[BarryRX]

I have a personal story to share that is relevant because it involves a fast food franchise, namely Burger King. My brother in law just turned 56 years old a few months ago and he has already been retired for 10 years. He graduated SUNY at Stonybrook in the 1970's with a BS degree in Pyschology. Now, about the only job he could get with a BS in Pyschology was flipping burgers for Burger King. He moved up over the course of the years from worker, to night manager, to day manager, to store manager. From there he became an Area Manager and then a District Manager. Burger King sent him to an abbreviated MBA course at Univ. of Pennsylvania. When Burger King decided to open up Europe, they picked him to do it. He moved his pregnant wife and infant daughter to England. My nephew was born over there. He spent two years traveling all over Europe. If you ever go to a BK in Europe, he was probably responsible for opening it. Because of Burger kings ex-pat package, he was also able to bank a good deal of his salary in those 2 years. He came back to the States and was made a Vice President. After 2 years, Burger King decided to open up business in Asia, and because of his previous international experience they picked him to do it. He and his wife and 3 children moved to Tokyo for the next 3 years. While there he traveled the entire Pacific Rim opening up Burger Kings. His youngest child often answered the phone "Moshe Moshe". When he returned he became a senior Vice President and a few years after that took his golden parachute and retired at age 46 and is probably worth a lot more than I am. So, it doesn't matter what his starting pay was as a beginner burger flipper. His drive and hard work (and probably a little bit of luck along the way) made him a wealthy man. Perhaps if robots were flipping burgers back then he may have never been hired by Burger King. But I am absolutely positive that he would have had the same success at anything he did. I've always had a bit of wanderlust, and because of that I've done a bunch of things in my life. I've been successful as a retail pharmacist as well as being quite successful in pharmaceutical manufacturing, quality assurance, and orthopedic sales. I was also a bit lucky along the way. We've all seen great workers laid off as the result of a merger while some so so workers kept their jobs. That's all part of the lottery of life. The minimum wage in 1963 was $1.25/hour, which is equivalent to $9.73/hour now, not the $7.25 that we pay. We should at least raise it to $9.73 to keep pace with inflation, since inflation hurts poor people the most.
Edit: I just wanted to add that he is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to know. While not a prerequisite for success, I find that it often goes hand in hand with it.