NEWSFLASH: McDonald’s existed back when I was a kid

No, they don't force me. I don't eat fast food often, but when people are busy and they need access to a cheap meal, they go to places like McDonalds and other places. It's not a crime to want a cheap lunch. The places that purport to serve food have a responsibility to the people they serve.

Companies have some responsibility to consumers. For example, they can't poison you. The next step is to ask them not to serve ridiculously processed crap to people. No, people don't have to eat it, but removing responsibility from the company is ridiculous. Or, to put it another way, Republican.

They do serve food. Its not up to your standards perhaps, or your desire, but it does meet regulation. So they salt it, so the put in HFCS etc... None of which is sawdust, heavy metals or illegal. They list their ingredients,and the nutritional content. You don't like it, vote with your feet and wallet. They are being responsible, legally.
So now you want to tell me what to eat and how much it should be processed? Go eat in your own sandbox and stay out of mine. If I want a serving of their fries then so be it, it's MY problem, NOT YOURS.
Same with the whiners who say McD's made them fat. Load of poo. Stop shoving it in your mouth and go get some exercise. Sheeze. And the do serve a salad with a grilled chicken breast. Pretty healthy in the grand scheme of what McD's offers.

No I don't work for them, but I am sick of people whining about McD's and the like. No I am not super fit, in fact I am about 45 lbs overweight right now, still eat some cape cod kettle chips - why? cause I like how they taste. Don't eat at McD's since I don't like their food in general, but on a road trip, I know what to expect and I can budget the calories appropriately and take responsibility for what I eat and work the weight off 1lb at a time.

The point is that consumer rights groups are the reason why the information about mcdonalds is out there and why they have also tried to make healthier changes. They serve less crap to less people because lots of people took action for themselves and each other.

If you want to eat the crap instead of the salads, go ahead! It's not a personal campaign to change what YOU eat.

For the "McDonald's is EVIL crowd":

You do realize that if you went to a small corner mom-and-pop restaurant and ordered burgers and fries....you'd still be eating the same amount of calories right that you'd get at McD's right? You do realize you'd still get fat if you did that every day right?

I would like you to frame this argument replacing McDonald's with the faces of those Southern Moms and Pops that serve fried porkbellies, chitlins, ribs, corncobs soaked in transfat "butter."

Go and get your protest face on and "occupy" the street corners in front of those restaurants. Call them evil. Thought not. It's just a lot easier to "occupy" evil, faceless companies.

Nobody is saying any of that though.

... I mean, you are I guess, but you're trying to say other people are saying those things and nobody is. Nobody has called for a boycott of McDonalds, even, except the people who say that it's unhealthy so just don't eat there instead of asking them to change.

Okay, maybe you're not calling for a boycott; but you're certainly holding McD's to a higher standard than your average mom and pops as evidenced by what you posted earlier....

"Companies have some responsibility to consumers. For example, they can't poison you. The next step is to ask them not to serve ridiculously processed crap to people. No, people don't have to eat it, but removing responsibility from the company is ridiculous. Or, to put it another way, Republican."

Or were you including every locally owned restaurant as part of your argument when you say "companies?"

That's an interesting angle.

Locally owned restaurants should obviously not serve crap either, but then that's for that local community to focus on, learn about and lobby together.

McDonalds is a global issue, so the global community reacts to it.

Again ... no. The choice to eat fast food or not is personal. The choice to drink large or small beverages is personal. The portion size I buy is a personal choice as well.

The only reason why you know that is IN the food, the only reason you know the information you can use to educate yourself, is because people more socially conscious than you have been working hard to make McDonalds more accountable to the consumer.

You can eat whatever you want. You have more of a choice because people are spreading information.

To put it simply, how do you get the information you use to base your personal choices from? Why does McDonalds give a lot more information and serve more salads now?

Look at what is going on with the VA... that is what you get with federally-provided health care. The government deciding who gets what services because government-provided resources are limited.

Do you honestly think that same thing doesn't go on in private hospitals? One the news this morning they were saying, in a shocked and outraged voice, how some Veterans had to wait 1 - 3 months for an appt. That's actually probably better than the national average for some specialties. But, the government doesn't decide who get services, the govt paid physicians do.

And yes, the problem with govt provided resources are that they are funded by tax dollars, so funds are limited. More VHA facilities and more VHA doctors means more tax dollars. Americans don't like more taxes.

Taxes have an impact on the economy. Taxes are money, and ultimately power, that is removed from the economic system (i.e. the American public), and control of that money is given to an entity for which a single person has control. Checks and balances have been put in place to limit that control, however, when the checks become unbalanced and swayed, then the system is rendered useless. The more control you give to the federal government of your life, the more power you create for someone to take. The more power that is given, the more money is taken, and the poorer and weaker the nation becomes as a whole.

Taxes are money and money = power. *boom* Mind blown.

I think maybe you don't enjoy critically looking at problems. Which is fine, but McDonalds is part of the cheap fast food that is making people obese - it's unhealthy food that is cheap. They do have some duty towards their customers not to feed them crap. Yes, McDonalds existed when you were a kid. People became more and more obese during your lifetime so far.

Your comments about the Occupy Wall Street movements are similar.

