An executive at a company that owns a number of different franchises of
Applebee's sent an email identifying a silver lining to
the fact that gas prices are so high.
But unfortunately for that CEO the email has been leaked, thankfully by the Reddit
forum anti work, which we've talked about many times on the Young Turks.
And in this, this is a Wayne Penkratz,
whose LinkedIn page describes him as the executive director of operations for
Apple Central LLC, sent an email back on March 9th.
So very recently, titled why gas increases good for hiring.
And in it, he suggested that skyrocketing gas prices will, quote,
increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage.
So, hey, good news, goes on to say, most of our employee base and
potential employees based live paycheck to paycheck.
Any increase in gas prices cuts into their disposable income.
As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more
hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living.
Now this is not him expressing empathy, he thinks this is an opportunity.
His email goes on to claim that the company is, quote,
no longer competing with the government when it comes to hiring due to the end of
COVID unemployment and stimulus checks.
Both of which expired last year.
And says that, quote, benefits us as prices rise, people who are relying on
unemployment money simply will have less money to spend,
it will force people back into the workforce.
And in particular into a workforce that this company will now have
more control over, saying, we all competed to hire out the limited applicant pool and
there was a wage war.
We all saw businesses hiring team members at 18 to $20 an hour.
They will no longer be able to do this.
Trucking is the backbone of America and as fuel costs rise,
so will the charges for shipping.
If those costs cannot be passed on to the customer in terms of menu price,
the only area they can cut sizeable costs will be in labor.
And so since the government has abandoned everyone,
despite the fact that the pandemic continues and
we're still losing close to 1,000 people a day, they're gonna be desperate.
And so they're going to come and apply and
we won't have to pay them particularly well.
We got to cut money somewhere, and that's the only thing that I,
a well paid executive, can think of.
So they're gonna be desperate and we're gonna put the squeeze on them.
So high inflation, high gas prices, bad for most people but for some,
it's an opportunity.
>> So this is what, let's say, capitalism looks like.
If you haven't heard that term, this is what it means.
Where things have gotten so crazy that we've lost
sight of what our economy was supposed to do, right?
The advocates of out of control, unregulated capitalism, was that,
no, no, it's okay cuz it will lead to rising wages and a better economy.
And it'll trickle down on you all over your head and
then that will lift all of your boats, etc.
That's not what's happening at all.
What's happening instead is executives are saying, well, hey,
bad economic news is good news for us.
Because we'll be able to further brutalize our workers,
they'll be more desperate, that way we can cut their wages.
Gas prices are higher so we can cut their wages.
So they'll be less able to afford those gas prices, that would make them even
more desperate and they'll need us even more and then we'll really have them.
Look at the options that he considers.
He's like, well, I mean, we could pass it on to the customers or
we could pass it on to the employees.
Never is it discussed that maybe we could cut into our profits a smidge.
It's not like Applebee's is losing money.
They're still making tons and tons of, not just revenue, but profit.
But it never even occurs to them, hey, maybe we can cut it, not get rid of our
profit, but in tough times, cut into our profit, nope doesn't even occur to them.
They're just like, who do we punish because it ain't us executives,
that's for sure.
Now to that point, you'll see it's not just some rando executive at Applebee's.
You'll see all over cable news people saying,
anchors saying, to pay prices, wages are too high, it's causing inflation.
Stephanie Ruehl said, I can name MSNBC, forget CNN,
forgets Fox News, I can name you half a dozen MSNBC anchors, okay?
That it's the wages that are driving up inflation.
You want to know what the reality is, inflation is up 7%, average wages for
the average American worker is up 2%, less than inflation.
Now except there is one category workers where the wages are up more than 7%.
You're gonna be shocked to find out, its bankers.
And not just their salaries, their bonuses are up 20%.
Show me one cable news segment where they complained about banker bonuses and
how it was driving inflation.
You won't find it because the people on television are the elites and
they're doing marketing for other elites.
And so they're lying through their teeth when they're blaming you for inflation.
You know who makes the decision to raise prices, companies do.
That is a rule of physics, it's a rule of logic,
it's a rule of math, there is no argument with it.
Jesus doesn't raise the prices, Santa doesn't raise the prices.
It is literally a corporate executive that says,
because of economic conditions raise prices.
He could choose to say, no, instead of making 15% profit,
let's make 11% profit, but they choose not to do that.
Does anyone on television tell you that, no, they tell you the opposite.
It's just a more sophisticated way of lying to you.
But I gotta give you one last fact about those bonuses and and
how much Wall Street is getting.
You guys have been for the last 40 years,
you've barely gotten any raises when you take inflation into account.
Since 1985, banker bonuses
have gone up 1,743%.
If minimum wage had gone up at the same rate, would it be $15,
would it be 20 to 23 range?
It's about 23 bucks, right?
It would be $61.75, that's what minimum wage would be.
It would be $61 if it had gone up at the same rate as the bankers.
Did anybody on TV ever tell you that?
Never, right?
Isn't that curious how they leave out that piece of information?
Maas?
>> First of all Jake, now you make me want to be a banker.
I'm gonna go find a Wells Fargo and apply as soon as this episode's over.
But secondly, who is this guy writing this email to like even if you have these evil,
you know, crushing the worker ideas?
Is he sending it to Gordon Gekko?
Who's he sending it to?
This is like a greed is good speech that this guy wrote and he's like,
let me put it out there, not thinking, other people gonna put sometimes
these executives, I really feel like everything they can afford to,
they should have a common sense advisor.
Just a common sense advisor.
And the guy should go, hey, I'm thinking of the type in this email where I talk
about crushing the little people and
I'm thinking of sending it out to a bunch of people.
Do you think it's a good idea?
And the common sense guy goes, don't put into writing,
tell your other buddy at the golf game while you smoke a cigar,
make sure he's not recording it and move on with your life.
But this executive executives are a holes.
Someone should take, the Applebee logo and and change it to a whole be just for this.
I want to see some a whole be photoshopped logos just for this guy and
it should go with a quote of his and they should make that should be a meme for,
let's just get it going a little bit.
I think that's what should happen.
So that's my two cents and I'm not getting a job at a bank.
>> And mas first of all,
who's he writing it to other executives to tell him remember cut everybody's wages.
That's who he's writing it to Applebee's of course had an official announcement
saying, I don't know why he wrote that.
I mean that's outrageous and
of course does not represent our company position, which to me,
was I translated that to humans speak and it was why did he write it down?
Right?
You shouldn't have written it down.
We all knew to cut their wages.
Okay, so I just have a simpler online viral idea than, than Moses.
I like Moses, but mine is just hashtag applebee sucks.
Okay, by the way, it's food sucks to mars.
And I talked about that in an old school episode.
It I love chain restaurants, the food and chain restaurants except Applebee's.
How do you screw up classic american chain restaurant?
They found a way, they probably cut costs on that as well.
All the money goes to the executives, none of it goes to the food or the workers.