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Presenting The Big Mac Index Infographic

Tyler Durden's picture




 

With ever more Americans boldly crossing into the obesity zone, where so many have gone before, it is only fitting that the topic of today's infographic du jour is the Big Mac index: the world's intercontinental standard of purchase price parity.

The Big Mac Index
Via: Online MBA Blog

 

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Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:40 | 2072566 RichardENixon
RichardENixon's picture

Beavis: Would you like fries with that?

Butthead: Did I ask for fries?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:35 | 2072547 PolishHammer
PolishHammer's picture

Big Kahuna makes some tasty burgers!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:19 | 2072674 Randall Cabot
Randall Cabot's picture

Where do you get a big kahuna and what's in it?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:57 | 2072758 bigkahuna
bigkahuna's picture

mmmmmmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Thats a good burger!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:05 | 2072768 mtomato2
mtomato2's picture

Be..because of t..the m..metric system?

ROYALE WITH CHEEZE, BITCHEZ!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:34 | 2072713 VelvetHog
VelvetHog's picture

Mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:36 | 2072549 bob_dabolina
bob_dabolina's picture

This is interesting and all but that third big mac in the lower graphic looks fuckin' gross.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:39 | 2072561 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Tofu-Mac!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:45 | 2072578 bob_dabolina
bob_dabolina's picture

That's the Big Mac Barney Frank makes when you visit his home

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:21 | 2072678 Randall Cabot
Randall Cabot's picture

Does Barney have a secret sauce?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:32 | 2072708 Teamtc321
Teamtc321's picture

Barney likes the secret sauce. 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:40 | 2072550 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

- You got your sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, secret sauce.

 

- What's the secret sauce?

 

- Thousand Island dressing.  What's the secret sauce at Bronco Burger?

 

- Ketchup and mayonnaise.

 

- Gotcha.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:45 | 2072575 prains
prains's picture

personal trainer father bought a McD cheeseburger put it on a plate and left on his kitchen counter for a year so he could dissuade his teenage kids from eating junk food, after one year, no mold or bacteria is visible on any part of the burger

just a little shrivelled but no living organism is willing to attach itself to the "food" product.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:01 | 2072612 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

just a little shrivelled but no living organism is willing to attach itself to the "food" product.

That's why the index is so accurate as it relates to fiat currency... (I guess whoever junked me didn't get the analogy)... Oh well..

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:41 | 2072728 duo
duo's picture

Ergo, the Big Mac's durability and divisability could lend it to becoming a form of money.  Also, since "you can't eat it" (well, I guess you could), that puts it on par with gold.

The only problem with le Big Mac is that they are creating 4 billion a day, just like the USD.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:47 | 2072741 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I LOLed

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:41 | 2072840 infinity8
infinity8's picture

++, hilarious!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:02 | 2072968 prains
prains's picture

nicely done duo'd

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:25 | 2072978 Al Gorerhythm
Al Gorerhythm's picture

The McD cheese burger therefore could fulfill some of the properties of money. Durable and fungible (able to be devided without losing its value ie, 1/2 a shit is still shit). It loses out on rarity and portability though.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:44 | 2072735 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Love the internet. Particulars get changed, but content of story basically stays the same.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/29/zombie-cheeseburger-mcdonalds-patty-bun-cheese-unchanged-after-one-year-sitting-on-kitchen-counter/

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:06 | 2072773 mtomato2
mtomato2's picture

Hey, Lucy-I-mean-Lizzy.

Long time no see.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:32 | 2072793 Goldilocks
Goldilocks's picture

(mind manifests reality... (not just with the notion of drugs, but with ideas too!  ie cancer / you're going to get sick / resistance is futile ...  etc))

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-99th-monkey/201004/the-placebo-e...

The Placebo Effect Can Kill You
Even your psychiatrist may not know this about your drugs.
Published on April 10, 2010 by Eliezer Sobel in The 99th Monkey

It could be argued that Wikipedia is not the most scholarly or accurate resource for medical information. On the other hand, I am not a physician or a psychologist, so please cut me some slack.

From Wikipedia: "The patient is given an inert pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief may produce a subjective perception of a therapeutic effect, causing the patient to feel their condition has improved. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect."

