During the last Republican convention it was a big deal that the debt clock hit $16 trillion dollars. At the time it seemed like an insurmountable number to overcome. Yet in four years since, and a Republican controlled house and senate, nothing has been done to even slow it down. Now as we approach the 2016 Republican convention, the number is $19 trillion and looks to jump to 20 to 21 trillion within a very short time—it is quickly escalating out of control and is my number one concern. You might remember the article I wrote five years ago about Porter Standsberry. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. Well, it’s all happening now. Corporations are moving overseas to avoid the high corporate taxes, socialists are running for president, and capitalism is about to be sentenced guilty by the looter Washington class of public officials and know-nothing politicians. All these things have been quite deliberate—the communists and socialists have infected our political system and made decisions that are directly designed to topple our capitalists system of government with debt and excessive expectations while on the other end they have destroyed the means of production.
This has never been more evident than in the city of Detroit—utterly destroyed by socialism. Chicago is not far behind and is currently propped up exclusively by debt incurrence. Chicago doesn’t have the wealth building ability to pay their debts at the rate that they are acquiring them. But they are small potatoes compared to California—which was once one of the great economies of the world. Now it’s quickly on its way to becoming an empty husk of what it once was and now they have delivered to themselves one of the final nails into their coffin—they approved an increase in the minimum wage with a plan to get to $15 dollars per hour within a few years. Without question, based on the strength of the Bernie Sanders campaign in the West, the entire coastline has been destroyed by progressive politics greatly crippling the American economy. Now with the minimum wage hike they have fully committed to socialism which of course will deplete their once great state of its wealth quickly.
As I’ve said before, I have worked in fast food for a number of years as a second job. I understand the nature of it—and how hard it can be—and at no time did I ever consider that those positions should be paid any kind of “living wage.” Nobody should seek to make a long career out of a fast food job. They are entry-level jobs that should encourage people to improve their skills and value to the capitalist marketplace. For instance—when I worked in fast food, while other people goofed off on their breaks, I read books so that I could become smarter for better things to come. I worked many odd jobs for essentially the first 15 years of my adult life—up until about 35 years of age. Some of those odd jobs were at fast food places—like Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Frisch’s and so on. During that entire period I never wasted one single break on needless exercises. I was always reading books and trying to improve myself—and there isn’t one person from my past who could step forward and say otherwise. I learned a lot of things in these jobs which obviously helped me later on in life. No, I didn’t get paid much, but the wealth I took away from those jobs was invaluable. But always there was a hunger to do better for my family which pushed me to continuously improve.
Without that motivation to step away from fast food, a lot of talent in America is sure to be wasted. Getting paid so much money for the entry-level workforce weakens all the market mechanisms which make capitalism so successful, which of course is the point of progressives who have been advocating the $15 dollar an hour minimum wage. Of course if the minimum wage is set at $15 then all the jobs upstream from fast food will have to increase which is how the socialists have always planned to attack the American economy—by striking at the profit of corporations for the good of the “people” as if they had equal ownership of the means of labor.
The unintended consequence is that companies like McDonald’s will either downsize and further automate their operations lessening their reliance on labor, or they will relocate to some other area of the country that does not have such hefty financial burdens toward their profit margins. Every video game player should understand this concept. Without some measure of profit—whether its points gained, or trophies won in competition with others—there is little incentive to play a game or open a business—if there is no profit. Human beings are driven by profit. As an example—I am a big fan of the Assassin’s Creed video games. There are lots of ways to “profit” in those games—as you succeed you get to open up new areas to explore, you get achievement trophies to share online with the friends in your network, and of course you earn upgrades to your playable character. Every Silicone Valley geek understands how this works—yet they have a hard time applying these lessons to real life—such as in politics. The same young people who will play an online game for 24 straight hours trying to grind it out to earn bonuses—will stand on a street corner protesting McDonald’s for a minimum wage hike without understanding that they are weakening the game of life for which we all live by. In their minds the two worlds are separated by fantasy and reality—but in the human mind—they are one in the same.
No video gamer wants their achievements and hard work penalized so some newbie can just come into a game like Assassin’s Creed and instantly be as good as everyone else. They are expected to work hard to earn the right and respect of everyone else. Well, the same holds true in a capitalist society. No top executive wants to see some snot nosed kid step directly into a corner glass office in a high-rise firm who hasn’t fought and earned the right to be there. And no straight out of college kid should earn $6 figure salaries unless they’ve done the work to be the top of their field of endeavor. By giving fast food workers an instantly high minimum wage—they are penalizing all those in life who play the game of capitalism hard and create all the jobs for which socialists are so eager to give away for free.
The net result will be fewer jobs in California, higher prices because of the lack of competition, and a general gradual lessening of their global economic prowess. The benefits that so many Californians take for granted today, such as having a McDonald’s down the road for a quick coffee and a breakfast will evaporate the higher that the minimum wage increases rise. McDonald’s will automate and implement those new devices into their stores to protect their margins—which is the lifeblood of their company—it’s not to serve society—it’s to make money—to earn points in the capitalist system. Then what California will end up doing along with socialist Seattle is force McDonald’s to reduce their staffing levels all across the country minimizing job opportunities—not increasing them. For the guy like me who just wanted to earn a little extra money and experience—those jobs may not be available if McDonald’s has to drop their minimum staffing levels from 6 or 7 employees to 3 or 4 to maintain their current margins. Once they develop a formula in California for dealing with the increased costs—they’ll implement that strategy to every store they have around the world.
So it is very sad to see that California took the plunge further into socialism. But I did tell everyone a long time ago that all this was coming—and we know what it looks like—and what impact it has—yet they did it anyway. It further prevents our national GDP from ever having a chance to overtake our massive debt with increased productivity. It certainly puts us all further in the hole—which was always the strategy. How does that make you feel America? It should make you VERY angry.
Rich Hoffman
CLIFFHANGER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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