[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You’re moving the goalposts. We were talking about prices and salary.

If we want more context, let’s include tax as well. That burger in Denmark will have a 25 per cent VAT added on top, compared to Canada’s 5 per cent. I’d wager your Danish McDonald’s worker pays higher income and payroll tax than their Canadian counterpart as well.

And it’s safe to assume the high input cost at Danish McDonald’s is why they have only one McDonald’s per 62k people, compared with one per 27k people in Canada. Presumably, they only operate in very high-demand, high-volume locations.

In our market economy, higher wages for those in service industry jobs will mean some combination of higher prices, increased automation, and reductions in locations (and jobs). When input costs go up, companies don’t just continue to operate as normal but with reduced profit. That’s not the way markets work.

I’m okay with prices at fast food places, grocery stores, travel and hospitality, etc. going up as wages in those industries have increased in recent years. As a middle-class person, why shouldn’t I contribute my share to better wages for the working class? You don’t get to be a more egalitarian society without making collective sacrifices.

I dunno, seems plausible to me that Danes and Euros in general just have a lower appetite for fast food