Topic: Moshman's Satire

[Moshman^]

For a final paper for my literature class, my instructor gave us a choice of topic. I chose to write a satirical article. The images were made by me in Photoshop CS2, please forgive the sizing of them for I cannot resize them on a fourm. The first few paragraphs are my research, the rest of it is the satire.  This is my draft. I am looking to improve it some more, but I can't think of anything. This article will span 4 posts, because it contains over 30,000 characters.  Let me know what you guys think.


Smile! You're a gullible moron.
 

There is a growing problem in our society that is ever rising. As big business dominates most of the economy, their standard of living is rising, while our standard of living is falling. Knowing this they continue to spend millions of dollars a year on their meticulously engineered image, as companies like Wal-Mart cut their worker’s health care coverage to compensate. These deep, dark, secrets have remained in the curtains to the public. Except for the few citizen-organized organizations out there, that attempt to expose the tricks and deceptions pushed out by corporations. However, they (the corporations) deny it all, and their (the organizations’) creditability is lost because people are easily misled. The corporations depict themselves as caring for its customers and employees by listing their philosophies, contributions to the surrounding communities, et cetra. I will elaborate further on this later. This is why the people are misled. It is hard to accuse a group of people of “violation of labor laws.” when they set up their own charity called the “Roland House of Charities” that donates millions of dollars a year to orphanages, and charities across the globe. The top priority of a global corporation is to constantly fiddle with their image, so people feel safe to buy goods and services from them. Take this for example. Wal-Mart emphasizes how much they care about their employees by providing them with top quality health insurance, to quote Wal-Mart directly from their website:
“My Health benefits provide a range of medical coverage options that are designed to protect associates from catastrophic medical costs. My health benefits offer peace of mind, protection for the unexpected, and can help associates take care of themselves and their families.
My Health benefits also include Life, Dental, Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance.”
 
(“Wal-Mart Stores: Benefits” No Date. Wal-Mart Corporation. May 19th 2006. <http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=605>)
 
This sounds very appealing to someone looking to work at Wal-Mart. Not to mention this corporation looks very ethical in their operations to someone who, perhaps were curious about the benefits of the workers there. What if a parent whose child is working there, wants to know how the company operates and what their policies are? What will they think? Wal-Mart boasts about how they obey child labor laws, how they care about a youth’s education.
Take a look at their other claims:
 
“Our average hourly wage for regular full-time associates in the U.S. is $9.68 an hour, almost double the federal minimum wage.”
 
"My wife developed severe kidney problems which required dialysis three times a week. I don't believe there is any other company in the world that provides the quality of benefits our company provides."
 
“The scope and scale of our business presents great potential to effect positive change. We see opportunities to influence our own operations, while also leading change in the business world at large.
Focusing on the environment is key to our mission to improve the quality of life for people around the world. Environmental leadership is critical to our future ability to grow and thrive as a company.”
 
“Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has always been a values-based, ethically led company. The values guiding our decisions and leadership are the 3 basic beliefs established by our founder, Sam Walton, in 1962:
1.   Respect for the Individual
2.   Service to the Customer
3.   Strive for Excellence
Mission Statement
The mission of the Global Ethics Office is to promote Wal-Mart's ethical culture globally. The Global Ethics Office was established on June 1, 2004. On June 4, 2004 Wal-Mart released a revised Global Statement of Ethics to communicate our ethical standards to all Wal-Mart facilities and stakeholders. The Global Ethics Office provides guidance in making ethical decisions based on the Global Statement of Ethics and a process for anonymous reporting of suspected ethics violation by calling the Ethics Helpline.”
(“Global Ethics Office” No Date. Wal-Mart Corporation. May 19th 2006. <http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=8>)
 
Clearly this is a great strive on Wal-Mart’s part to polish up their image, to make it appealing. The issue with all of this is to reprimand this and expose the truth, and Wal-Mart will make sure that does not happen.
 
            I thumbed through a couple of websites, “Wal-Mart Watch” and “Wake Up Wal-Mart”, and found a lot of solid evidence that contradicts Wal-Mart’s claims:
 
“The average pay for a Wal-Mart sales associate is $1,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. Business as usual? Not necessarily. Retail rival Costco pays its workers 65% more on average than Wal-Mart, yet earns more profits per employee.”
(“What does Wal-Mart Really Cost You?” No Date. Wal-Mart Watch. May 19th 2006. <http://walmartwatch.com/home/pages/issues>)
 
This totally goes against Wal-Mart’s claim that they pay their employees almost double the minimum wage.
 
