Grist:
In other words, the more you make, the more calories you're getting from fast food, which has in turn gotten cheaper thanks to a falling real minimum wage which has thus caused you to eat even more fast food. Your vicious circle is McDonald's virtuous one.
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that was a poorly written confusing argument.... the summary paragraph at the beginning didn't relate to the argument they were trying to make... sounds like a student paper.
Yep - blame the food.
It's all your fault Mr. Happy Meal for being so affordable, available, filling and delicious.
Fast food and over-processed food in general provides a lot of calories for a little money. Let's see you feed a family of four below the poverty line without using any of it.
I am not blaming the food, it was sarcasm.
Yeah, it's so much easier to blame the poor for not trekking miles from home to find more healthy foods, most of which they can't afford on a regular basis.
What did the poor eat before fast food was invented?
We get fat because we eat junky foods, not because the minimum wage has declined. Prices of virtually all foods have declined as our agricultural industry has become more efficient.
The minumum wage/obesity connection is nonsene. We are too lazy to cook good food for ourselves, hence, the trip to McDonalds or Wendys and the obesity that follows.
Thank you, for an intelligent comment.
Do you know how expensive it is to cook your own real food versus just buying processed and fast food? It's like double the price.
I cook all my own food, but still, to not recognize the gigantic price gap is ridiculous.
You're kidding right? I spend $300 a month on groceries for myself and eat 4 meals and 3 snacks a day ( thats food I've prepared at least every 2 hours ) resulting in roughly 3000 calories per day...
To buy 3 meals a day at McDonalds would cost me probably $15+ dollars a day... That's if I were to spend no more than $5 per trip.
that would cost me $150 more per month to eat 3 meals at McDs.
In 1964, a man earning minimum wage in Miami, Florida could support a family of four, maintain an automobile, and pay the going rate of rent for a modest house - not an apartment, but a house. Try to support one person in a studio apartment on minimum wage these days. You obviously have a better income if you think the decline in wages has no effect on the quality of life for those living on modest means. Yes, we get fat because we eat junky foods. The point is that many people living at or below the poverty rate in urban areas do not have access to affordable healthy foods. Most low income areas have McDonald's, Burger King and KFC on every corner where the food sells at a much lower price than a comparable amount of healthier foods - if any are available - in the small grocery stores in these areas. It amazes me how many Americans who have it better than most suffer from the delusion that everyone else in this country lives under the same conditions with all the same advantages and opportunities available to them. You may not be wealthy or feel you have had a particularly easy life, but the mere fact that you have a computer and online access tells me that you are better off than many people in this country. I don't know if it is arrogance, ignorance or just a simple lack of basic human empathy, but I find
Yup, the more money you have, the better your diet.
Junk Cheap Food is not really Food. It's laboratory made products that have no nutritional value.
Even if it's more expensive, I buy organic Fresh Food at Farmers Markets, CSA's and locally owned health food stores. I buy Fresh vegetables and fruits, nuts, and grains.
If you buy that cheap junk, you will end up with health problems later in life and it will costs much more money. You can't buy good health; It's priceless.
I avoid all fast food places, pizza, hamburgers,hot dogs, sodas, processed foods, chips, and candies, etc. It's all garbage and damages the body.
no that's not what this article says.
The MORE you make the MORE fast foods you eat. Poorer people are more likely to eat at home.
Although obesity is high among poor people, obesity has increased the MOST among people with high incomes.
Obviously you read the clearly miswritten statement above and not the actual article.
Until you are poor, you will not understand the connection. I've had to stand in the supermarket with only $20 and figure out how to buy a week's worth of food for myself. Because supermarket sales are usually for the most unhealthy things, I ended up with white bread, American cheese, frankfurters, soda, and bacon. The idea was to have grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches for lunch and franks and beans for dinner. Imagine eating this every week! I have to admit that after a few days of this I wanted to barf.
I've been there....
Except $20 got me
27 packs of Ramen Noodles : $1.89
7 Mr. P's personal Pizzas : $3.50
14 Cans Tuna Fish : $6.23
Frozen Peas 2lbs : $4
mix 1 can tuna + 1 pack ramen + some tuna = a mighty fine meal.
And I had change to spare...
You seriously bought Soda!?
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Posted: 11-11-09 06:26 PM