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'Workers earning a 'living wage' would raise the price of a basic hamburger to $20...'


Remember when republicans and Trumpers tried to frighten everyone by saying if workers received 'a living wage' at fast-food places, it would raise the price on a basic hamburger to $20? Yep, they've been saying that the past few years, which is why they want to keep the wages at below a living wage. Can't scare the burger crowd from stuffing their faces with burgers, fries and thick shakes !

Well, at the fast-food restaurant Dick's Drive-In in Seattle the owner is raising their starting wage to $19 - $20 / hr. starting September 27. The top hourly rate for crew members is $21.75/ hr. Shift managers make an additional $7 more on top of that.

Employees will get free health care, 3 weeks paid vacation, 50% 401(k) match, and $9,000 which can go to either tuition or childcare.

The price of their basic hamburger ? $1.80. A Deluxe burger is $4.10.

Trumpers and Republicans lie, lie, lie, lie, lie.

https://twitter.com/DicksDriveIns/status/1440821835419979787
https://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-dicks-drive-in-19-minimum-wage-jobs-are-challenging-2021-9
https://www.ddir.com/menu/

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To be fair, most of those republicans and Trumpers who said that own a summer and winter home, and have a maid and their own cook.

Their kind of living wage could make a burger a bit pricey.

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How fucking psychotic can you be.

One idiot one day calls "Trumpers" poor white trash.

The next day they are super rich.

You are a fucking moron.

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I wouldn't call Trumper voters poor white trash, but they are massively uneducated. The "$20 hamburger" talking point didn't come from them though.

It came from the donors of GOP politicians, and some of those politicians who repeated the bullshit are pro-Trump.

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They are both - super rich and poor white trash.
You don't see the correlation there? Golly !
That's the motivating force and the base.
Rich people wanting poor people to support their lifestyles. What a surprise !

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You might be interested in reading the following article. It’s from April, 2015 but that’s OK as it still pertains to today. It’s lengthy, but stick with it.

”Fast Food Workers: You Don't Deserve $15 an Hour to Flip Burgers, and That's OK”

https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/fast-food-workers-you-dont-deserve-15-an-hour-to-flip-burgers-and-thats-ok


I will reiterate…no hamburger flipper deserves $15.00 plus an hour! BTW, watch Dick’s hamburger prices increase.

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If someone works an honest 40 hour work week, shouldn't that be enough to house and feed them? At the very least, minimum wage should keep up with inflation, which is hasn't.

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There was a time in America when someone could work a 40 hour week job, and it would be enough to pay a mortgage and raise a family. There was a time in America when the minimum wage would keep up with inflation.

Then Reagan was elected, and introduced 'Reaganomics' where the wealthy got wealthier, the middle class was eliminated, and the poor got poorer. And that's where we've been for forty years.

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The middle class did quite well with “ Reaganomics”. It was the best we ever did. We lost big time during the Obama years and never to recoup.

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Not true. The middle-class did best under FDRs programs, unions and fair taxes until the Reagan era.

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LOL yeah I'm sure the middle class did great during the Great Depression

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The Greatest Generation refers to that era as The Good Old Days!

"During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term unemployment fell dramatically from 25% to 14.3% and by the end of his presidency it had fell to 1.9% due to World War II. The economy grew 58% from 1932 to 1940 in 8 years of peacetime, and then grew 56% from 1940 to 1945 in 5 years of wartime."

And FDR established Social Security, FDIC, unemployment, minimum wage and anti-job discrimination laws. All these programs helped strengthen the middle-class.

The middle-class began to lose ground when the rich decided to fight back through the GOP by attacking unions, minimum wage, lowered their own taxes, etc.

"The Evil Geniuses" book documents the pro-rich policies which went into effect beginning in the 1970's that caused the middle-class to struggle.

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jeezus, just say whatever stupid thing comes to mind and we should sit up and pay attention?
Reagan was horrible for the working class in the USA. That's all.

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Hell, how about a single person with a place to live? Working 40 hours on a minimum wage is no guarantee you can afford an apartment ANYWHERE.

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Don't worry - that Reagnomics will be trickling down very soon. It's been 40 years of slow trickling.

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Not at fast food places. Fast food workers may work 20-32 hours per week. Fast food businesses weren’t meant for lifetime work. They were entry level jobs for after school teenagers, college students, extra income workers, etc. They aren’t designed to support a family.

Also, most people don’t realize places like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. are 90% franchised which makes the owner a “small business owner”. Corporate isn’t paying the workers…the owner is.

