America's Worst Restaurant Chain Utterly Clueless About How to Reverse Declining Sales

It could happen to a more deserving group of corporate assholes:

February was an ice-cold month for McDonald's, with same-store sales dropping 4% in its troubled U.S. stores and 1.7% globally.

Sounds like these are troubled times indeed under the tarnished golden arches. So what does the company plan to do to reverse this decline?

"Consumer needs and preferences have changed and McDonald's current performance reflects the urgent need to evolve with today's consumers, reset strategic priorities and restore business momentum," the company said.

"Customer needs and preferences have changed?" Oh, you mean that minimum wage earners--like your own employees--are feeling the strain of working for such shitty pay that they can no longer even afford to eat out at McDonalds as much any more? If so, "resetting your strategic priorities" to "restore business momentum" would mean that your company along with every other minimum wage paying retailer out there needs to RAISE FUCKING WORKER SALARIES. But I gather that's the LAST fucking thing you assholes would consider doing.

Oh, but there seem to be some other silly ideas floating around:

At an investors' conference last week, McDonald's also said it planned to launch a mobile app this summer that may also be part of a loyalty program...

I just wonder if any of the empty corporate suits who get paid big bucks to come up with these stupid ideas ever actually visit their company's shitty restaurants--especially those located outside of tourist areas. Go in, sit down for a while and see how many of the downtrodden people for whom a trip to Mickey D's represents a big night out are carrying around fancy smartphones.

In addition, there was this little nugget:

"It's interesting that McDonald's had a 'Turnaround Summit' last week in an effort to address its U.S. sales decline. The focus for the fast-food chain will be on enhancing the restaurant experience, which it hopes will help curb the decline," says Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist at City Index UK.

Yeah, that's the problem right there. It isn't because McDonald's customer base can no longer afford to stuff the faces with its garbage "food" four nights a week, instead they just need to spruce up the large indoor toilets they call restaurants, as if most of their "discerning" customers even notice how drab and depressing the fucking places are--despite the hideously bright fluorescent lighting.

The article ended, of course, in the most laughable fashion possible:

In its own statement, McDonald's spelled out its goal in no uncertain terms: "To be a true destination of choice around the world and reassert McDonald's as a modern, progressive burger company."

Somebody please tell me exactly what it means to be a "modern, progressive burger company," because I have no fucking clue. It's too bad the corporate stenographer posing as a "business reporter" working for USA Today couldn't have at least ASKED some publicity flack at the company just what that meaningless pile of corporate speak bullshit really means. That might have at least been entertaining.

The good news in all this is that it sounds like McDonalds' corporate "leadership" remains utterly clueless as to how they can reverse their serious sales decline. It's probably to much to hope that the nosedive will continue all the way into bankruptcy for America's largest purveyor of shitty food and ugly ass retail buildings. But a blogger can dream, can't I?


Bonus: In this case, the real clowns are not Ronald but the empty corporate suits

A Guide to America’s Worst Restaurants for Workers

Food service has been one of the few employment bright spots on the otherwise dismal jobs growth front during this period of supposed economic recovery. That's what makes the report referenced below about how many restaurant chains rate at the bottom of barrel as far as treating their workers even more depressing. Here is Gawker with the details:

Since we're on the topic of basic fairness for the working people of America, here is a useful thing: a pro-worker group called Restaurant Opportunities Centers United has produced a handy pocket guide to many of America's most popular restaurants, to let you know exactly how badly their employees are treated. The short version, below.

The guide (referenced in this excellent Mark Bittman column yesterday) ranks restaurants on whether they pay a minimum viable wage to their tipped and non-tipped workers; whether they give paid sick leave; and how much of a chance for advancement their workers have. Here are some of the better-known chain restaurants that received "0" or "unknown" ratings in each of those categories—in other words, that did not achieve a single check mark for minimal standards of worker treatment:

