AS DEFICIT EXPLODES, GOP DEMANDS EMERGENCY TAX CUT FOR THE RICH

[ZiprHead]

Corporate McDonald's is not a fast food restaurant. It does not hire fry cooks, etc. It is a business that sells franchises and it has huge profits. Each franchise is an independent small business sector restaurant that just 'buys' the name McDonald's and agrees to make the meals as specified under the franchise. Those franchises do not make the huge profits that the corporate McDonald's does.

So you think that McD's corporation can make those kind of profits without their actual restaurants being profitable? They don't just "agree to make the meals as specified under the franchise", those meals must be identical from franchise to franchise, so they require them to purchase those goods from corporate. That is one way they suck the profits from the franchises. They could easily siphon less money from the franchises and require them to pay a living wage. The franchises being small business is just plain bullshit, masked by corporate shenanigans.

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

Here's what it costs to open a McDonald's restaurant

McDonald's franchisees must make an initial investment of between $1 million and $2.2 million.

McDonald's charges a $45,000 franchisee fee and an ongoing monthly service fee equal to 4% of gross sales.

Franchisees must also pay rent to the company, which is a percentage of monthly sales.

Owning a McDonald's franchise can be a lucrative business, but it requires a lot of cash.

The average McDonald's restaurant generates nearly $2.7 million in annual sales, making it the fourth-highest-grossing chain in the US by sales per unit behind Chick-fil-A, Whataburger, and Panera Bread, according to QSR magazine.

But to open a single restaurant, the company requires that potential franchisees have liquid assets of at least $500,000.

Startup costs, which include construction and equipment expenses, average between $1 million and $2.2 million, according to McDonald's. The total is determined by the geography and size of the restaurant, as well as by the selection of kitchen equipment, signage, style of decor, and landscaping, the company says.

This is a rich people's game, taking advantage of poor people to make buttloads of money.

 

[KeepTalking]

Corporate McDonald's is not a fast food restaurant. It does not hire fry cooks, etc. It is a business that sells franchises and it has huge profits. Each franchise is an independent small business sector restaurant that just 'buys' the name McDonald's and agrees to make the meals as specified under the franchise. Those franchises do not make the huge profits that the corporate McDonald's does.

So you think that McD's corporation can make those kind of profits without their actual restaurants being profitable? They don't just "agree to make the meals as specified under the franchise", those meals must be identical from franchise to franchise, so they require them to purchase those goods from corporate. That is one way they suck the profits from the franchises. They could easily siphon less money from the franchises and require them to pay a living wage. The franchises being small business is just plain bullshit, masked by corporate shenanigans.

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

 

[Jarhyn]

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

Also, in my neck of the woods, while they are franchises, these franchises are anything but small businesses. All the franchises I've ever seen from the inside are owned by millionaires.

The franchise owners themselves could ALSO siphon less money from the stores and pay more.

 

[skepticalbip]

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

I've found that trying to discuss anything with a conspiracy theorist is a waste of time. I haven't yet been able to convince this guy that the idea that "big oil" has bought up the patents for the 200 mile/gallon carburetor and the engine that runs on water so they can maintain their profits is not reasonable.

 

[ZiprHead]

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

I've found that trying to discuss anything with a conspiracy theorist is a waste of time. I haven't yet been able to convince this guy that the idea that "big oil" has bought up the patents for the 200 mile/gallon carburetor and the engine that runs on water so they can maintain their profits is not reasonable.

You tend to put a lot of things in other people's mouths yet almost nothing substantive comes out of yours.

 

[KeepTalking]

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

I've found that trying to discuss anything with a conspiracy theorist is a waste of time. I haven't yet been able to convince this guy that the idea that "big oil" has bought up the patents for the 200 mile/gallon carburetor and the engine that runs on water so they can maintain their profits is not reasonable.

What conspiracy theory did I advocate? Please provide evidence directly quoted from my posts that show I have done so.

 

[lpetrich]

One can argue Gates is UNDERPAID when compared with his contribution to the world.

How would he be underpaid? Where would the money come from to pay him properly?

I think that I successfully debunked the notion that he is a genius inventor who invented computers and the software that they run.

I'll say some words about operating systems. What counts as one is a matter of definition, but there are three basic parts:

• Kernel
• App support
• Utility apps

The kernel manages the allotment of CPU time and memory to the active apps.

App support - stuff like device drivers and runtime software libraries and low-level file management: creating files and folders as abstractions of the contents of disks and flash memory and the like.

