
San Francisco billboard warns workers they’ll be replaced by iPads - up_and_up
http://pando.com/2014/07/17/new-san-francisco-billboard-warns-workers-theyll-be-replaced-by-ipads-if-they-demand-a-fair-wage/
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mynewwork
> "saying that service staff deserve to be replaced by iPads if they demand a
> fair wage"

Terrible editorializing. Nothing in the original billboard suggests anyone
"deserves" any particular treatment. But I suppose "Billboard warns employees
that minimum wage legislation can't completely subvert market realities"
doesn't make for as good of a viral hook.

A $15 minimum wage has many possible outcomes - 1)businesses close 2)prices
increase 3)employees are laid off or 4)the business stays afloat with lower
profits. It seems like wishful thinking to believe that only the fourth option
will happen.

It's also frustrating that the narrative is that this is a class struggle,
that the poor will benefit from higher minimum wage at the expense of the
rich. Many low-income people will be much worse off in a world where entry
level or unskilled jobs are hard to find. Taken to an extreme - how many
people would be unemployed and unemployable if the minimum wage was set to
$100/hr? Likewise, some number of people will be priced out of the employment
market at $15/hr.

I don't know what ideal minimum wage is for SF, but I know that cliche class
struggle narratives aren't helping address any of the real problems or
complexities of the issue.

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tomjen3
That is pretty content-light for HN. Of course the price of an employee
matters and if their minimum wage goes up they will be subject to greater
competition from others.

~~~
dang
> That is pretty content-light for HN.

Indeed. It was briefly let out of jail because of a mistake I made:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8055336](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8055336).

It's reassuring to see people complaining about stuff that the software
normally penalizes. A natural experiment!

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Domenic_S
Little content, no analysis. Just hypocrisy-seeking.

Looking for hypocrisy: the standard maneuver when narcissism is confronted
with a greater power.