~//~

But don't knock the placebo effect; it has been demonstrated to not only have countless positive health benefits in unsuspecting patients, it can also produce withdrawal symptoms when discontinued, or, when used in the opposite manner, can produce the "nocebo" effect; that is, cause harm. A placebo described as a muscle relaxant will cause muscle relaxation, but if the identical substance is presented as the opposite, muscle tension will result. A placebo presented as a stimulant will raise heart rhythm and blood pressure, but when administered as a depressant, it will lower both.

The principle behind this phenomenon has been termed "the meaning response," referring to the brain's power to generate effects in response to whatever it believes to be true, positive or negative. If the substance is viewed as helpful, it can heal, but if it is viewed as harmful, it can cause negative effects. Because the placebo effect is based upon expectations and conditioning, when a subject who has benefited from a placebo is later informed that they had in fact not received the genuine medication, their condition would often rapidly deteriorate and the positive placebo effects would disappear.

Even when an inert substance is producing positive, healing results in people, the recipients can nullify the intended placebo effect simply by having a negative attitude toward its effectiveness, often quickly transforming the same substance into a harmful nocebo. One researcher even coined a term for this situation: "the placebo paradox." It states that,

"While it may be unethical to use a placebo, it may also be unethical not to [use one]." (Dr. David Newman, author of Hippocrates' Shadow: Secrets from the House of Medicine-What Doctors Don't Know, Don't Tell You, and How Truth Can Repair the Patient-Doctor Breach.)

When I read Kirsch's book and became convinced of his point of view, I had already been feeling dissatisfied with my latest antidepressant cocktail anyway, so I opted to wean myself once again, for the umpteenth time in as many years (umpteen), armed with the knowledge that my paltry mood improvements were both minimal and placebo-induced, and not worth the principle side effect for me, which is insomnia. The price I'm paying, however, is the loss of those "barely-significant" results that I did receive when I was still a believer, and as a result, last night I had a dream in which I was sobbing, and I woke up in literal tears. My brother, a psychologist, appeared in the dream just before I regained consciousness, to say,

"Be careful; the placebo effect can kill you."

~//~

I can see clearly now the rain has gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s going to be a bright, (chorus: bright . . .) bright sunshiny day
It’s going to be a bright, (chorus: bright . . .) bright sunshiny day
It’s going to be a bright, (chorus: bright . . .) bright sunshiny day

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:45 | 2072852 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

This is why (sans being hit by a bus) I'm going to live to 100, and it's why I'm my own doctor. Also, when I eat real food, I tell myself it's healthy (yumm bacon), but when I eat junk, I tell my body to do the best it can with it, and defend itself from the science experiment that created it.

I also kill cancer every second of the day with my various defenses, which I incorporate ever more daily.

Meanwhile, I'm surrounded by friends and family who regularly go to the doctor because they're falling apart, taking any number of pharma products (all of them are on anti-depressants these days) doing everything they can to get better.

Well, except for changing their lifestyle. That's hard!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:56 | 2073011 Totentänzerlied
Totentänzerlied's picture

I guess you skipped Avoiding Sounding Like an Ignorant and Myopic Self-Congratulatory Bullshit-Spewing Jackass 101 in your rigorous medical education.

It's much easier to think "I did it all by myself", makes you feel all smug inside too!

Pathology, pathophysiology, virology, gerontology, genetics, epigenetics, proteomics, etc. are all useless.

It's all the goddamn patient's fault for being a lazy fatass who cannot afford free-range organic hormone/steroid/antibiotic-free meats and fair-trade organic pesticide-free produce at ridiculous markup for every meal of the day.

The 8-year-old with a golf-ball-sized inoperable neuroblastoma has no one to blame but herself for the lifestyle choices she made which are solely responsible for (yay, victim blaming!) the dysplastic tumow that will kill her long before she can even understand what 'lifestyle choices' are.

I hope you don't live to 100, I hope you live forever, that we The Unworthy may bask in the warm glow of your compassionate wisdom for all eternity.

 

 

"Well, except for changing their lifestyle. That's hard!"

Not as hard as you when you jack off in the mirror.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:37 | 2073074 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

Let me see if I understand what you are stating:

1) If a given person has a medical condition (serious like the inoperable neuroblastoma) then by extension it means that all of the rest of the population should behave as if they had a similar medical condition?