“Wal-Mart has a long history of breaking environmental laws that its high-priced green-washing campaign can't hide. Its record of environmental abuse was described by one top law enforcement official as "widespread, systematic, repeated" and has incurred millions in fines from state and federal agencies.”
(“What does Wal-Mart Really Cost You?” No Date. Wal-Mart Watch. May 19th 2006. <http://walmartwatch.com/home/pages/issues>)
 
Again, this contradicts Wal-Mart boasting of their concern of the environment.
 
“Wal-Mart fails to provide health insurance to over half its employees. Who pays for it? We all do. Wal-Mart workers top Medicaid rolls in at least 16 states.”
(“What does Wal-Mart Really Cost You?” No Date. Wal-Mart Watch. May 19th 2006. <http://walmartwatch.com/home/pages/issues>)
 
Instead of Wal-Mart caring for its employees’ well being, the public gets to drag the burden. Another deception exposed.
 
Wal-Mart is widely known for its affiliation with China. In fact, if Wal-Mart were an independent country, it would be the eighth most trading and commerce interacting country in all of China.  (“The Real Facts About Wal-Mart” No Date. Wake Up Wal-Mart!. May 19th 2006. <http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/>) The reason why Wal-Mart can push prices so low is because they have essentially turned the tables on manufacturers. The traditional method of operation was that the manufacturer was the one that controlled the retailers, now it is visa-versa.
For sake of argument, let’s say there’s a new product. It costs an American company $20 to produce it. Wal-Mart will most likely demand the cost to be set lower. The problem with this is that the company has workers to pay, and there is a minimum wage, there are government regulations on pricing and commerce. Wal-Mart goes to China and finds the people a lot more friendly. To their plans and policies that is. A Chinese manufacturing company can make the same product for $8. They can because they pay their workers a quarter an hour, and there are no laws regarding child labor. The Chinese literally have farms of children on assembly lines that make things for 12 hours a day. They can work these children unabated.
 
“Workers in China’s Guangdong Province who made toys for Wal-Mart toiled as much as 130 hours per week for wages averaging 16.5 ˘ per hour (below the minimum wage) and no health insurance. [National Labor Committee, “Toys of Misery 2004,” February 2004]
“Striking workers at a factory that supplies Wal-Mart in Shenzhen, China said they had to work 11 hour days, including mandatory 3 hours of overtime. Half of their small wages were deducted to pay for accommodation in company dormitories. [New York Times, 16 December, 2004] “
(“The Real Facts About Wal-Mart” No Date. Wake Up Wal-Mart!. May 19th 2006. <http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/>)
So much for Wal-Mart's concern for it's employees. So with this information, one can conclude that Wal-Mart is lying about their policies. They preach about how much they embrace competition, worker's rights, and child labor laws. Yet they are the ones that violate these in every way possible.
To further prove my point that corporations make it a priority to promote their image, and to expose that in fact these corporations could really care less about us, and that they just want our money; I am going to analyze McDonald's. McDonald's is the number one restaurant chain in the world. Serving over 200 million customers a day, and receives profits of over 40 million dollars per day.  (“McDonald's Corporation” No Date. McDonald's USA. May 20th 2006. <http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/invest.html>)  The question is, how does McDonald's do it?

[Moshman^]

