Fast-Food CEO invests in machines because screw the employees

[21st Century Poet]

8. It's not because 'screw the employees.'

I'll leave the minimum wage discussion to others (that's a tough one to crack) but, as far as automation goes, it's not because 'screw the employees'. It's progress, whether we like it or not. Thinking otherwise is Luddite. Very repetitive tasks can be easily automated. We have known this for a long time now. You cannot un-invent technology.

You enter a car factory and you see far fewer employees around today than you used to 100 years ago, but it's not all bad news. A more cheaply made car means more people can afford a car. In countries with very low wages, sometimes automation costs more money than manual labour but very often automation is worthwhile. In fast food, there are also other advantages such as machines engaging in less disgusting activities (not to mention pranks) than humans do.

I feel the employees' pain but if a fast food chain can automate, save money, increase profit margins and provide a better and cleaner service, it would be unrealistic to expect it not to happen.

Now I'll leave it up to the rest of you to argue about whether raising the minimum wage lowers job growth. I recently read an economic paper which argued that raising the minimum wage by a little does not impact job growth but raising it past a certain ceiling does.