The Worst Restaurants for Workers
Applebee's
Arby's
Baskin-Robbins
Bennigan's
Bob Evans
Boston Market
Buffalo Wild Wings
Burger King
California Pizza Kitchen
Captain D's
Carl's Jr.
Chart House
Checker's
Cheesecake Factory
Chili's
Chuck E. Cheese
Church's Chicken
Cold Stone Creamery
Cracker Barrel
Denny's
Domino's
Dunkin Donuts
Friendly's
Golden Corral
Hard Rock Cafe
Hooters
Houlihan's
IHOP
KFC
Legal Seafoods
Little Caesar's
Marie Callender's
McDonald's
Morton's Steakhouse
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
P.F. Chang's
Panera
Papa John's
Perkins
Pizza Hut
Qiznos
Red Lobster
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Sbarros
Sonic
Starbucks
Steak-n-Shake
Subway
TGI Friday's
Taco Bell
Uno Chicago Grill
Waffle House
Zaxby's

Depressing. There are more bad ones. (And a few good ones.) The full guide is here.

Bon apetite.


Bonus: "Everything that is wrong with America is comment cards"

Goodbye Ruby Tuesdays...25 To 27 Locations Closing

All right, I just have to get this off my chest. I actually ate at a Ruby Tuesdays once and the food sucked balls. Utterly tasteless, in fact. I don't understand why people are willing to blow their hard earned money going to chain restaurants that serve such crappy fare, but then again I long ago recognized that my finger is not exactly on the pulse of America.

Still, that isn't the fault of the employees, and it will be they who suffer from this decision. Here is MarketWatch with the details:

Ruby Tuesday announced plans to close 25 to 27 restaurants that it said have failed to perform up to expectations. The closings will come before the end of May, the Maryville, Tenn.-based company said late Wednesday in reporting financial results for the third quarter ended Feb. 28. Profit fell for the latest quarter as revenue rose 1.8% to $324.8 million, but same-store sales dropped 5% at company-owned Ruby Tuesday restaurants, and for the year, management projected a decrease of 4% to 4.5%. Full-year earnings are forecast at 43 cents to 48 cents a share, excluding the impact of impairment and exit costs related the restaurant closings as well as other factors. The company also announced it will acquire Lime Fresh Mexican Grill for $24 million, a deal expected to be completed during the current quarter.

Just like with Walmart, it is those retail concerns that appeal prominently to finacially strapped working class families, those being hardest hit by job losses and high gasoline prices, that are suffering the most right now.


Bonus: But of course, what else COULD it be?

Casa Gallardo To 200 Missouri Employees: GTFO, We're Shutting Down

I think it was around last year at this time, before I started blogging here at TDS, that the Perkins restaurant chain shut down a bunch of its locations so abruptly that the wait staff actually had to kick some of the customers out in the middle of their meals. Well, here comes a story from KSDK.com of another chain shutting down locations almost as abruptly:

More than 200 Casa Gallardo employees are in shock after going to work Thursday only to learn it was their last day. All four restaurants in our area closed abruptly.

More than 200 people left work stunned. Employees of Casa Gallardo restaurants were told by corporate officials the restaurants would be closing for good, just minutes before the shutdown.

"They told us to call last call for alcohol and to tell our customers we were shutting down forever," said former employee Jessica Nickel.

That's how Nickel found out she was losing her job as a bartender with Casa Gallardo.

Thursday evening corporate officials from parent company "Real Mex Restaurants" flew in from California to shutdown the locations. Two hundred employees and 16 managers are now out of work.

Nickel has been at the Bridgeton location for about a month, and is three months pregnant.

"It was hard. A lot of us were crying, so, it was definitely difficult," she said.

Corporate officials say the decision to close the restaurants came about one week ago. Workers weren't informed until around 5 p.m. Thursday, just minutes before closing early.

Stay classy, assholes. And maybe someday it will be you escorted out of your comfy corporate offices with no fucking warning. At least, I hope so.


Bonus: "That's the way that it goes...when you're down here with the rest of us"

McDonald's Discovers That Their Customers Are Just Not That Into Them

I rarely ever describe a story as "laugh out loud" funny, because let's face it, most of the things the LOL tag gets attached to are just not amusing enough to elicit even an audible chuckle. Maybe it's because I'm a cynical old meanie, but I actually DID laugh out loud at this story from the Springfield State Journal-Register about McDonald's recent ill fated Twitter campaign:

When McDonald's began promoting the #McDStories hashtag Wednesday on Twitter, the idea was to get people talking about their experiences with the fast-food giant. And in that sense, it was a rousing success: The phrase exploded in popularity as Twitter users across the country shared stories of their visits to McDonald's.