2) That people shouldn't change their lifestyle choices?

3) That people can't afford to eat healthy because healthy options are overly expensive?

Ok, well I call bull-shit on your argument. I live in the real world. You know the one where people do stuff for a living outside of the "financial universe" and here is what I and may wife regularly see:

1) Many people with self-induced health problems. I watch them eat way too many calories, get no exercise, stress-out about everything, and do nothing or next to nothing about changing what they can. I hear a bunch of excuses. Most people do not have inoperable cancers or other genetically related diseases. Sorry but most people are born healthy.

2) So if people are unhealthy you seem to imply that there is nothing they can do to change their health without depending on Pathology, pathophysicology...blah blah blah. Is this your position or am I reading too much into what you are saying? I agree that medical science is necessary and support any advances we can make in the area. However, I do think people can take it upon themselves to improve their own health by changing their own behaviors. We aren't mindless rats that need a doctor to tell us everything we need to do. Most people don't even listen to their doctors. My doctor laments on how few patients actually change their behavior and follow her guidance.

3) I call bullshit on the cost of healthy food. I see so many people living in outsized homes, driving expensive cars, wearing expensive clothes, 65" TVs, and on and on and yet they won't spend money on food. Most people that are middle income can afford to eat organic or mostly organic. You don't have to be a purist. Just cut out the cheap processed food full of empty calories. Perhaps then you will be less likely to develop cancer or other inoperable conditions.

 

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:53 | 2073432 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

well said. We have a value inversion and have placed good nutrition well below everything else. And nutrition is the foundation of health - physical and mental. It's sick because as our economic reality becomes more and more condensed folks may continue to reach out to the cheap toxic crap. Crap grown from poisonous plants which will not produce seed and must be purchased from one company that has already patented over 20,000 forms of life. Curency is nothing, food is the ultimate weapon.  

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 01:11 | 2073493 mess nonster
mess nonster's picture

Nutrition

Exercise

Water

Sunlight

Temperance

Air

Rest

Trust

***********


 

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:56 | 2072613 Cheesy Bastard
Cheesy Bastard's picture

+1 for the Fast times reference.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:49 | 2072992 Ineverslice
Ineverslice's picture

"This wasn't the best breakfast I ever had, so I would like my money back please!"

"uhh, okay.... you're gonna have to fill out a form for that..."

"So you wanna work at Bronco Burger....!"

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:37 | 2072551 web bot
web bot's picture

Big Macs are better than the US$ to compare value and to judge inflation.

Actually the USD does have some value... napkins.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:37 | 2072557 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Nah, they don't absorb for shit.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:47 | 2072740 respect the cock
respect the cock's picture

Missing hiker on Mt. Rainier survived by burning his FRNs:

 

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Rescued-snowshoer-burned-money-to-sta...

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:39 | 2073310 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

That is the final straw! Selling all my gold for FRNs because they will be more useful when I get stranded on a mountain!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:38 | 2072554 The Swedish Chef
The Swedish Chef's picture

According to the index, Sweden has the most overvalued currency on the planet, clocking in at above 50% over $. On the other hand, I have a hunch that the prive they used is actually for the Big Mac meal, un-supersized.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:38 | 2072563 LouisDega
LouisDega's picture

Translation.. Dont short Micky D's. Rally on.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:40 | 2072568 sexcellent
sexcellent's picture

bring back the arch deluxe

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:43 | 2072571 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

If you are willing to settle for the Whopper as a substitute, you can even get it delivered ....

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:44 | 2072573 MrBinkeyWhat
MrBinkeyWhat's picture

Who the fuck eats "Big Macs"? I mean if you want a real burger, go to Hardees and get the "Bacon Cheese Burger" Fuck Yeatm. Not affiliated with any copyrighted names or places mentioned in this post.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:02 | 2072629 Max Hunter
Max Hunter's picture

KFC has by far the best meal for 5 bucks.. Breast, Wing and Wedges and biscuit and drink.. My girlfriend trades me her wing for my biscuit.. Taco Hell was my favorite, until they nearly doubled their prices in the past 5 years.. Fuck em.. The cost of food and labor (for them) has not doubled.. I'm sure their profits (and stock) is up though..  2.19 for a fucking chalupa.. Fuck them.. assholes..

