Marc writes that the Bush II regime wants to take the (intentionally) largely unskilled fast food and reclassify it as a manufacturing job (NYT, free reg required).
Classifications matter, the report says, because among other things, they can affect which businesses receive tax relief. "Suppose it was decided to offer tax relief to manufacturing firms," the report said. "Because the manufacturing category is not well defined, firms would have an incentive to characterize themselves as in manufacturing. Administering the tax relief could be difficult, and the tax relief may not extend to the firms for which it was enacted."Having read Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, this is doubly troubling. Once for Marc's stated concern, which is that the current US regime wants bigger numbers in more desirable jobs, and are basically sodomizing the numbers to do so. The other concern would be that it gives any more advantage to an already overindulged corporation structure: that of the fast food franchise. (e.g. These corporations enjoy a sizeable tax credit for "training" their employees, despite the fact that workers do not learn skills at at a burger joint that carry into future employment, and the fact that all McD's machinery is designed for as-close-to-zero learning curve as possible, and despite their remarkable employee turnover rate.) It makes me want to run in the street and shout "Soylent Green is your economic future!" (via Misanthropicity)
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