Unfortunately, McDonald's learned a harsh lesson in social media marketing: When you encourage people to talk about your company, they're not always going to say nice things.

While McDonald's own tweets on the topic tended along the lines of "When u make something w/pride, people can taste it," actual customers were less inclined to toe the company line. "I haven't been to McDonalds in years, because I'd rather eat my own diarrhea," read one top tweet by @Muzzafuzza. Another user, @Jetsonjetsonjet, referred readers to a viral video of a mouse crawling through a bag of hamburger buns.

Meanwhile, animal rights activist @michellevegan tweeted that "@McDonalds scalds baby chicks alive for nuggets," and linked to a site run by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It was retweeted more than 100 times.

Yes, it appears McDonald's lost control of the narrative here.

And no, as much as I'd like to claim the credit, it wasn't me who Tweeted the message I highlighted in bold above. In fact, I don't Tweet at all. But if I ever did, I'd retweet that bad boy as many times as I could.

Hey, McDonald's, I know you and I haven't been on speaking terms since I got that mild case of food poisoning at one of your horrible restaurants a decade ago, and I realize that you are probably offended that Super Size Me is one of my favorite documentaries, but let me give you a little bit of friendly advice here. People generally don't flock in to buy your Big Macs, McNuggets and McMuffins because they are able to taste the alleged pride by which your minimum wage earning staff thaws that shit out, heats it up and sticks it in a bunch of garbage dump filling wrappers. They buy that crap because it is cheap and convenient, and we're a culture that has come to value cheapness and convenience at the expense of nearly everything else.

So just go with the flow and embrace the suck. After all, it is exactly that which has made your company so insanely profitable in the first place.


Bonus: "I think I'm going to have to go Super Size!"

Old Country Buffet/Ryan's Restaurant Chain Files for Bankruptcy

Back when I was in college, I ate dinner at the Old Country Buffet a few times. The food was cheap, and there was a lot of it. A perfect night out for a college student on a limited budget, in other words. A few years ago, I stopped at one for old times' sake and was very sorry I did. There was still plenty of food, but nearly all of it was virtually inedible. I don't know if it was because my palate has become more discriminating over the years, or if they've kept their prices low by ordering cheaper and cheaper ingredients, but it was an awful dining experience.

Nevertheless, I realize that a visit to the OCB or a Ryan's restaurant is what constitutes a great night out in many parts of the country. So this story from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal seems rather important:

Buffets Inc. said Wednesday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to close 81 restaurants nationwide — the second time the company has filed for reorganization in four years.

Buffets, which owns 494 restaurants in 38 states, operates under the Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Ryan's, Granny's Buffet, and Fire Mountain brands.

So, what's the story, morning glory?

Buffets emerged from its first bankruptcy in April 2009 after shedding $700 million in debt. Riggs said the company decided to file again because of lease restrictions that limited the number of locations it could close in the 2008 filing. He also said the recession has hurt the chain badly over the last four years.

And, given that Buffets caters to that segment of our society that is hurting the most from the lingering effects of the Great Recession, it's not going to get any better.

Hope Springs Eternal: Dunkin' Donuts to Double the Number of U.S. Locations

Sadly, this is what passes for good economic news these days, as reported by CNN Money:

America is about to run on twice as much Dunkin'.

Dunkin' Donuts plans to double its locations in the United States over the next 20 years, the company announced Wednesday.

The coffee and doughnut chain currently operates nearly 7,000 stores nationwide. Each new store adds an average of 20 to 25 new employees, both full and part-time a Dunkin spokeswoman said.

Hold on, let me take of my shoes and socks for a minute so I can do the math. Hmmm…by my calculation that means that assuming Dunkin’s expansion plans are carried through to fruition over the next two decades, the company will be creating 140,000-175,000 jobs, or about 7,000 to 8,500 jobs per year on average. Mostly minimum wage jobs, by the way, which barely leave the employees with enough earnings to buy the company’s crappy donuts.

Wowwee…break out the Champagne, ‘cause happy days are here again…not!