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:17 | 2072664 The Swedish Chef
The Swedish Chef's picture

My girlfriend trades me her biscuit for my juicy drum stick...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:36 | 2072717 VelvetHog
VelvetHog's picture

"My girlfriend trades me her wing for my biscuit."  Careful.  This is a family website.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:44 | 2072849 jomama
jomama's picture

all fast food 'restaurants' use GMO feed fed to GMO aminals, all loaded with steroids and aggressive antibiotics.  disgusting to say the least.

but it's cheap!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:35 | 2073123 delacroix
delacroix's picture

taco bell, uses a lot of beef lung meat, among other beef by products

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 15:22 | 2075378 ClassicalLib17
ClassicalLib17's picture

Obviously you are not aware of the BK Quad.  Now that's a real heart-stopper!  I'd like to see Mike Ditka as the pitchman for the BK QUAD!!!  Ditka, Bitchezz

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:45 | 2072579 kito
kito's picture

and the greatest thing about the big mac is THAT YOU CAN ORDER ONE WITH YOUR SNAP CARD!!!!!! wonderful!!! fatten the poor with the snap program and ship them off to the cardiac unit with medicaid!!! WHAT A GREAT FUCKING SYSTEM WE HAVE IN THIS FUCKED UP COUNTRY!!!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:25 | 2073082 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

Great!

The tax-payer can pay for the burger and then pay for the additional medical costs later. What a great system.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:45 | 2072580 Texas Ginslinger
Texas Ginslinger's picture

Tax the shit out of fast food and hand the proceeds over to hospital cardiac units.............

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:53 | 2072605 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

...and tax the drive thru for drive thru trash removal from streets 3 miles is all directions.

 

Our whole country would be trash free!

 

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:07 | 2072638 Max Hunter
Max Hunter's picture

I'll never forget the time I saw a fat lazy bitch throwing an entire McD's bag out of her car as she was eating the burger. The fat piece of shit was to lazy to even roll the window down far enough to get the bag out without a struggle..  I was ashamed to be an American that day..

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:08 | 2072777 mtomato2
mtomato2's picture

"...for the first time in my life, I'm proud of my country..."

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:03 | 2072631 kito
kito's picture

you dont need to tax the shit out of fast food, you need to stop the subsidies that make this garbage so cheap................

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:41 | 2072729 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

I was thinking out loud to BF last week about how absolute calorie consumption has increased in the US 30% over last 30 years and how the Government pretends to be upset about rising obesity rates, when in fact it supports both directly and indirectly that consumption. 

Consuming large quantites of cheap food in front of the TV, being slightly dumb, and drugged by the Rx companies is more or less exactly where the government wants you. Despite what they say. Because as we all know what they do (especially with your money) is far more indicitive of their true motives.

This article from Nov 2011, is an example of exactly what you are saying. Apologies in advance for long reprint but it is worth a read.

Domino’s Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies.

Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management. It teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign (that`s right yanks your tax dollars went to a domino`s pizza marketing campaign).

Consumers devoured the cheesier pizza, and sales soared by double digits. “This partnership is clearly working,” Brandon Solano, the Domino’s vice president for brand innovation, said in a statement to The New York Times.

But as healthy as this pizza has been for Domino’s, one slice contains as much as two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and is high in caloriesAnd Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting.

Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese.

Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk.        

But in a series of confidential agreements approved by agriculture secretaries in both the Bush and Obama administrations, Dairy Management has worked with restaurants to expand their menus with cheese-laden products.

Consider the Taco Bell steak quesadilla, with cheddar, pepper jack, mozzarella and a creamy sauce. “The item used an average of eight times more cheese than other items on their menu,” the Agriculture Department said in a report, extolling Dairy Management’s work — without mentioning that the quesadilla has more than three-quarters of the daily recommended level of saturated fat and sodium.

Dairy Management, whose annual budget approaches $140 million, is largely financed by a government-mandated fee on the dairy industry. But it also receives several million dollars a year from the Agriculture Department, which appoints some of its board members, approves its marketing campaigns and major contracts and periodically reports to Congress on its work

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07fat.html?pagewanted=print

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:46 | 2072739 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Now you have really done it.  All I want to do is to go out and buy one of their Double Topping Pizzas for 7.99 Mon thru Wed.