McDonald's has a lot of creditability just because of the fact their corporate image is so great. They have their own charity, they have their own healthcare division for their workers, they have focus groups of various ethnic backgrounds that are dedicated to promote their image. The truth all boils down to the fact that all this stuff about them being caring for their customers, how they want to bond with them, how they care about their workers, they give back to the community, they participate in "food and health" conferences, all this, is irrelevant to their primary functions and the outcome of their functions. They are a fast food restaurant, not a charity, not a pacifist organization that wants to end violence in third world countries. I repeat, this is all irrelevant to their primary function. Their function being: serving burgers and fries, that is what it all boils down to. Let's take a look at some issues that were left in the dark, starting with why these facts are not being released.
"There are clearly lots of people opposed to the way McDonald's go about their business. So there is a big global debate going on about them right? Wrong. McDonald's know full well how important their public image is and how damaging it would be to them if any of the allegations started becoming well-known amongst their customers. So they use their financial clout to influence the media, and legal powers to intimidate people into not speaking out, directly threatening free speech. The list of media organizations who have been sued in the past is daunting, and the number of publications suppressed or pulped is frightening. But what are the lessons of the successful and ever-growing anti-McDonald's campaign for those also determined to challenge those institutions which currently dominate society?"
(“Issues: Free Speech ” No Date. McSpotlight. May 20th 2006. <http://www.mcspotlight.org/issues/freedom/index.htmll>)
"Many nutritionists argue that the type of high fat, low fibre diet promoted by McDonald's is linked to serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. The sort of diseases that are now responsible for nearly three-quarters of premature deaths in the western world. McDonald's respond that the scientific evidence is not conclusive and that their food can be a valuable part of a balanced diet.
Some people say McDonald's are entitled to sell junk food in exactly the same way that chocolate or cream cake manufacturers do: if people want to buy it that's their decision. But should McDonald's be allowed to advertise their products as nutritious? Why do they sponsor sports events when they sell unhealthy products? And what on earth are they doing opening restaurants in hospitals?"
(“Issues: Nutrition” No Date. McSpotlight. May 20th 2006. <http://www.mcspotlight.org/issues/freedom/index.htmll>)
Although you may be considered a "moron" to many if you think their food is nutritious, McDonalds still shouldn't depict themselves as the place to be when on a diet. Sure they have salads, low fat yogurt and "lite" sauces and dressings, but it would still not be the solution to lose weight.
 
"The McDonald's Corporation has pioneered a global, highly standardised and fast production-line system, geared to maximum turnover of products and profits. McDonald's now employ more than a million mostly young people around the world: some say a million people who might otherwise be out of work, others however consider that they are in fact a net destroyer of jobs by using low wages and the huge size of their business to undercut local food outlets and thereby force them out of business. Is McDonald's a great job opportunity or are they taking advantage of high unemployment to exploit the most vulnerable people in society, working them very hard for very little money? Complaints from employees range from discrimination and lack of rights, to understaffing, few breaks and illegal hours, to poor safety conditions and kitchens flooded with sewage, and the sale of food that has been dropped on the floor. This type of low-paid work has even been termed 'McJobs'.
Trade Unionists don't like McDonald's either. The company is notorious for the vehemence with which they try to crush any unionization attempt. They argue that all their workers are happy and that any problems can be worked out directly without the need for interference from a third party, but are they in fact just desperate to prevent any efforts by the workers to improve wages and conditions?"
(“Issues: Employment” No Date. McSpotlight. May 20th 2006. <http://www.mcspotlight.org/issues/freedom/index.htmll>)
Just like Wal-Mart, McDonald's does not like unions. In fact, it is against company policy to join a union because supposedly, all the workers are happy at McDonald's
 
"McDonald's spend over two billion dollars each year on advertising: the Golden Arches are now more recognized than the Christian Cross. Using collectable toys, television adverts, promotional schemes in schools and figures such as Ronald McDonald the company bombards their main target group: children. Many parents object strongly to the influence this has over their own children.
McDonald's argue that their advertising is no worse than anyone else's and that they adhere to all the advertising codes in each country. But others argue it still amounts to cynical exploitation of children - some consumer organizations are calling for a ban on advertising to children. Why do McDonald's sponsor so many school events and learning programs? Are their Children's Charities genuine philanthropy or is there a more explicit publicity and profit motive? "
(“Issues: Advertising ” No Date. McSpotlight. May 20th 2006. <http://www.mcspotlight.org/issues/freedom/index.htmll>)
To confirm the claim that their logo is more recognized than the Christian Cross is, I seen the movie "Super Size Me". They sat kids down at the table and shown them two pictures, and asked the children to identify who was in them. The first picture everyone said, "Ronald." The other picture the kids said things like, "My uncle?", "Ummmmm....", "I don't know." The picture was revealed, and it was a portrait of Jesus Christ.
I think it's time people start getting off their couches and start expressing themselves. They need to expose the facts, and tell the world and these corporations how they feel and what should be the solution. By all means, rant rave, mock these companies into submission, they are destroying the economy and lowering our standard of living. I'll be the first to step up to the plate. This is how I feel about these corporations and what I think the solution should be:
 
