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THE PANDEMIC IS CHANGING THE NATURE OF FAST FOOD

From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):


        DAY   USA   WORLD   Brazil     India  South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185       246       82
July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518     118
Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299     465
Jan     14       4142     15512        1151         189     712              
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107     398
          25       2414    10578         1582        119     144
Mar     2        1989    9490         1726        110     194
          31         1115   12301          3950       458      58
April   6         906   11787           4211         631      37
May    4         853   13667          3025      3786     59 
         18          733   13960          2517       4525     80 
         19          636   13155          2485       3880   167

Summary:

The New York Times today reported that the labor shortage faced by businesses is caused by a variety factors, including the Congressional economic packages, but the primary cause is that the pay rate has not increased as much as company profits:


The problem will go away when the free enterprise system kicks in, as for example:

Bank of America announced Tuesday that it would raise its minimum hourly wage to $25 and insist that contractors pay at least $15 an hour.

There might be no need for Congress to intervene on minimum wage.

In that TIME 100 Influential Companies issue I mentioned earlier this week, one company was Yum China, which has 10,000 restaurants in 1400 cities in the country.  While the USA essentially invented fast food, China is shepherding the spreading revolution.  They have established a system of contactless payments and home-delivery to serve germophobic customers.  83% of their KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut sales in the recent quarter were digital orders. 

To the right, CEO Joey Wat.  They are also creating new dishes:

Here is one of their driverless vans:


However, USA continues to innovate, and here is Amazon's transitioning store:


Italian grocery store:

To close, SMILE...

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