially dominated by restaurants, useless non-profits, gift shops selling Third World or Chinese sourced crapola, coffee shops filled with MacBook toting slackers. Naturally, everyone would have to find something useful to do for a living but that's a hard nut given Planning Commissions, California rules, and continuing outsourcing to distant places or machines. Bummer that local energy is directed 100% to Gaza or Rainbow Flags.

On the other hand, the non-stop nonsense is fun to watch.

[scenes]

Now...this is the kind of thing I live for.

"This man is the new UN Women’s UK Delegate.

‘Katie’ Neeves has been appointed to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women which promotes women’s empowerment across the world."

https://twitter.com/Shunyaa00/status/1774747443391049954

[Scott O]

"Dining out is for the wealthy"

That's the spirit!

"Waiter - can't you clear all this rabble out of here?
My friends and I would like a nice evening out enjoying our Quarter Pounders without having to sit next to the families of truck drivers and plumbers!"

Micky Ds = "dining out".

Hilarious!

[Scott O]

Here's an economic article Idiot Juanita will love.

Inflation is good for you!
The article is so filled with nonsense and outright lies - but we need to educate the proles properly, don't we?

https://apnews.com/article/inflation-deflation-prices-economy-eggs-cars-consumers-e3c816373344d54b2e6bdb4be5ed999a

"...because falling prices tend to discourage consumers from spending."

Yeah - I usually stop buying food when it gets cheaper!
Good grief.

[Scott O]

scenes 8:20 - "Naturally, everyone would have to find something useful to do for a living..."

You're talking crazy, dude!
I need to feed my inner soul, doncha' know!
It's the govt's job to pay me to use my ethnic studies degree!

[Gregory]

What a Pellini thing to write.

[Scott O]

scenes 8:23 - Hilarious! See? She found "useful" work!
It was the UN gig or host(ess) of a new BBC childrens' show.

[scenes]

A couple of $20 Fast Food Employee things I hadn't thought about.

outsourcing: "In December, two large Pizza Hut franchise operators announced that they would be laying off all in-house delivery drivers in favor of paid delivery services, such as Doordash and Uber Eats. "

the State moving people off of benefits: "Ironically, it will disqualify many of these workers from state assistance, such as the CalFresh food assistance program, which has an abysmally low income threshold of $18,954 for a one-person household and $25,636 for a two-person household."

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/29/amit-m29.html

To me, the only point of fast food is that it provides a cleaner bathroom than the gubmint can when you're on I-5, so it's all a battle at a distance. Maybe $30/hour should be the next target.

[Scott O]

Ding, ding, ding - we have a winner!
"To me, the only point of fast food is that it provides a cleaner bathroom than the gubmint can when you're on I-5"

[fish ole']

I have no doubt that the Xho Bi Den administration (Part Deux) will get this sorted out in a jiffy......

4 Million Semis on the Road, Only 35 Class 8 Truck EV Charging Stations

https://mishtalk.com/economics/4-million-semis-on-the-road-only-35-class-8-truck-ev-charging-stations/

PS: Has anyone had a C-Lyin sighting recently? Just isn't the same around here without all of his constant repetitive geriatric caterwauling.

[Individual Juan]

Posted by: fish ole' | 01 April 2024 at 09:13 AM

Sea Lion? I thought that was one of your nom de guerres.

[scenes]

re: fishole@9:13AM

That really is an interesting problem. You get the issue of build-out of charging stations when there's no trucks, but why buy a truck when there's no station? My assumption is two fold, given a completely unnatural hope that a bunch of inexperienced/activist 35 year old gubmint staffers aren't just writing rules from whole cloth...(1)the low hanging fruit is route delivery and (2)that it's actually cheaper to use battery power. If Fedex could save a lot of money, they'd be all-in. You probably won't see hybrid trucks, especially OTR, since regenerative braking isn't of much use.

At this risk of repeating, and while I think that Tesla is a pretty cool car for non-mechanic hobbyist owners, the real measure of a lot of this tech will be garbage trucks. I figger that the minute those use robot drivers and are electrically driven, the world will have changed.