It's a statistical fact that the average American spends seven years watching television in their lifetime. When someone watches television on a regular basis, they will inevitably be bombarded with commercials.  Every fifteen or so minutes there is a commercial break for five minutes. Therefore 25% of television consists of watching advertisements about products people are selling that nobody needs, yet millions of people every year, buy this crap. They see a car commercial that shows a car that has all these "features" such as; "Automatic rain detecting windshield wipers", or "pointless BS" for short. What, you can't spend a half a second to press a freaking button? These are the same kind of people that spend an hour looking for the remote so they don't have to get up and walk a whole two feet over to the television to change the channel. Oh snap, I actually have to do it manually, call Ripley. What next? A machine that washes dishes for you? Oh wait, darnest thing.
 
What really makes my blood boil is corporations like Wal-Mart's and McDonald's ad campaign. You can't go a block without seeing a juicy looking Big Mac somewhere on a billboard, and somewhere on it is their crappy logo, and their retarded slogan. The last three McDonald's ad campaigns really went overboard as far as how much crack one has to smoke to come up with this crap. I mean you really have to be high to dump stupid ideas like, "Have you had your break today?" into the crapper. It's like McDonald's literally has a little room in their office building where the marketing people go to think. They have a little buffet in there full of various kinds of drugs they can use so they can come up with a witty commercial ideas or slogans. Unfortunately, when you smoke drugs, your judgment is impaired and thus reduced to an intelligence that of a moron. Don't take my word for it, look at their past market campaigns and see for yourself.
 

McDonald's ad campaigns are widely known throughout the world. They want to let everyone know that they share a special bond with customers. The "ever changing values" of society must match with the products people buy, and McDonald's wants to identify with these values so to rekindle their special bond with their customers. They have thousands of procedures I'm sure to deliver the "McDonald's Brand Promise" They greet and smile at you when you come up to the counter and place your order. Seconds later, the perfectly wrapped sandwich and perfect gold brown French fries are laid on your tray. You promptly sit down and enjoy your Big Mac meal. It's so great, life is wonderful at McDonald's. Take this picture I just snapped the other day.

[Moshman^]

Oh wait, what's this? It's a McDonald's employee, with a look of anguish on his face, and god, look at Ronald. He's a mess, and he's not even smiling! What gives? It's not very McDonald's like. We get a feeling of warmth, compassion, and a sense of caring on the commercials, but not in real life? What about this whole thing with "Smile! Your at McDonald's."?

Want an answer to that?

Smile! Your a gullible moron.
I hate to break it you people. Anyone that actually thinks that a company that sells fried potatoes for $1.07, cares about rekindling your "relationship" with a multibillion dollar company with their customers, is a gullible moron. All McDonald's wants to rekindle to themselves from you is your cash, plain and simple. And I don't give a rat's anus about rekindling and bonding with them either. The only bond this company is rekindling is that of my colon to the toilet, right after I gag up your Big Mac sauce that tastes like a pig rectum. Nice imagery for you, aye? Well it can't be closer to the truth.
McDonald's songs and commercials are so terrible. They constantly put out lies on a silver platter with all the trimmings. A McDonald's commercial is like taking a piece of crap, and spraying perfume on it. Sooner or later, it will wear off, and then it will smell like a piece of crap again. They keep spraying it, it keeps wearing off. Eventually, the crap will get all crusty, and crumble, then they will have nothing.
(1997) "Did Somebody Say McDonald's?"
God, this is truly the most hated phrase in all human history, and the most insulting one at that. Every time I heard the phrase, "Did Somebody Say McDonald's?" it makes me want to commit vehicular homicide just to satisfy my impending anger.
I don't get it. Are they asking me a question? Do they want a response? Every time I hear "Did Somebody Say McDonald's?" I envision a pale,. sickly looking nerd trying to probe my brain. The most horrible part about the whole thing is the people they hire to sing the phrases. Where do they dig up these sick creeps? Is being a sexual offender a "definite plus" for the job? I mean, I literally shutter every time I hear the song.
One day, I accidentally heard the end of a McDonald's commercial on the radio. It was the first time I head it in a couple of months. I had no idea how tricky and dirty those jerks at McDonald's are. It sounded like a heavenly voice calling out to me. A very unsettling, nauseating feeling. God, I hate McDonald's. Want my answer? No one said McDonald's, so shut the heck up and get bent already!