Utility apps - stuff like command-line shells and GUI shells, and file-management apps. Unix flavors have a lot of cryptically-named command-line ones, like ls (list), mv (move), cp (copy), rm (remove), ... while GUI file managers, like MacOS Finder, are more comprehensive.

The Linux world offers some helpful perspective. Linux proper is only the kernel, but its users have prepared a large number of "distributions" or "distros" that contain not only a kernel version, but also lots of app support and utility apps. There is not one, but two main GUI shells for Linux: KDE and GNOME. Of these, KDE is more Windows-like and GNOME more Mac-like.

So by Linux standards, both Windows and MacOS are distributions and not bare OSes.

Linux is an open-source OS kernel, and much of the software available for it is also open-source. Being open-source makes it easy to port to other platforms, like MacOS and Windows, so one can get it there also, as I have.

Bill-Gates hero-worshippers may find it hard to believe that Linux has gotten anywhere, let alone have a lot of software be available for it. In their minds, there must be some great hero behind it, one who rakes in a lot of money because it it. For Linux, the closest approximation is Linus Torvalds, and he's never made much money off of it. But instead, he's gotten a Unix flavor that he can use, and a lot of software to run on it.

A lot of software? Development tools for several programming languages like C++, Python, ... Office suites (like MS Office: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, ...) like OpenOffice. Raster-graphics (paint) programs like Gimp. Vector-graphics (draw) programs like Inkscape. Web browsers like Firefox. And LOTS more.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Wow. What a dark fantasy world you live in. But then some embrace conspiracy theories.

What a substantive and thoughtful response...

Also, in my neck of the woods, while they are franchises, these franchises are anything but small businesses. All the franchises I've ever seen from the inside are owned by millionaires.

The franchise owners themselves could ALSO siphon less money from the stores and pay more.

Many of these "millionaires" have some of their own money invested, but the bulk comes from family and friends that they've borrowed from.

 

[ZiprHead]

Also, in my neck of the woods, while they are franchises, these franchises are anything but small businesses. All the franchises I've ever seen from the inside are owned by millionaires.

The franchise owners themselves could ALSO siphon less money from the stores and pay more.

Many of these "millionaires" have some of their own money invested, but the bulk comes from family and friends that they've borrowed from.

You mean investors?

 

[Horatio Parker]

Also, in my neck of the woods, while they are franchises, these franchises are anything but small businesses. All the franchises I've ever seen from the inside are owned by millionaires.

The franchise owners themselves could ALSO siphon less money from the stores and pay more.

Many of these "millionaires" have some of their own money invested, but the bulk comes from family and friends that they've borrowed from.

A friend, now passed, had a brother who became wealthy by a freak inheritance.

He went on become friends with some prominent local wealthy families, and according to my friend, they would push risky investments on him. I gathered the implication being, if you're one of us, you'll invest. He thought they were using him. YMMV.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Also, in my neck of the woods, while they are franchises, these franchises are anything but small businesses. All the franchises I've ever seen from the inside are owned by millionaires.

The franchise owners themselves could ALSO siphon less money from the stores and pay more.

Many of these "millionaires" have some of their own money invested, but the bulk comes from family and friends that they've borrowed from.

You mean investors?

What's your point? Family members investing in a child's business are far more than just investors.

Secondly point: why are we shifting the goal posts so much? The thread started with the fact that most retail and restaurants generate no profit to there are a few restaurants (some chains) that are very profitable. Why the movement?

 

[ZiprHead]

You mean investors?

What's your point? Family members investing in a child's business are far more than just investors.

Secondly point: why are we shifting the goal posts so much? The thread started with the fact that most retail and restaurants generate no profit to there are a few restaurants (some chains) that are very profitable. Why the movement?

You said borrowed.

 

[DBT]

If a business is not profitable for whatever reason, too much competition, not enough demand, it should not be in business. Everyone loses money, the owners who may be pouring their own money down the drain, and the employees who are expected to work for shit wages in order to subsidize a failing cafe, restaurant or whatever else.

 

[Harry Bosch]

If a business is not profitable for whatever reason, too much competition, not enough demand, it should not be in business. Everyone loses money, the owners who may be pouring their own money down the drain, and the employees who are expected to work for shit wages in order to subsidize a failing cafe, restaurant or whatever else.

Gotcha. The vast majority of businesses in the world are most likely going to be reporting Q1 losses. Shut them all down? A majority will probably report Q2 losses as well. It's going to be an ugly year.