[fish ole']

Posted by: Individual jeffy | 01 April 2024 at 09:29 AM

I've been "fish" or some derivative thereof for over a decade Bruiser....or Misanthrope.... or Gloria....when you were dabbling with "getting in touch with your feminine side"? Hard to keep all the personalities living inside that 500 lb. meat sack straight sometimes!

[Individual Juan]

Posted by: scenes | 01 April 2024 at 08:20 AM

Tru Dat,

Have you noticed the increasing commercial vacancies? Crepe shop down, Delish Bish down, Cosmic Roots market closing, full-service Ike's gone (now Lika's), New Moon gone, Las Katerina's gone for years, Cirinos gone, Broad St. Books cafe gone again, Lefty's gone.
Belle Capelli salon moved because of greedy landlords, could be the same problem for Cosmic Roots, Republican HQ Friar Tucks looks empty, but they stole a couple of parking places for $5000.
But McGees has a new owner, the Fern opened, The Brew Haus opened, The National Hotel restaurant is open (on weekends), TJs is open, The Stone House has a casual menu downstairs and a more upscale restaurant upstairs, so not all is lost.

[Individual Juan]

Posted by: Scott O | 01 April 2024 at 08:25 AM

Friend to truckers ScottO,

drayage is not an elite job.
They have microwaves and coolers in their trucks.
They can stop into Costco and pick up some supplies to make meals.

I thought truckers were supposed to be tough guys.

[Scott O]

fishy 0:13 - It goes way, way, way beyond that.
Drive around any city and notice all the cars on the street at night. How will they be charged? No one has the answer beyond wishful thinking of "they'll figure out something" No, they haven't and won't.
Almost none of the main panels in American homes can handle the charging of 2 electric cars and run the HVAC at night. How many neighborhood high voltage transformers will be able to handle an all-electric neighborhood? The answer is almost none. The 'hidden' costs of going to electric vehicles has yet to be examined by the idiots telling us we will be forced into electric cars.
I have to laugh at the cute listings of electric car chargers for sale on Amazon. Just an inexpensive little box on the wall right next to a convenient 50 amp 220 volt outlet that doesn't exist in most garages.

[fish ole']

Posted by: scenes | 01 April 2024 at 09:33 AM

You want to have electric delivery vehicles fine....I see an electric Tesla hauling a trailer full of air (Doritos) around the Sacramento Valley area all the time!

Instead of the grandiose "from sea to shining sea" nonsense base them in the cities where there is the potential for rapid infrastructure improvement, short haul distance, and more importantly the most benefit. Who gives a crap about diesel exhaust along I80 in East Bumfuck, Nebraska except retards like jeffy, dugsKKKi and some of the other Nevada City would be "group home" dwellers.

[Scott O]

Idiot Juanita 9:47 - Here you are again like Psul bragging about how much of an idiot you are.
You apparently failed all of your reading comprehension classes. I was laughing at your idea that going to Mac Ds was "dining out".
I'm sure the plumbers and the truckers are just fine.
Ah, you are an amusing fellow.

[fish ole']

Okay now this I find credible.....

"I Didn't Do That": Biden Reportedly Has No Idea He Issued 'Trans Day Of Visibility' Proclamation

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/i-didnt-do-biden-reportedly-has-no-idea-he-issued-trans-day-visibility-proclamation

[George Boardman]

You boys aren't seeing the bright side of the $20 an hour wage. If operators raise their prices--and they will--people may eat less of that crap, thereby improving the general health of the nation.

[fish ole']

Posted by: George Boardman | 01 April 2024 at 11:03 AM

You boys aren't seeing the bright side of the $20 an hour wage. If operators raise their prices--and they will--people may eat less of that crap, thereby improving the general health of the nation.

....kind of like I feel when I see newspapers go belly up and "journalists" lose their jobs.....people may read less of that crap, thereby improving the general health of the nation.

[Gregory]

There will be fewer jobs.
Yes indeedy.

Celebrate!

[Scott O]

"...people may eat less of that crap, thereby improving the general health of the nation."

Yeah - they'll all run to the nearby locally sourced, vegan, salad bar and eat there.
Shows what G.B. knows about reality. People that eat a lot of junky fast food like the convenience and the sugar and salt bloated crap that passes for food. The gas stations will become the next rung down on the fast food ladder for 'nutrition'.

