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Old 01-07-2011, 02:42 PM   #48 (permalink)
Willravel
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aceventura3 View Post
The mindset that first creates an onerous amount of red-tape for a restaurant to be open, then goes on a crusade against the one type of restaurant (large corporate, with the advantage of economy of scale, at a low cost point - especially in low income areas) that can be profitable in some areas given the increased costs of regulations and the demographics, baffles the hell out of me. One day they want to protect the "character" of old neighborhoods, then its livable wages, then it is "for the children", etc. etc. etc. - what is it? What are they really afraid of? Why?
As a small business owner (it's official as of last month!), this is actually a really good thing. I can't compete with multinational corporations that pay no taxes whatsoever, have their hq in a tax haven, and farm out all of their labor to child workers in Asia. In a mixed free market economy, competition should be fair first and foremost so that competition can allow the superior good, service or what have you do better and reward the people doing the better business.

If I was a restaurateur, even if I was able to provide amazing food at incredible prices by doing good business, I'd never, ever be able to compete directly with McDonalds or Pizza Hut because they're dishonest, evil corporations that are uninterested in fair competition. One of the main ways they're unfair, aside from massive subsidies, tax loopholes, and a bought and paid for food and drug administration, is that they use incredibly low quality products in their food. Large amounts of bovine fecal matter in the meat quality. Fries that never rot quality. Let's say my restaurant served perfect food at highly competitive prices and I paid a fair wage to my workers. McDonalds moves in next door and I'm royally screwed even though their food is of incredibly low quality, their customer service is nonexistant, and the atmosphere is that of the DMV.

Why, you ask? Because corporations have earned their reputations. They DO strip the individuality out of old neighborhoods, they DO provide wages that are terrifyingly low, and they DO sell dangerously unhealthy foods marketed directly to children. They stifle competition, buy themselves subsidies (corn and subsidies benefit McDonalds incredibly), and then they provide a terrible service.
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