 

[DBT]

If a business is not profitable for whatever reason, too much competition, not enough demand, it should not be in business. Everyone loses money, the owners who may be pouring their own money down the drain, and the employees who are expected to work for shit wages in order to subsidize a failing cafe, restaurant or whatever else.

Gotcha. The vast majority of businesses in the world are most likely going to be reporting Q1 losses. Shut them all down? A majority will probably report Q2 losses as well. It's going to be an ugly year.

I wasn't talking about extraordinary circumstances.

 

[Harry Bosch]

If a business is not profitable for whatever reason, too much competition, not enough demand, it should not be in business. Everyone loses money, the owners who may be pouring their own money down the drain, and the employees who are expected to work for shit wages in order to subsidize a failing cafe, restaurant or whatever else.

Gotcha. The vast majority of businesses in the world are most likely going to be reporting Q1 losses. Shut them all down? A majority will probably report Q2 losses as well. It's going to be an ugly year.

I wasn't talking about extraordinary circumstances.

I guaranty you that almost all companies start up with the intention of generating a profit. But unintended or extraordinary circumstances occur each day that make it difficult. Some companies, such as tech companies, SAAS, and other such companies, always take awhile to generate profits. Many companies sign leases also that require them to continue making rent payments regardless of their status. So owners often make the calculation that even if they aren't profitable, that it's better to continue operating to make the rental payment, than call it quits.

 

[DBT]

I wasn't talking about extraordinary circumstances.

I guaranty you that almost all companies start up with the intention of generating a profit. But unintended or extraordinary circumstances occur each day that make it difficult. Some companies, such as tech companies, SAAS, and other such companies, always take awhile to generate profits. Many companies sign leases also that require them to continue making rent payments regardless of their status. So owners often make the calculation that even if they aren't profitable, that it's better to continue operating to make the rental payment, than call it quits.

You make it sound like the world is falling apart. That a profitable business is practically impossible to achieve....therefore ordinary workers have no option but to work for shit wages.

 

[Harry Bosch]

I wasn't talking about extraordinary circumstances.

I guaranty you that almost all companies start up with the intention of generating a profit. But unintended or extraordinary circumstances occur each day that make it difficult. Some companies, such as tech companies, SAAS, and other such companies, always take awhile to generate profits. Many companies sign leases also that require them to continue making rent payments regardless of their status. So owners often make the calculation that even if they aren't profitable, that it's better to continue operating to make the rental payment, than call it quits.

You make it sound like the world is falling apart. That a profitable business is practically impossible to achieve....therefore ordinary workers have no option but to work for shit wages.

Buddy. You are really making some assumptions here. Please do not put words in my mouth. I'm simply trying to educate you to understand that most retail and restaurant business do not generate great profits because they have no barriers to entry to protect them. I started a tech company. And I do have IP that allows me to sell at a profit. However, it takes years to develop the product, develop the sales channels, and etc.

 

[DBT]

You make it sound like the world is falling apart. That a profitable business is practically impossible to achieve....therefore ordinary workers have no option but to work for shit wages.

Buddy. You are really making some assumptions here. Please do not put words in my mouth. I'm simply trying to educate you to understand that most retail and restaurant business do not generate great profits because they have no barriers to entry to protect them. I started a tech company. And I do have IP that allows me to sell at a profit. However, it takes years to develop the product, develop the sales channels, and etc.

It's the impression I get based on what you say, not something I make up, or my interpretation of your remarks.

Read what you are saying. Look at the narrative that you present. The impression it gives is that many if not most businesses cannot afford to pay their employees decent wages.

I'm not saying this to upset you, just pointing out the image that your argument paints.

 

[skepticalbip]

You make it sound like the world is falling apart. That a profitable business is practically impossible to achieve....therefore ordinary workers have no option but to work for shit wages.

Buddy. You are really making some assumptions here. Please do not put words in my mouth. I'm simply trying to educate you to understand that most retail and restaurant business do not generate great profits because they have no barriers to entry to protect them. I started a tech company. And I do have IP that allows me to sell at a profit. However, it takes years to develop the product, develop the sales channels, and etc.

It's the impression I get based on what you say, not something I make up, or my interpretation of your remarks.

Read what you are saying. Look at the narrative that you present. The impression it gives is that many if not most businesses cannot afford to pay their employees decent wages.

I'm not saying this to upset you, just pointing out the image that your argument paints.

Maybe the problem is in what YOU consider "decent wages" as opposed to what the prospective employees who were more the eager to earn those wages that were offered.