So how can Dunkin' afford these major expansion plans, anyway?

The announcement came as Dunkin' also said it has finished streamlining its supply chain, consolidating four existing regional suppliers under one entity, National DCP. The company said the move will cut costs.

Hmmm…how do you suppose the streamlining of Dunkin’s regional suppliers is going to accomplish such huge cost savings? The article doesn’t say so, because the business reporter stenographer didn’t ask the question, but I’ll bet layoffs at those other companies were a factor. So at least some of the jobs supposedly being created are likely just being transferred from one aspect of the business to another, which diminishes even the relatively meager overall job creation aspect of this announcement.

Then you also have to ask the question whether adding 7,000 more junk food outlets in a nation which already has an obesity epidemic is really all that beneficial. Dunkin' doesn’t have to pay the medical bills of people who destroy their health in part by consuming their products every day. That cost falls upon the rest of us, one way or another. Funny how the states managed to sue the tobacco industry to recoup increased health care costs from smoking, but the suggestion never gets made that the same action might be appropriate to undertake against other merchants of death like Dunkin' Donuts.

I hate to be such a party pooper, but if this is what passes for good economic news in America these days, it just demonstrates even more that we are in deep, deep trouble.


Bonus: We are soon to become a whole nation of Fred the Bakers

Bankrupt Chain Restaurants Are Still Holding On

I've posited the theory previously on this blog that there are a lot of companies out there, particularly in the consumer portion of the economy, that are just hanging on by the skin of their teeth hoping that a real economic recovery will take place soon and allow them to survive. All it will take to kill many of these concerns is another major economic shock wave. Well, more evidence of this phenomena was reported last week by CNBC in a story about how many bankrupt restaurant chains are so far refusing to go under:

You see them all across the country, in shopping malls and street corners, suburban towns and city centers: zombie restaurants.

Many of the undead are part of familiar chains that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year: Friendly’s, Chevys, Sbarro, Perkins. The zombie restaurants, barely bringing in enough cash to cover basic expenses, always seem to be one sizzling fajita or glazed chicken skewer away from a merciful end, but somehow keep hanging on — leaving too many restaurants chasing after scarce dining dollars.

“There’s a lot of walking dead,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president for Technomic, a consulting firm that works with restaurant companies. “A lot of chains, they hang in there and they’re hard to kill off.”

Consumers, who have generally cut back on the number of meals out since the recession [cnbc explains] began, are benefiting from the proliferation of zombies. Healthy and failing restaurants alike have been forced to discount relentlessly to lure diners. But for the restaurants, particularly small independent operators, the competition from the undead is a nightmare that just won’t end.

Heh - given how many times I've used the term "zombie economy" on this blog, I love that CNBC is now using the same metaphor.

So who are some of the walking dead?

When Friendly’s Ice Cream, the chain based in Massachusetts, filed for bankruptcy protection in October, it said it would close 63 underperforming restaurants. But the company said it would continue to operate 420 stores, and a spokesman said it was making plans to expand again.

In California, Real Mex Restaurants, which owns several chains, including the midprice Chevys Fresh Mex, closed just 30 outlets after it filed for bankruptcy in October. It continues to operate 156 restaurants.

After Sbarro, the Italian fast-food chain, filed for bankruptcy in April, it closed 31 stores in the United States, but kept the doors open on 429.

Some chains are even trying to make a comeback:

The imbalance does not seem likely to end soon. Indeed, one midprice chain that everyone thought was dead and buried — Bennigan’s — is now coming back from the crypt.

Bennigan’s declared bankruptcy in 2008 and abruptly shut down the approximately 240 restaurants operated by the company, though some franchise-run Bennigan’s restaurants stayed in business.

Now, a group of investors has resurrected the franchising company and plans to open a small number of company-owned restaurants and dozens of new franchised outlets over the next five years. Paul M. Mangiamele, chief executive of Bennigan’s Franchising, said he had come up with a new design for stores and a revamped menu that would inject new life into the brand.

This is what the past three years of insane federal deficit spending has bought us, a temporary reprieve from the crash in which the dimwitted continue to make plans as if nothing has changed. Just more sheep for the slaughterhouse when the next big leg of the downturn finally begins.