Haven’t you noticed there are less servers in sit down restaurants? A server doesn’t take your order… a tablet on the table does. A member of the kitchen staff brings your order. Fewer and fewer cashiers at grocery stores. Self check-out is taking more jobs. Wal-mart recently has begun another way to do less hiring. As you shop, YOU scan the item on your phone. You then receive a total, show that at check-out, pay and you’re on your way. More jobs eliminated.

There was a day when you pulled into the gas station, an attendant would come to the window, you said “Fill ‘er up”. He checked the oil and cleaned the windshield! Those jobs were second hand jobs to supplement someone’s income, or extra money for Christmas. Those jobs are gone. Why?Because of the damn minimum wage demand. Yet the prices went up.

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So you basically agree anyone working 40 hours a week should make enough for housing and food, except for fast food workers? I understand fast food jobs aren't meant for lifetime work, but there are lots of young people out there, right out of high school, who work 40 hours a week at McDonalds and can't pay rent and support themselves as a single person. Don't you see something wrong with that? Again, shouldn't minimum wage at the very least keep up with inflation?

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They don’t work 40 hours at the same site. They work 20-32 hours a week. I’ve known several kids who work at 2 different fast food sites. I’ve known people who have worked 3 jobs and going to college. Getting educated to them is more important than a drinking party!

Again, McDonald’s are small business owners and will cut jobs. Some have put themselves back on the job to keep the business going.

Also, when that hamburger price increases it stops some from buying it. Young adults depend on the Dollar menu while attending school. Sure, you may increase the worker’s pay, but you just priced out that college kid or a family who has a once a week treat at McDonald’s. Been there…done that!

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Not all of what you said is true. Many 18 year olds are working full time at the same site and it isn't enough to survive, while just a few decades ago, a minimum wage job was enough to keep a family of 3 above the poverty line. What happened? Seems we're regressing as a country and I don't want to see that. All I'm saying is a full time worker, working at the same site, should make enough for rent and food. I don't see how that's controversial.

At the very least, minimum wage needs to keep up with inflation, which it hasn't. I really don't think that's asking for a lot.

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I repeat which everyone seems to ignore, the nation wide fast food places are 90% owned by small business people. They pay the employees…corporate doesn’t. Most employers of this type and groceries keep a 32 hour maximum so they aren’t required to pay benefits.

The following is a long, long list of local “Help Wanted” ads from a head-hunter. If these are true, what in the hell are people bitching about? People don’t want to work! The government has made it too easy for them to sit on their sorry asses! I wish I had this type of pay and benefits offered to me when I was working. Who would have ever thunk Waffle House would pay for Benefits and Paid Time Off!

https://www.jobs2careers.com/search/results?q=mcdonalds&l=&c3=mcdonalds&c2=0&c3=mcdonalds%20hiring%20near%20me&c4=632&c1=4&c5=6055&adpos=&matchtype=b&network=o&device=c&devicemodel=&kw=mcdonalds%20hiring%20near%20me&pl=&ifmobile=n&ifsearch=y&ifcontent=&creative=&geo=74105&int=&msclkid=9c4c1c0b181f1045285f7d5aee3bc344&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2021-06-03%20AI%20-%20USA%20-%20LOC%20-%20BYS&utm_term=mcdonalds%20hiring%20near%20me&utm_content=HSP%20-%20Brand%20-%20McDonalds

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You seem to be fixated on fast food places, but the fact is, many people in this country are working 40 hours a week at other places as well and can't survive and you don't see anything wrong with this. You won't even touch on the part about wages not keeping up with inflation. I repeat, if someone is working 40 hours a week, shouldn't that be enough to keep them above the poverty line? Again, minimum wage used to keep people above the poverty line, but it no longer does...

Waffle House? Here are the average wages:

Cook: $11.96/hr
Server: $12.53/hr
Shift manager: $12.61/hr

Do you seriously think people can survive on that? That won't even cover rent for fuck sake.

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I’m aware of that fact. There was a time when the uneducated carried 2-3 jobs. I worked with people who did. There was a time when there was a work ethic. I’ve known college students who took courses online and worked more than 1 job. I’ve known older people who received SS, but worked more than 1 job.

One day I was driving to the grocery when I noticed a woman at the bus stop wearing her grocery store smock. I was headed that way so I stopped and offered her a ride. She accepted and during the ride I learned she was in her 60’s and worked 3 part-time jobs! She needed the money and was happy with her jobs. This is work ethic and depending on oneself…not others.

There was a time when people needed money they worked for it. They didn’t depend on the government (taxpayers). You also seem to forget the low wage workers now receive rental assistance, mobile phones, childcare, the EITC, and other benefits from us.