[Scott O]

Gregory 12:08 - "There will be fewer jobs"

I'm thinking they know that - and it's a feature, not a bug. Another tranche of voters wholly dependent on the state for their existence.
Our entire economy is so whacked off of its axis, I'm surprised it can still move. In a totally free and open capitalistic market, how many Americans actually produce enough real value with their labor to enjoy the life style they have? How much actual stuff of real value does this country produce to justify our borrowing trillions of dollars?
No wonder there are so many folks pushing the guaranteed annual income idea. Which is a great idea until the credit cards are all maxed and then the gunfire starts in earnest.

[Gregory]

beep Do you want fries with that? beep

[scenes]

".kind of like I feel when I see newspapers go belly up and "journalists" lose their jobs"

There's some truth to that. The local paper is mostly marketing pieces written by the principals or feelz-based editorials where they write any old thing cooked up while sitting in their comfy chair... and really bad comics.

"..people may eat less of that crap, thereby improving the general health of the nation."

Maybe, although 100 years of food evolution for what people want to eat has pretty much hit all channels. The big boxes of 'food' get delivered to all the restaurants. The collapse of Beyond Meat shows that the public isn't 100% crazy I guess.

"There will be fewer jobs."

You do have to wonder what the grift of the future will be. The financialization of the economy, non-profits, endless layers of government management, influencers, Power Point wizards, DEI Departments, the homeless/education/environmental industrial complex have all provided lucre to those in-the-know and perhaps AI could replace them all. But then, a Magic 8-Ball probably could.

So what is future grift? It's a worthwhile question. There's a lot of clever monkey brains out there looking for opportunity and itching to sign up for the next Big Things. The How-To-Use-AI-for-Grift training sessions are likely full already. Maybe we'll simply build huge temples where insane liberals can wash the feet of BlPOC, out of work programmers can design the payment kiosks out front.

[George Boardman]

Don't worry about me, boys. What The Union pays me is my walking around money. I won't have to hit the food banks if the paper folds.

[scenes]

GB: "What The Union pays me..."

Say what? They actually pay you? Good gawd, what for?

[fish ole']

Posted by: George Boardman | 01 April 2024 at 01:55 PM

Don't worry about me, boys. What The Union pays me is my walking around money. I won't have to hit the food banks if the paper folds.

Oh rest assured I'm not.....you or the Baron. I'm sure you boys are doing just fine.

It's good that you are so concerned about those co-workers though George....kudos!

[scenes]

I was just poking through Der Union, and ran into a puff piece on Sierra Commons, whatever that is.

I'm going to treasure this paragraph (fair use, mind you).

"Sierra Commons offers heart-forward guidance and compassionate business education, connecting people with high-value resources to be successful. By creating a safe, supportive environment, entrepreneurs can explore their dreams and face their fears head-on to grow the confidence and knowledge needed to become important contributors to a vibrant local economy."

While I've never heard 'heart-forward' as silly jargon, I was mostly wondering about the mandatory use of the word 'vibrant'.

You do have to wonder when Peak Vibrant occurs. A kind of Hubbert Curve of vibrancy. My guess is that you can track the downfall of Western Civilization based on overuse of that word.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vibrant&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

[scenes]

btw: I've been watching this unfold on Twitter/X for the last few months.

It'll be the Trial o' the Century if it occurs. Final proof that the people running matters are absolutely insane.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/01/jk-rowling-could-investigated-misgendering-snp-law-scotland/

She better hope she didn't overvalue a property on a loan application.

[Scott O]

re Sierra Commons - I didn't see "equitable, sustainable, diverse or magical" anywhere in their description.
Probably a bunch of NAZIs.

[Scott O]

"She better hope she didn't overvalue a property on a loan application."

Hochul has already assured everyone that was just a Trump thing - no one else needs to worry.
And of course - we apply the law without fear or favor!
Got it?

[scenes]

re: scotto@3:05

Oh well, I think they mean well. As long as I'm not paying for it, I'm cool. If I ever want to open an aromatherapy biz, homeless non-profit, or web marketing company, I'll stop by.

It would be fun to get them to help with a business plan for MAGA-branded firearms accessories.

[Scott O]

It would be fun to get them to help with a business plan for MAGA-branded firearms accessories.

Ha - they'd sue you for emotional distress!