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Nearly 80% of Americans now view fast food as a luxury
(www.ktla.com)
Well yeah, that shit's expensive.
Which is ironic as fast food used to have 2 appeals - quick and cheap.
I'm not sure how quick they are these days because I can no longer afford it.
Which is ironic
Is it tho?
It's capitalism, once you dominate the market share you raise prices.
Fast food pushed out small local shops, but there's a few major chains everywhere. So now they're more expensive than sit down restaurants, because the "speed" which isn't all that fast anymore is treated as a premium and not a side effect from being cheap/easy food.
Like, everything is based off stock price, and stock price is about profit margin going up. And that's exponential, it's not mathematically possible to keep going up.
The only way is to keep pushing up prices and making products shittier.
It's not irony, it's working as intended.
Capitalism only works when you break up monopolies regularly so there can be competition.
Hell, this is way more evident in a franchise model. The actual owners can't really do anything, they're locked in long leases and are forced to buy from only one supplier.
If McDonald's says party prices go up 50%, the franchise owner has literally zero options. They have to pay it.
The whole system is fucked and pretty much a pyramid scheme.
It's absolutely a pyramid scheme. And now we're at the stage where we hollow out the inside of the pyramid to keep making it taller.
Just to add, Reagan 'deregulated' the hell out of the economy. It gave America a phoney boom in the 1980s.
In 1980, 'middle class' was still one Union job supporting a family of four, and $1 million was considered a vast fortune. By 1992, middle class was two incomes to keep the house going, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.
Republicans break shit, moderate Dems neglect to fix it.
For generations we've had a steady march to the right because of that system.
And considering the same people/corporations donate to both parties, it doesn't seem overly cynical to say ourmodern political system is working exactly as the wealthy designed it to work.
Moderate Dems get elected because this country isn't progressive. We collectively want these things to happen, which is why they do.
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If voting didn't work, the GOP wouldn't be trying to prevent people from voting.
If you don't like the Dem candidates in your area, you can contribute to AOC or Omar.
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When FDR created the minimum wage he explicitly stated that someone making it should be able to live in some comfort. That meant not just food and shelter, but some savings and a chance to have a few nice things.
In 1960, minimum wage was $1.00/hour. The average house was $11,000.00. Two people could eat and go to a concert for $5.00. In those days, $1 million was an incredible fortune.
And now, $1 million probably isnt even enough to retire
That's the other crazy thing. Look at all the millionaire actors and music stars. They have much bigger incomes than past artists, but is Tom Hanks or Taylor Swift really that much richer than John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe? A doctor today is giving his family the life a moderately successful plumber had 50 years ago.
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According to a financial advisor I recently spoke with, it’s not. Guess I’ll be working all the way into my grave. 🤷♂️
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Who remembers Arby's 5 for 5?
I'm old enough to remember 5 for $2.50, but I was like 10 or some shit back then
I remember when you could get a taco for 59 cents at Taco Bell. And this wasn't the 40s, this was the 90s.
Yup, the Taco Bell commercial jingle in the early 90s was based on their menu prices:
59, 79, 99
Everything (or just about everything) on the menu fit into those price ranges. Fast food was where you went to get something cheap and filling. Prices go up, I get that. But even back then, that was considered super cheap. Still, inflation isn't the problem. The problem is that wages have not been keeping pace with inflation for decades.
When I worked there in 2008ish it was still the 79, 89, 99 cent menu.
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Fast food used to be shit quality for little money.
Now its shit quality for a fuckton of money.
Cook at home folks, more nutricious, tastes better, is cheaper and if you pick the right recipes its also fast.
And if you don't want to cook for yourself, at least go to a local take-out restaurant that probably costs less than the shitty fast food, even if you have to wait a few more minutes for it.
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Luxury price while receiving sub par service.
Good. It should have been the whole time.
It always was.
This does bring the question up in my mind of what a restaurant that wasn't a luxury would look like, ie, something that sells ready to eat food at prices that make it competitive with cooking at home, and which is healthy enough to eat on a daily basis without ill effect. My guess is that it would be largely a matter of having to carefully choose recipes that both use ingredients that are cheap in bulk, and able to be at least partially automated to keep staff costs low, but which are still nutritious and rely on minimal processed ingredients. Probably soups and chili and the like I'd imagine.
It's a place where they have a large tray of food and you just plop some on your own smaller tray. Basically the same as the college dining hall. A small amount of staff can provide meals for thousands during the lunch hour.
Hmm sounds like luxury to me.
You may be interested in automats.
I've heard of them before, but my assumption was that whatever factor about fast food had killed them off, probably would still be in play to prevent them returning unless optimized even further somehow
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It is a luxury so is.grocery shopping. Meanwhile we are told that there is no inflation
Who the hell is saying there is no inflation?
Inflation is well under control, quite low in fact. Lemmy has this bizarre view that because prices didn't come down, inflation is still rampant.
That is not how the world works, hell, that not even how the word works. Inflation is a measure of how quickly prices are rising. Deflation is when prices go down, and it's generally an awful sign for the economy. tl:dr; Prices go down, you lose your job.
Prices go down, you lose your job.
Prices go up, you also lose your job.
Prices stay the same? Believe it or not, lose your job.
We have the best economy in the world because of losing your job.
When the fuck has eating out ever been anything else?
It is since people decided that you should order through a unified app and have it delivered.
Fast food can be cheap if you start away from the sucker options, but not when you're sending half your food money to a silicon valley billionaire.
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this post was submitted on 29 May 2024
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