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You seem complacent with the state our country is in. If someone is working 40 hours a week (full time) that should cover the bare minimum and keep people above the poverty line, but it doesn't anymore. That's messed up... I repeat, someone working 40 hours a week shouldn't have to resort to Government assistance.

At the very least, can you admit wages should keep up with inflation?? The fact that the Federal Minimum Wage is still $7.25 is a travesty.

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She's very evil.

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And you are a TROLL!

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I don't get you people who act like minimum wage should be a living wage. It's the least you're allowed to make. And raising it isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's never going to be enough to raise a family on. It wouldn't be enough to raise a family on if it was $100,000 an hour. Here in my homestate of Illinois, it's currently $11 an hour and along with it raising it, the price of everything has gone up.

Yet you leftists reject that prices raise with the raise of minimum wage because you're a bunch of willfully ignorant bunch of nincompoops who don't want to accept reality because you've all been brainwashed by idiots like Bernie Sanders.

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If an American is working a forty hour a week job, why shouldn't it be enough to live on ? There was a time in America - before Reagan introduced Reaganomics, in which the wealthy got wealthier and the poor got poorer - when someone could indeed work 40 hours at minimum wage and afford housing, food, and clothing. Why do people now have to work 60 - 80 hours a week at minimum wage jobs to try to make ends meet ?

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Maybe it's more that I personally believe everyone should eventually make above minimum wage. I do not want to just make minimum wage my whole life and neither do most people.

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I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, for different reasons, there are those people who are in minimum wage jobs, sometimes for their whole life. And those people need to make enough to live on.

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Then the solution is to make a law saying that everyone regardless of their hours or job has to get $3 raise within 2 years of working at said business or the employer faces a $5million fine.

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That would never fly. The employer would fire the workers in their 23rd month of employment, and hire new employees - keeping them for 23 months. They know how to get around it.

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Then in addition, a law prohibiting that. There needs to be a government agency that oversees jobs and makes them treat their workers better.

Just the fact though you and others actually think raising minimum wage is going to actually reduce peoples' poverty baffles me. If anything, the very thing you just mentioned will be happening. I am in a union job so I have been blessed to get a raise to go with the minimum wage raise.

I admit though the only way to get a decent raise is to average 34 hours over the span of a year which can be very difficult for people to do. And this is a union job but unions can't do everything.

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Then in addition, a law prohibiting that. There needs to be a government agency that oversees jobs and makes them treat their workers better.


LOL! A law prohibiting that ? A law prohibiting when an employer can fire someone ? The twenty-second month is OK, but the twenty-third month is not ? Sure, that's the answer.

Just like the law which states an employer must offer some kind of health insurance plan to all employees working 20 hours per week or more. All employers cut the hours of part-timers to 19 hours per week to skirt the law.

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[deleted]

Well with what you claim nobody can do anything about it. Frankly I think it's foolish to try and get into a romantic relationship if neither you or your special someone has a good job that pays above minimum wage and has medical benefits.

I probably should have just not talked to you at all since frankly as far as I am concerned you and everyone who supports $15 an hour minimum wage is a willfully stupid and ignorant.

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Trust me she doesn't care. She bought into the lie she has been fed by society. The lie of if you work hard life will be fine.... If only it were that simple.

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Sad to see that there are people like her in this world - takes joy out of other's troubles. Nasty and evil.

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Why shouldn't fast food work be a step up for a person's well-being in this economy? Are fast food joints going to go away once we have all graduated into better jobs?
No, we need to have a self-sustaining culture of shitty jobs we can assume will never get anyone anywhere. That's what's normal, a big demand and no payoff for the workers.

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Haven’t you noticed there are less servers in sit down restaurants? A server doesn’t take your order… a tablet on the table does. A member of the kitchen staff brings your order. Fewer and fewer cashiers at grocery stores. Self check-out is taking more jobs. Wal-mart recently has begun another way to do less hiring. As you shop, YOU scan the item on your phone. You then receive a total, show that at check-out, pay and you’re on your way. More jobs eliminated.

Whilst i symapthise with people working in , or looking for , minimum wage jobs.
The ones that have been replced by lcd screens is a good thing.
Its progress.
Its pretty pointless having people doing jobs machines can do .
We dont have people digging fields now that we have tractors.


The thing is , the more and more automated we are , the system needs to adapt so that get to spend this time saved sitting on the beach drinking margeritas , rather than starving to death rooting in dumpsters for food.


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So you are OK for people losing their jobs to a digital device? What do you propose for the ones who do lose their jobs. To be supported by the taxpayers? Is this how humans “adapt”? You do realize the time will come when human workers are completely replaced by automation. What will humans do then? Become Soylent Green?