Bonus: Welcome to Zombieland

Dippin' Dots Soon to be the "Ice Cream of the Past"

I really have never understood the appeal of Dippin' Dots. They sell this crap at most ballparks for a huge price mark up. I swear, some people will eat anything if it is colorful and sweet and there is some form of entertainment placed in front of it. Anyway, it looks like Dippin' Dots is now in deep trouble:

Once the self-proclaimed "Ice Cream of the Future," Dippin' Dots is seeking federal bankruptcy protection, a move the company said is aimed at staving off foreclosure on more than $11 million in loans.

The Paducah, Ky.-based company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday night, asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas H. Fulton to allow it to use cash collateral to continue operations while the case plays out. The company said in a filing that allowing it to use the cash collateral and stay functioning will not harm creditors, including its largest single creditor, Regions Bank, which is owed $11.1 million.

Alabama-based Regions Bank sued Dippin' Dots in February, alleging the company defaulted on multiple loans. The suit is pending in McCracken County Circuit Court.

Steve Heisner, director of administration for Dippin' Dots, said Regions gave the company 48-hours' notice that it intended to foreclose on the loans. That move forced Dippin' Dots Inc., to file for bankruptcy while looking to refinance the debt, Heisner said.

"We are hopeful and believe we will be successful," Heisner told The Associated Press. "There is no thought, intent ... that our operations will be significantly different than they are today."

The company "has no alternative borrowing source and to remain in business, the (company) must be permitted to use the cash proceeds described herein to pay general operating overhead and administrative expenses," its attorneys said in court documents.

Heisner said the bankruptcy affects only the manufacturing and national sales arm of the company. The franchise end of the company will not be affected by the proceedings, he said.

"The dot, it's going to be there," Heisner said. "There's no doubt about it."

Yeah, but for how much longer? Because it strikes me that any cash strapped family looking to cut back on expenses could easily do away with the dot. And maybe lose a few pounds along the way as well.

An Unfriendly's Act - Friendly's Trying to Use Bankrupty to Shed Employee Pension Plan

First it was Harry & David that dumped its pension obligations onto the federal government during bankruptcy proceedings, and now Friendly's is trying to do the same thing, according to this report from the Boston Globe:

A federal agency that monitors company pension plans is accusing Friendly Ice Cream Corp.of filing for bankruptcy protection in order to get out of paying the pensions of nearly 6,000 workers and retirees.

Friendly’s, the Wilbraham chain that is owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection last week under Chapter 11 and abruptly shuttered 63 stores and laid off about 1,200 workers. The company said it was a casualty of a difficult economy, high supply costs, and changing customer tastes.

But the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal agency responsible for protecting workers’ pension benefits, yesterday said the real reason for Sun Capital’s bankruptcy filing was to use the reorganization process to abandon the pension plan, while retaining ownership of Friendly’s.

“It looks like Friendly’s and Sun Capital are trying to make their employees and retirees bear the brunt of the company’s restructuring; the employees deserve better,” said Josh Gotbaum, director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Friendly’s, which was founded during the height of the Great Depression, outlined its intentions in a workout plan it filed in bankruptcy court. Under this proposal, nearly all of Friendly’s assets would be sold to an affiliate of Sun Capital, which would not assume the company’s liabilities, including the pension plan. The pension liabilities would remain with the old Friendly’s, which would be left with few or no assets.

Just a reminder, as I pointed out again on Saturday, the PBGC is already running in the red:

During fiscal year 2010, the PBGC paid $5.6 billion in benefits to participants of failed pension plans. That year, 147 pension plans failed, and the PBGC's deficit increased 4.5 percent to $23 billion. The PBGC has a total of $102.5 billion in obligations and $79.5 billion in assets.

So if Friendly's gets away with it, the U.S. taxpayer will be stuck with the bill, the national debt will increase, and the ultimate day of financial reckoning for the federal government will draw that much closer. God bless the U.S.A.

Ten Vanishing American Restaurant Chains

There is not really much I can add to this story from MSNBC, other than to say that at one time or another I've dined at about seven of the ten restaurants on the list. It's true that all were in trouble even before the economic crisis hit, and not one is really any great loss...other than for those employed there, that is.