(2000) "We Love to See You Smile"

Now this one immediately set off my crap detector. Since when does a multibillion dollar company care about my smile? Or in that case since when do the underpaid minimum wage slave workers care about my smile? Since when do I care about your smile? Opps... Did I let the led out? Yes, it's true; I work at McDonald's. I don't make minimum wage since I am currently a manager trainee, but I know a lot of people that do. Oh yeah, I care about your smile. I'm smiling all the way on the floor scrubbing up ketchup stains from your little brats that you never bothered to clean up after. I put a smile on every time I have to clean up excrement that your little baby crapped out in the bathroom. After all, parents shouldn't be bothered with cleaning up after their children when they crap on the floor. What next, do we get to wipe their butt while we're at it? Put some baby powder on it so it's all better? Should we take them to school in the morning? Should we spank them when they're bad? (although I must admit, it would be pretty fun. Whack! That'll teach you not to spill your milk. Parents are wimps now days. No one is beating their children anymore. That's why this world is full of idiots.)
Bottom line, nobody cares about your goofy lopsided smiles. We could really care less. I rarely see a customer smile anyway, or be polite for that matter. All they want is their food, after all, that's what being addicted to McDonald's is all about.
 
(2000) "Put a Smile On"
This is a slogan that succeeded from the "We love to see you smile." slogan. An upgrade from dipstick, to sock sniffer. If you thought the last ad campaign was bad, this is worse then ever before. Now they made a song, where happy, laughing, playing children are singing, with their goofy looking clown mascot creeping around them like he's some sort of pedophile.
McDonald's really went all out on this one. They actually started to make it a policy to smile to the customers. As expected, people got fired because they didn't smile. People making minimum wage should smile, it would be a shame if you lost a great job like McDonald's to something so easy to do. I mean, who couldn't smile at McDonald's? You could be doing such tasks as cleaning urine in the Playland, that evokes a smile in everyone. You'll be laughing all the way home smelling like a five year old colon from cleaning up human waste all day, going to your dumpy apartment with that smelly creepy old man with a hairy mole on his lip, that possesses more porn videos than numbers in an investment banker's stock portfolio. Wow what a great prospect. Just thinking about it makes me red in the face, and when I mean red, I really mean enraged.
This is what McDonald's expects out of it's employees. Can you tell the difference between their vision and reality. You win $1 if you get it right.
 


 
I mean, can someone help me out? I can't figure it out, I can't imagine not smiling at McDonald's. Now that you've guessed correctly (so I'd hope) here's your freaking dollar. Enjoy your dollar menu McDonald's double cheeseburger, jerk.

(2001) "There's a little McDonald's in Everyone" (Canada only)
Now this next one really surprised me. I didn't think that there were different slogans for different countries. Oh wait, it's all in the demographic charts! You see, you can't say things like "Put a smile on." in Canada, they might think your insulting their culture. Another cunning move on McDonald's part to be politically correct. You know what's funny about McDonald's in Canada? Try to spot which one of these two pictures is from Canada.


 
 
It would seem that the Canadians embedded their country logo in the arches. I searched the entire McDonald's website to find any other possible reoccurrences in changing of the McDonald's logo in other countries. Here are the results...

   
If you couldn't guess, the first one is from Germany, the second is from Finland, and the third is from Columbia. Yet the arches are plain and golden. No politically correct leaf there. I searched all the sub-pages on the McDonald's website, every one of the logos were the same, except Canada's. I know what you're thinking. "But Tony, who cares about the logo?" The logo is besides the point. The point is that Canada wants to be special. After all what better way to demonstrate country pride than to associate the logo of your country (the symbol of the people) with a company that sells pre-processed deep fried chicken meat. I mean, I searched on other Canadian fast food websites and not a single leaf on them. Way to represent your people to the world with a corporation that sells dirt as food, morons.

 
Come on, is this not the definition of pompous idiot?

(2001) "Things that make you go 'mmm'" (Australia, UK and New Zealand)
Translation: Things that make you go. "mmm... It hurts... I think I'm gonna smash my head against the sidewalk some more to think about what I just did."
 