It's possible to lose weight, but there's no known cure for conservatism/libertarianism/whatever it is that stops you seeing things in context. As Stephen Colbert pointed out, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

Cheap food is the problem? So, all we need is for grocery stores and restaurants to raise their prices, and obesity will end? Sorry all that will do is make people broke, as well as obese.
1. Restaurants are made to sell food, and make money. Not control your diet.
2. Television is meant to entertain, sell advertisement time, and make money. Not educate. Not babysit your kids.
3. Toy stores are meant to sell toys, and make money. Not babysit your kids, not keep your kids safe.

Life is about choices. America is supposed to be about freedom. I enjoy having the choice to make an unhealthy choice once in a while. I also enjoy making a healthier choice of cooking for myself and knowing what is in my food, and the work it took.

It's really sad that your idea of freedom means zero corporate responsibility to consumers.

Who helped to get you the information that let you know that McDonalds is not a healthy option?

Also, toy companies aren't supposed to make toys that put your kids in danger!

What kind of a weird consumer hell do you live in?!

McDonald's existed when I was a kid, too. We went twice a year.

My mother had the time to grow her own vegetable garden, she spent hours in the kitchen chopping, mixing, cooking. She had been taught how to cook by her mother and she knew every short cut (and way to stretch a buck) possible.

Many women work outside the home now.They are up at 6 a.m., pick up the kids from daycare or afterschool, drive them home, face an evening of making dinner, doing laundry, supervising homework (which could just be a matter of letting the kids sit at the dining room table while they work.)

Stopping at McDonald's on the way home means that there is one less task, which means there is time for the endless number of tasks that most women have.

Now of course, that is a very broad generalization about government programs and has nothing to do with McDonald's. I feel bad for McDonald's. They are the go-to scapegoat for the "big bad fast food monsters". No one demonizes Taco Bell or Subway like they do McDonald's.
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McDonalds doesn't get hurt feelings or even lose money by making healthier products.

Do you work in the finance department at McDs?

Well that would be an interesting twist!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...NO.

Which means you probably haven't run a cost benefit analysis on each individual healthier item sold at McDs, cross checked by state (if we are being pretty general, otherwise each store) and country? And, then you probably also haven't run a cost benefit analysis of integrating the healthier items in the meal choices providing that's what consumers even want. Per the latter point, this is debatable considering the fact that McDs has struggled to sell it's healthier products...

And I'm going to out there on a limb and say you haven't a cost benefit analysis of a total menu overhaul....

Considering you haven't done all this, I'm pretty sure you can't confidently say that McDs doesn't stand to lose money by making healthier products.

You're making a completely speculative argument in favour of McDs profits, and you're willing to make those assumptions because you want to avoid even the possibility of a risk to McDs profits, on the basis that McDs profits are more important than the human beings who eat their food.

What a strange argument.

The high fat/high calorie food industry is only partly to blame. And recall there was a time when the problem was underweight kids. The food industry overcorrected with calorie loaded food. That said, kids eat at school, and a lot of it is also high fat/high calorie. And they cut back on recess and P.E. We had P.E. daily. Now some kids don't have it at all. Then they can't go out and play, because you can't send them out by themselves anymore, and most parents work and have to do the whole homework, dinner, bath bed routine. No time for active play. Then the classroom culture has changed to more desk time for even kindergarteners. We are homeschoolers, so we don't have these issues, but I do care about what goes on in the public schools and really its sad they can't be more active. And there's the contradictory message we send to kids - keep still or get medicated and be active and healthy, but don't play without 15 layers of foam padding because playing is dangerous. Which is it?

Then there is the indulgent culture where kids aren't told no. I got blasted on here for mentioning I monitor my child's peanut butter obsession. I don't give a crap - I have to teach my child its okay to have a peanut butter sandwich, but not okay to have half the jar with a spoon, or, that chocolate ice cream is a treat and not a meal. Most of the people on here lacked self control over food as an adult, but somehow we expect children to be able to do it without help? It's also no shock that a sugary drink costs 50 cents and a milk is 1.25, so there is the wallet issue. Lots of factors contribute to the problem.

The OP suggested that instead of blaming the many factors that contribute to the problem, be the solution. Choose a better diet for yourselves and your kids. Problem solved!

One McD's burger and fries combo once in a while will not kill you (unless severe allergies are present - for what? who knows, just putting it out there because there is bound to be someone chiming in with that reason - solution is still obv though - don't eat it).

I'm a busy mom. I have two children. We eat McD's on occasion (I'm sorry, but I do enjoy their fries, and pies...mmmm). I can enjoy it more now that I have a healthy lifestyle! Before, I was just fat and was embarassed to eat fast food because I was fat. Now I'm like "Yes, I have awesome glutes, yes I am eating a chicken burger and fries with coke"

The responsibility is on me for so many things that can impact my children's life. If my child is fat, I have provided food to my child, what does that make me? Responsible for a minor, my three year old will not say "mommy, we should eat salad. That's my call to make".

We all have the choice to drive past the drive through. We should be teaching moderation, not martyrdom... IMO.

On the menu for tonight: McDs I think.

Wow. So...much...uncommon...sense! Thank you, logical people do exist!

So true! We need to stop blaming everyone else for our faults and failures! Just because McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc offer cheap food, doesn't mean we need to eat it. Make wiser choices people! If you want to indulge, do so but know you will have to work harder to burn those extra calories! I love McDonald's french fries, I won't deny it but I don't eat them often and I always purchase the small fries and make sure don't go over my daily calorie allowance.