There is a school of thought that says the restaurant business is always a good business — people need to eat. A glance at the sales of many of America’s largest restaurant chains over the past decade quickly dispels this myth. Using data provided by food industry research firm Technomic, 24/7 Wall St. has looked at the ten restaurant chains with the greatest decline is sales from 2001 to 2010. In every case, sales have fallen 60 percent or more.

“Many prominent chain restaurant brands have lost ground with sales over the last decade. As many American consumers gravitate toward a more contemporary dining experience and more exciting menu options, traditional restaurant chains are losing relevance,” Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President of Technomic, told 24/7 Wall St. in an e-mail. “Today’s successful restaurant operator is challenged with keeping their menu fresh, their customers’ experience exciting and their concept contemporary.”

There is more detail at the link, but here are the unlucky ten:

1. Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern

2. Ground Round Grill & Bar

3. Bakers Square

4. Damon’s Grill & Sports Bar

5. Don Pablo’s

6. Gloria Jean’s Coffees

7. Big Boy

8. Tony Roma’s

9. Country Kitchen

10. Black Angus Steakhouse

An Unfriendly Development Befalls Friendly's Restaurant Chain: Bankruptcy

There used to be a Friendly's location about a half-mile from my house, but the wife and I would rarely ever go there. The food was crappy, and they would hide the poor quality of their signature ice cream by drowning it under a ton of toppings. I wasn't sorry to see it go. Well, today it sounds like the rest of the chain me soon follow our local franchise into oblivion. Here's Market Watch:

Restaurant chain Friendly's is planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and seek a possible buyer, The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday in its online edition, citing people close to the matter. The chain, which has about 10,000 employees and 500 restaurants, could file as early as next week, according to the Journal.

Slowly but surely, large American retail and restaurant chains are collapsing as the corrosive effect of Peak Oil gradually grinds down the consumer economy.

Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut are Lobbying to Get a Piece of the Food Stamp Action

I’ve written before about the explosion in the number of Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, since the beginning of the Great Recession at the end of 2007. Currently, around 45 million people receive SNAP benefits at a rate of about $133 per participant, per month. That’s nearly 15% of the total population, and is a true (rather than government/media-manipulated) indicator of the state of the economy.

And now, in a story that should be as predictable as night following day, comes a report that one of America’s worst peddlers of the junk food causing our rampant obesity epidemic has been lobbying the government to get a piece of that action. Here’s USA Today with the story:

The number of businesses approved to accept food stamps grew by a third from 2005 to 2010, Department of Agriculture records show, as vendors from convenience and dollar discount stores to gas stations and pharmacies increasingly joined the growing entitlement program.

Now, restaurants, which typically have not participated in the program, are lobbying for a piece of the action.

Louisville-based Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.

So why are they so hot to trot to participate? The article goes on to state:

There is big money at stake. USDA records show food stamp benefits swelled from $28.5 billion to $64.7 billion in that period.

Four states accept restaurants, with Florida the most recent to begin a program.

"It makes perfect sense to expand a program that's working well in California, Arizona and Michigan, enabling the homeless, elderly and disabled to purchase prepared meals with SNAP benefits in a restaurant environment," Yum! spokesman Jonathan Blum said.

Ummm…I don’t wish to sound like a rude contrarian there, Mr. Blum, but it does not in fact “make perfect sense” to include your company in the SNAP program. Let me be perfectly frank with you if I may, sir. Your food is shit. It is barely fit for human consumption at all, let alone by poor people who have very limited culinary options as it is. You and your ilk are merchants of death who kill countless Americans every year through diabetes, heart disease and other obesity-related illnesses. Your company is right there with the tobacco companies, difference being that they only get their government agriculture subsidies on the producer end.

Sadly, we have become a nation so unmoored from basic common sense and decency that we could actually regard enabling someone to buy a large bucket of KFC poppers as an appropriate social welfare benefit. As it is, we already have the fattest poor people in the world because of corporate America loading much of what we eat with corn syrup and other unhealthy additives to get people addicted to the type of diets that are slowly killing them.