(2002) "Every time a good time."
Snore.
A monkey could have come up with that slogan.
 "Every time a good time." My anus. You mean, "Every time a good crap?" I mean, it's just food. You eat it... then... you crap it out. It's pretty black and white. You don't go to McDonald's to have a "good time" that's what a night club is for you dolt.

(2003) "i'm lovin' it"
"i'm lovin' it" is the current McDonald's ad campaign. Do you know what's interesting about the phrase 'i'm lovin' it"?
A website author by the name of Maddox, who runs the "Best Page in the Universe" (http://maddox.xmission.com) inquired about it.
"i'm lovin' it" is a contraction of the phrase, "I am loving it". I happened to stumble upon a copy  of "The Old Folks Network" daily word scramble while visiting my great grandma at the nursing home. I scanned it in for all to see. I challenge you to complete this without popping a vein in your forehead.
 

[Moshman^]

What's the answer? Ailing vomit. Ironic you might say? Quite really. Another brilliant move on McDonald's part to try to identify their values based on urban youth focus groups lifestyles and trends. Just look at the phrase, "i'm lovin it" They use simple, relaxed grammar and punctuation, because all kids use slang, and talk like they live in the ghetto.  Placing their new image in five "exiting and energetic" TV commercials, McDonald's knows what's up in the urban youth culture, which this entire ad campaign is aimed at. Every kid live in the inner city and listens to rap music, so McDonald's wants to show that they are "down" with their customers. Yea, like, werd yo...
I win, McDonald's cannot fool me with their crap ads, their crap food and their crap company as a whole. Stop using focus groups to pursue the cultural changes. I got a prospect, why not focus on making you food taste non-crappy for a change? I'd rather sand blast off my nipples then to eat another pig snot sandwich from McDonald's.

We got to stop companies like McDonald's and Wal-Mart from taking over the world and constantly throwing out deceptions. Here is my note worthy solution. For every lie a company tells to glorify their image, they have to tell two lies about their company to crap on their image, making it worse to tell a lie about their company, because then they would have to de-glorify their company two fold. Boy, Wal-Mart and McDonald's would surly be scrambling to improve themselves, because if Wal-Mart doesn't embrace the child labor laws like the say on their website. They will have to make a commercial showing managers beating the crap out of 14 year old workers. They would be making commercials with their Wal-Mart smiley face with a Hitler mustache on it and a swastika tattoo on its back, it would be running around kicking babies, and beat-up little puppy dogs, and throwing rocks at old people. The greeters would be running around the parking lot de-facing people's cars with piles of excrement. Their new logo would have a giant pentagram on it, and they would show their CEO with a big smile on their face saying random derogatory racial slurs at customers. They would show pictures of dead Chinese children that worked too long for a quarter an hour, skin and bones, abused, beaten and tortured. The great part is that, Wal-Mart themselves would have to spend money and time making it to compensate for their lies.
McDonald's could show one of their workers taking an order from a customer. The employee is so annoyed by how much of a moron the customer is because he takes two minutes to go "Uhhhhh.....", he would blow and stab the customer in the face with a plastic spork. Then proceed to drag the body into the freezer to mutilate him into pieces. He would then make them into burgers and fry the customer on the grill and make burgers out of them. They would show him grilling the "meat" making the sandwich. He would then place the burger on the customer's tray, then the would show the customer sitting down and just take a giant bite out of it, to top it off, then mention that it was the victim's mother that ate a burger made of him. Then they would put their logo on it and say, "We serve customers, to our customers." God, I rule.
 