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What will humans do then? Become Soylent Green?
The machines work for us remember! (excluding T2 type fiction etc)
The whole mindset of "you are job" will evtually have to change

Like I said , the system needs to adapt as we automate more stuff and free ourselves from working dawn till dusk .
we should all be getting afternoons off by now that we have factories and robots etc
but we seem to just keep inventing more work to keep us enslaved 9 to 5 .

I'm talking bigger picture than the current : "you work , you get paid , thats it " system
I'm not saying this is anytime soon , if ever , we'll probly nuke ourselves first.

but if we *did* get the point where machines waited on us hand and foot and nobody needed to lift a finger
... then the system of your job defining your life/wealth would be useless.

and we have been slowly inching towards that since the industrial revolution , and The Luddites

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As usual, you don't know what the hell you are talking about and have no sympathy toward people who are trying to work at low wages.
Read this long article, and stick with it until you are so bored you don't care what it says anymore. Then agree they are right.

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The linked article is from The Blaze. Don't need to know more than that. That's all I needed to know to stop me from clicking on it.

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With an attitude like that, no wonder no one's going back to work. Minimum wage should be with the times adjusted with inflation which is around $11-17 (forgot the exact number). You can't be the worlds richest nation and pay slave wages.

I remember seeing an interview with some small business owner on Fox and she mentions $7.25 and says, "it's good money". Lol... I guess some are stuck in the Suburbia times of the American dream and want to keep it that way or what's left of it.

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Again, fast food employment was meant for part-time. Part-time for after school, college students, etc. It wasn’t meant to be a sustainable wage. You completely missed the part how these jobs are disappearing and in their place a faceless cold tablet is greeting you as you sit at your table. I hate self-check out in the groceries. Longer lines and after the ordeal of shopping I don’t want to scan & bag, plus I can’t help but think of another job lost.

If this demand for $15.00 plus continues you will see more automation. I repeat, 90% of the fast food places are franchised to small business people, therefore they will cut hours and/or people. At one time grocery stores were full time with benefits. Since the government mandate of wages and healthcare, hours have been cut back to no more than 32 hours…hence no benefits. I’m fully aware of this as I went to school with a gal who worked over 30 years for the same grocery. She was the only one who had full time and benefits. She was grandfathered into the old way. My 2 grandkids worked for the same grocery after graduation for over 10 years, but weren’t permitted to work over 32 hours.

There was a time when government kept it’s nose out of private businesses which brought out competition to get the best workers. If I didn’t like what I was making per hour I could go down the street for an extra 50 cents per hr. I worked for a huge company where the employees enjoyed working. The company was non-union, but it was competitive by keeping pace with the union companies. My company held onto it’s employees and it wasn’t due to government mandates.

I repeat “no part-time hamburger flipper” deserves $15 an hour. Read my link in order to understand the higher wage hamburger flipper would make the same as some entry level jobs which calls for a degree.

Where have all the textile mills gone to? China! At one time this country was self sustaining, but no longer. Parts for equipment are made overseas.

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Time's change. Now you got non-college people filling those roles so part-time become full time. As for kiosks and self-checkout, I have gotten used to doing my own checking out. We sacrificed so much in the name of convenience we forgot what work was really like. The fun thing is you can secretly take food out without them noticing since there is only 1-2 staff around the 20+ self-checkouts side by side :p. I think they'll keep a few around (staff checkouts) for those that buy food in the $200+ range and have 1-2 large carts. The only large line up is at the staff checkout since that's where the heavy shoppers go. Self-checkouts barely to light lineups.

Automation was always the end game as tech advances. Wouldn't matter if wages increased when you can pay no wage, period (hence why there should be a tax on machines that replace workers). God dammit I was (fake) hitting on a grandma (no offense intended), lol.

Well, some go for best workers based on skill, others go for best workers on efficiency at the cheapest cost.

I read your link but it doesn't confine to the times we're in. I we take the base wage of the 1960's or whatever and adjust to inflation it would be around that number. You can't keep paying such low wages when everything else is just getting more expensive. Maybe that's why Biden wants to keep shuffling low skilled workers for these positions to be filled.

Yep, because of capitalist greed (cronyism). Profits is the end means of production. We'll eventually need a UBI when there are too many jobless and all low skill work is done by AI machines.

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Lets see how long he stays in business. There have been other ventures of this nature that make big headlines and everyone cheers. Then months later no one reports on them closing down.

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Why do Trumpers and Republicans anticipate for a thriving business to fail ?

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It’s not anticipation. It’s economics. It’s facts.

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It's a crappy agenda to keep poor people poor.

