McDonalds is no longer affordable by low-income consumers.
They really need to lower food prices. It's ridiculous that they are charging $15 for a burger, fries and a drink.
The bill for eating out at a restraunt for 2 people was $60 ... now its $120 minimum.
Should we bring in more below-minimum wage agricultural labour?
Should we reverse wage growth in the poorest segment of society - the people that grow and cook your food?
Should we lower commercial and residential rents?
Should we redistribute the record profits that (some) parts of the capital-owning class are reaping?
Your life is just catching up to the reality that X hours of labour is required to provide you with 1 hour of luxury, and when that labour starts getting paid more for their work, prices go up.
(It's the same reason childcare is unaffordable. One care provider is only allowed to watch after 3/4 infants. If you want 8 hours of childsitting a day, that means that half of your salary must go to pay for it.)
* Do a ton of work
* Make very little money
* With a constant risk of going out of business and losing everything hanging over your head.
The reality is that rents are in the stratosphere, low-end wages are growing, and so are profit margins for many (but not all) producers of goods that the economy runs on. All of these costs get passed up the supply chain to you, the customer.
It's very sad and all that a senior SWE no longer gets paid 15 times what their barista does (It's only 8 times now!), but we all have to tighten our belts and adapt to this brave new world.
Or we could eat the landlords, but that's not a hugely popular sentiment at the moment.