Make a profit getting people sick eating cheap, crappy food, and then profit again when they seek medical care and drugs to treat the resulting chronic health conditions. It’s a classic win-win right out of the Harvard Business School. For nothing in this country, not even our basic health and well being, is so sacred that you can't put a price tag on it.

The answer from the Department of Agriculture (which runs SNAP) to Yum! Brands and any other fast food chain which lobbies for approval to participate in the program should of course be: Hell No. But I’m certainly not holding my breath that it will be.

The McDonald’s Hiring Spree—Why I’m NOT Lovin’ It

Last week one of the major economic headlines reported that McDonald’s corporation hired 62,000 burger flippers, cashiers and drive thru window attendants in just one day. Equally of note were the nearly one million additional applicants turned down for among the most menial, low wage and demeaning jobs our economy has to offer. It must be true what Josef Stalin once said that one death is a tragedy but a million are a statistic. That’s the only explanation I have for how almost a million Americans can get rejected for a job at McDonald’s with such minimal public commentary or any attempt to explain what it all means.

Maybe it’s because most of the upper middle class, in other words those whom our corporate owned mainstream media target with its "news" propaganda and most lucrative marketing campaigns, have never found themselves in a position of such desperation that spending the working day sweating over a grease fryer for minimum wage would mark an improvement in their personal fortunes. For them the operative phrase here is: does not compute.

But I’ve been there myself, sort of. I was attending high school in a small Illinois rust belt community back in 1979 when the second major Middle East war induced-oil shock hit America. The resulting deep economic recession cost Jimmy Carter his reelection bid and then lasted through the first couple of years of Saint Ronnie’s presidency. It was worst downturn of the postwar era up until that time, and it hit the manufacturing belt particularly hard. Fortunately, my father retained his middle management position at a local tire factory, so times were never truly desperate for my family like they were for many other blue collar workers who had lost out in the wake the first big round of globalization. Needless to say, it was a truly putrid economy for a teenager to be out there looking for his very first real job.

During the nadir of that recession it was announced that an old downtown hotel had been bought out by a national chain and was going to be completely refurbished and reopened. I gather the venture was not considered risky at the time because my town had only a few other lodging options in the days before cheapo chains like Super 8 and Motel 6 spread across the landscape. Anyway, this new business venture generated excitement not just for the glimmer of economic development it brought but for the 100 or so jobs to be created, even if most of them would only be paying minimum wage to start.

Working at a hotel seemed to this 16-year-old like it might be a pretty cool thing, so one morning my best friend and I schlepped down to the temporary office where they were taking applications. It was a typically blustry Midwestern winter day under a bleak gray sky, and when we arrived we were shocked to see that despite the chill in the air a long line was already backed up out the door and stretching around the block. We debated giving up and going home, but my buddy convinced me to stay until we could at least submit our applications. Most of the other people waiting in line were much older than us, and it didn’t dawn on me at the time that our very presence among them as a couple of high school kids merely looking to make some extra spending money probably didn’t lift their spirits any.

As it turned out, we had to wait about three hours just to be given an application to fill out, which we then handed to a lady wearing a grim expression like it had already been a very long day. She thanked us wearily and said we’d get a phone call if we were selected for a job interview. The next day the local newspaper reported that over 3000 people had applied for those jobs and had come from communities all over northwestern Illinois. Not surprisingly, neither my buddy nor I received a call, and I went back to delivering newspapers for the paltry sum of twenty bucks a week.

That was a long time ago, of course, and I’ve been fortunate during my adult working life that I’ve never been forced to wait in line with thousands of others just hoping to win the prize of long hours for a meager paycheck while perhaps my children are back home in a cold house hoping that maybe their daddy will get lucky this time. At least back then there was the somewhat comforting hope that the economy would eventually get better, and indeed it did finally "recover" despite the fact that many of the formerly high paying factory jobs never came back.

Today, however, in the wake of Peak Oil and the specter of increasing resource scarcity there is no realistic hope that the economy will ever again significantly improve for working people. Most of the nearly one million desperate souls who McDonalds turned down last week are stuck in their bleak circumstances, many no doubt relying on government support just to survive. So what happens on that day inthe not too distant future when our insolvent federal government finally becomes unable to provide them with that support?

That, my friends, is the truly scary question.