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I don't hope they fail, but it's very likely and if it does happen you won't comment on it. There is a lot of product to sell to make a profit with that overhead.

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My exact quote is: Why do Trumpers and Republicans anticipate for a thriving business to fail ?

I never used the word 'hope' - I used 'anticipate'. YOU had the Freudian slip and said "hope", which I knew all along was your true motivation.

SO now that you let that out in the open, the question is "Why do Trumpers and Republicans HOPE for a thriving business to fail ?"

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Well that's been answered twenty times already. We anticipate it because people buy burgers at a price and a shop sells a certain amount of burgers a day, the money the burgers cost times the amount sold gives the owner a number he has to split up into different areas including wages. It is not an infinite amount of money from under a mattress, the money comes from selling the product.

And for your followup see my response above.

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SO rather anticipate he will sell enough to cover his expenses, you anticipate he will fail. That's horrible.

In a case with fast food, it's quantity which counts. If they didn't think they have the quantity of sales already in their long history, I'm sure they have a grasp on profits and costs, and they knew beforehand whether they could afford to give this pay raise before doing so.

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So they are the grinch who had his heart grow three times as large suddenly? Why not pay them such a generous wage from the start if the numbers worked? To me this sounds like a risky advertising gimmick and the prices will either go up or when no ones looking the pay will go back to what it was.

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Or automation will eliminate the employees

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More info:

”The Absurdity Of A $15 Minimum Wage”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/09/01/the-absurdity-of-a-15-minimum-wage/?sh=caed3b33f44a

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jeezus krist, so you know what an average power bill looks like? Add that onto inflated rents people can't afford? Jobs where no one treats you with respect and support? Wear the smock and pump out those fries, faster, faster? You have no clue what it's like to be in the current job market, but you sure can bitch how everyone else should act.

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That's a representation of the empathetic Trumper. They don't care about the Americans trying to make ends meet.

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most minimum wage workers dont even deserve there current wage let alone 15

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You don't deserve to have a forum here, but you still have one.

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everyone deserves a forum. if u dont believe that u must be a dang ol commie bastardo

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Bravo. At least you have the courage of your convictions ... and I'm sure you have many.

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u sound like a nerdo by the way to talk

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I asked them if the food prices will go up after this change so I wonder if they'll respond.

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If you want prices to go up just to show you were right -- hey ! Thanks for the karmic comeuppence.

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Republicans at all levels lie so often you cannot every be when or if they are ever serious ... but the smart money is on never.

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We don’t lie. You’re just ignorant to the facts. Since you don’t know or cannot comprehend the truth…they become lies to you. You are incapable of thinking outside your alt-left box so you swallow the
crumbs the lefties throw into the box.🤷🏼‍♀️

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You do lie, you lie like no other. Or you're just ignorant and so stupid you don't even know what facts are. Facts are repeatedly presented to you yet like flat Earthers you're so stupid you continually are in denial of them. You're the living embodiment of the movie Idiocracy.

Just like they thought irrigating their crops with sugar soda was a good idea worse you idiots thought injecting disinfectant into your bodies would eliminate the Covid19 virus.

There IS NO alt-Left you NITWIT!

You are so incredibly stupid and ignorant you don't even know what the context of what "alt-" is!

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"Just like they thought irrigating their crops with sugar soda was a good idea worse you idiots thought injecting disinfectant into your bodies would eliminate the Covid19 virus."

You should have read past the headline. People were ingesting disinfectants accidentally because people were using disinfectants on everything. The media said it was because of what Trump said but in reality cases of people ingesting disinfectants had been going up the entire year.

And in Idiocracy the people are using Brawndo on the plants because the company that owns Brawndo has bought off three government agencies including the FDA and had it mandated. Sounds like your vaccine.

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As par for the course, you Democrat lemmings attack with banal pejorative verbiage. You can’t help yourself as you are devoid of substance!🙄🙄

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god -- I am exploding with laughter and outrage simultaneously.
How utterly senseless and stupid you continually expose yourself to be is breath taking.
Emm Eff ! Does your Sun rise in the West and set in the East?
How much do you get paid do disseminate such utter shameless garbage constantly here?
Brain-washed people telling us we've been brain-washed. Emm Eff !
Tell your kids to play in the street and make friends with strangers. Emm Eff !
Just make no sense at all, make up utter crap, and pretend you are talking for anyone other than yourself and the JOs that want to pull your strings. GOOD GOD ! You should be a school teacher and REALLY be a able to Eff things up. Emm Eff !!

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Guess you haven't noticed that many Americans will pay $5 for cups of coffee.

That said Hamburgers in Switzerland are also about $20. Everyone there is rich even a Starbucks worker.

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