 

[Maki-chan]

Lmfao, That was awesome, I loved it Moshman! XD

(Although if anyone in the near future finds HH's.com gone and replaced with a page full of golden arches, we'll know why. )

I also liked your reference articles too. ^_^ For many, many years until only recently, McDonald's only accepted as payment cold cash for their food. No checks, no credit cards, just like mafia ... indeed, McDonald's may be the only non-government entity in the world with more cash than the mafia. It may be true that McDonald's has their own charity organization and community relations groups, but if you compare how much resources the company puts into those to what they put into advertising, it's nothing more than chump change. Like you've heavily alluded to Moshman, McDonald's is merely buying a public image. A long time ago I saw a "60 minutes" TV news article on McDonald's and how they so viciously sue anyone that attempts to publicly malign the company or infringe upon their copyrighted phrases or images. The one case that has always stuck in my mind is this restaurant in Scotland that they sued for using the "McDonald's" name. The restaurant was nothing like any fast food restaurant - a very elegant haute cuisine type place not likely to have a single burger or french fry within its walls. So why was it called "McDonald's"? It was called that because it was located at the McDonald Castle in Scotland, the ancestral home of the McDonald family. You'd think that if anyone had the rights to the name, they would, but not according to McDonald's Inc, and they got sued too ...

[Moshman^]

Note that I really don't HATE McDonald's I'm mearly sattirizing it. I do dislike some of their policies however.
I am going to be an awsome manager, I won't treat people like shit.

Boy there is a lot of shit to go through. You have to take classes. They sit you down at a little table, and the district supervisor sits and talks to you for HOURS and HOURS. Snore.
It's decent money, and I get decent benefits of it, like tution reimbersment.

[Maki-chan]

McDonald's isn't the first place that I'd think of as having a decent pay scale. Like you mentioned above, "McJobs" is very much the image that I've always had of working there. Things probably are quite different if you can move up to management level, although I'd still have doubts that you could live and support a family on even the management wages.

The cost of everything has gone up a great deal in the last few decades, but corporations in general (not just McD's and Walmart) have not kept up with their wage compensation. Slowly they have been draining the wealth resources from the middle class hoping that no one has been noticing. In maybe the next 50 to 100 years the middle class in America will eventually disappear, slowly dissolving into the elite ruling class and the wretched poverty class. Once that separation has been completed, there will be present in America the reagents for a revolution like human history has never seen ...

[Moshman^]

Well this is not my carreer path. I am still looking for a job. I have my Server+ and A+ certifications. But until then, its McJob. But you can still make decent money in management and I can still get promotions. A lot of mangers have families to provide for and they don't live in poverty.

But that is an interesting thought about the economy you have there. This may happen, but I really think there should be a balance. You have people that constantly preach that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and we should make it fair for everyone. Then there's people that say that the poor should have a shitty life and the rich should have a great life.

I have a veiwpoint that supports both clauses. Being poor is a choice, being rich is a choice. You choose to be poor, by not working, by not going to school, by poor money management, by not busting your ass, by being an alchoholic or drug addict. This is how you choose to make more and more money. By busting your ass, by going to school constantly, being persistant with your goals, developing talant, taking every opportunity when it arises and looking for opportunities. Being poor is easy to do because it requires nothing on your end, being rich is extremely hard and requires everything on your end, and take years of work and dedication. That is the choices. It is up to people that make them. This is America, a capitalist society. It shouldn't be everyone's responsibility to fulfill the poor's nessesities. It's not anybodys responsibility to put your kid through school, to pay your bills, to wash your ass, what ever it is. I shouldn't have to pay more taxes just because I make more money, and have no kids. There should be no "tax brackets". I am talking a flat tax percentage. You can't get more fairer than this. The people who bust their ass, get the raise, get the promotion and get the money. When I get promoted, I am going to be knocked up a tax bracket, meaning that the government is going to take more of my money, because I busted my ass, I get punished for it. What's the sense of busting my ass anymore? Something like this happend in human history, where a government fell because its system of government sucked royal ass. Oh yeah, it was Russia, with their communist goverment. We are falling into the trap of communism, where everyone is equal, no matter how much you bust you ass, you will get the same amount of money as the person laying on their ass all day collecting section 8.

As far as the rich, they don't sit on their ass and then one day, get rich. They really busted their ass for it and deserve it, every penny. Anyone can be rich. Some harder than it is for others, yes. There was a story with a deaf and blind black guy. Unlike some section 8 people complaining they can't work because their legs hurt or some other stupid bullshit, this guy went to work EVERYDAY, and enjoys his life very much. He gets raises, he gets recognition because he busts his ass. You can't compare suffering like someone's legs hurting, or they're depressed and in pain to someone who can't even see or hear. If this guy can work, anyone can. Section 8 people should have a shitty life, because they make shitty choices, like not working. Or working and not trying to move up into something harder and more demanding, for more money.