Joe Rogan Just Used a $25 Sandwich to Torch the Minimum Wage While Talking AI and Automation

Gizmodo

3 days ago

He's the controversial king of podcasting, a multimillionaire media mogul who built an empire on a cocktail of MMA, psychedelic evangelism, and institutional skepticism. While Joe Rogan has recently drawn criticism from the left for his contrarian views, in a moment that feels both inevitable and utterly bizarre, he may have just become the nation's most effective advocate for raising the minimum wage.
The catalyst wasn't a dense economic report or a progressive policy paper. It was a viral TikTok video about a single, outrageously expensive sandwich.
The scene unfolded during a June 24 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, where Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) returned for another one of his now-classic deep dives into the state of America. Their discussion, however, went far beyond politics, touching on the very future of human labor.
Before the conversation turned to wages, it was grounded in a pressing, modern anxiety: the threat of AI and automation replacing human workers. Rogan and Sanders discussed a future where jobs at manufacturing giants like Ford and GM could be rendered obsolete by robotics, as both carmakers heavily invest in automation to streamline production. Their discussion is timely, as the debate over job displacement intensifies. While major firms roll out cost-cutting tech, labor advocates are asking a crucial question: what happens to the workers?
Sanders argued that society faces a critical choice. Rather than simply dismissing millions of workers as technology advances, he proposed a fundamental shift in our approach to labor: reducing the work week. The senator suggested that a 32-hour week could allow more people to remain employed, sharing the benefits of automation rather than becoming its victims. This proposal comes as a recent U.N. study highlights the scale of the issue, finding that one in four jobs worldwide is potentially exposed to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
This broader anxiety about the value of human labor in an increasingly automated world set the stage for the episode's most viral moment. The conversation pivoted from the abstract threat of AI to the immediate, tangible struggle of workers today.
What followed was a potent rant about the absurdity of the federal minimum wage from a man who can easily afford any sandwich he wants. Yet, faced with the stark math of working hours versus the cost of lunch, Rogan found himself making Sanders's core argument with more raw, everyman passion than the senator himself.
'I think the minimum wage in this country is ridiculous. I mean, it's $7, what?' Rogan said in disbelief. 'It's insane. How do you live off $7? You go to Jimmy John's, you get a sub. How much is a sub? Like a big sub at Jimmy John's?'
He continued, referencing a TikTok video: 'Some guy did a video where he's like, 'They're trying to say that minimum wage $15 is too much.' I think he had a sub that he bought for 25 bucks. So imagine that's your lunch. So imagine you have to work three and a half hours just to pay for a sandwich. Imagine how insane that is.'
Rogan added, 'That's insane. Like, how do you eat? And how do you eat dinner? How do you eat lunch, breakfast?'
Sanders: 'I have talked to people who make 10, 12 bucks an hour trying to raise a kid.'
Rogan: 'Jesus. Well, the argument against that is, 'Hey, these are entry-level jobs that are supposed to be for kids.''
Sanders: 'No. And that's factually—yeah, of course, it's true to some degree…'
Rogan: 'To some degree, but if you have grown adults that are working those jobs, now it becomes disgusting.'
Sanders: 'That's right, just exactly! Especially when you're dealing with an enormous corporation.'
Rogan: 'Right!'
Sanders: 'So we put a lot of pressure, you know, we are trying to raise the minimum wage, federal minimum wage, to 17 bucks.'
Rogan: 'That's a reasonable amount of money. You know, I mean, it's still—it's gonna be real difficult to live off of 17 bucks an hour, but at least…'
Sanders: 'That's right.'
Rogan: 'At least you can get a sandwich in under two hours' worth of work.'
Rogan didn't specify which video exactly, but there are numerous videos on TikTok of people ranting about $25 subs. Sub prices vary depending on the toppings, and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
The exchange is remarkable not just for the point being made—Sanders has delivered this message for decades—but for how Rogan arrived at it. After briefly entertaining the classic 'jobs for kids' counterargument, he immediately dismissed it with palpable revulsion, calling the reality of adults in those positions 'disgusting.'
His frustration, stripped of political jargon, is likely more resonant for his massive audience than any speech on the Senate floor. By endorsing Sanders's proposed $17 minimum wage as 'reasonable,' Rogan grounded the entire debate in a visceral, understandable metric: how many hours of your life it should cost to buy lunch.
For Sanders, who is campaigning against corporate power, he could not have found a better ally. Rogan is one of the most influential voices among men, and young men in particular, making this unlikely alignment a potentially significant moment in the public conversation about economic fairness in America.