Yum.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:56 | 2072760 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Me too! I'm all for 40% more saturated fat for the same price.

Of course, that's because it's a PRIMARY health food source for humans.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/

While I'm not completely primal yet (damn you, devilish, tasty carbs!) I'm working that way.

Just another benefit achieved when one stops believing in the stupidity put out by the criminals d.b.a. the government, where healthy food is labeled bad, while laboratory poison is considered safe.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:41 | 2072846 jomama
jomama's picture

ew. domino's is so gross.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:01 | 2072766 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Yet, consider that Cheese is good for you.  Lots of vitamin D and C.  The fats are not that bad.  Plus, remember that the human body needs a certain amount of fats to survive. 

I do not know about anyone else but there are times I crave fats.  That is my body telling me that I do not have enough fats that my body needs.

Everyone these days has become a kook about fats but the facts remain that the body does need fats to survive and Cheese is a better fat than Hydrogenated Corn Oil.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:04 | 2072769 Cheesy Bastard
Cheesy Bastard's picture

+1.  Cheese is good for you.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:12 | 2072785 kito
kito's picture

even government cheese?????????

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:48 | 2072858 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

As always kito, government produces nothing, they have to steal it with their magic checkbook.

So, as long as it's not stolen from you, then it's good for you.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:39 | 2073309 Dingleberry
Dingleberry's picture

what about smegma?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:11 | 2072784 kito
kito's picture

everything in moderation waterfall. a few slices of minimally processed cheese is good for you, an entire log of poor quality cheese melted onto a a mattress of refined wheat is not.............

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:07 | 2073366 HedgeCock
HedgeCock's picture

At McBurger's?  More likely "process cheese"--no, not "processed cheese", that would still be considered cheese.  Look up the difference and be grossed out.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:57 | 2072870 ToddGak
ToddGak's picture

I call bullshit.  Humans are the only species that still consume dairy products after weaning from their mama's tit.  Our bodies were only evolved to consume as much fat as might be available from eating an animal.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:15 | 2072906 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

ToddGak

"Our bodies were only evolved to consume as much fat as might be available from eating an animal."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blubber

Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue found under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds and sirenians.

Uses

Muktuk(or mattak as it is written in Greenlandic) (the Inuit/Eskimo word for blubber) formed an important part of the traditional diets of the Inuit and other northernly peoples because of its high energy value. Seal blubber has large amounts of vitamin E, selenium, and other antioxidants, which may reduce the effect of the free radicals formed within the body's cells. Damage caused to cells by free radicals are a theorized contributor to some diseases. Whale blubber, which tastes like arrowroot biscuits, has similar properties.[7] The positive effects of consuming blubber can be seen in Greenland; in Uummannaq for example, a hunting district with 3,000 residents, no deaths due to cardiovascular diseases occurred in the 1970s. However, emigrants to Denmark have contracted the same diseases as the rest of the population. The average 70-year-old Inuit with a traditional diet of whale and seal has arteries as elastic as those of a 20-year-old Danish resident.[8]

Blubber from whales and seals contains omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.[11] Without the vitamin D, for example, the Inuit and other natives of the Arctic would likely suffer from rickets. There is evidence blubber and other fats in the arctic diet also provide the calories needed to replace the lack of carbohydrates found in the diets of cultures in the rest of the world.[12]

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:32 | 2072817 feeb
feeb's picture

Awesome article clipping, lizzy! Thank you!

 

I'm a long time lurker here back to the early ZH blogspot days...I rarely have time or inclination to post, just thought I would throw a shout out to you. I have always liked your posts and usually take the time to read them when I see a comment by you.

Cheers from your friendly, not overly creepy fed employee ;)

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:57 | 2072872 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Thanks, not overly creepy but friendly fed employee ;)

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:12 | 2072902 Gully Foyle
Gully Foyle's picture

lizzy36

OOOOOOHHHHH, we have too much to eat.

You choose better to be too fat or starving?

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

Children are the most visible victims of undernutrition.  Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million deaths.  Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's ability to convert food into usable nutrients.

According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of three (de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother. Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities, mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature death.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:33 | 2073118 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

Note:

Food does not mean nourishment.

Nourishing food means nourishment.

Processed industrial agricultural waste is just calories masquerading as nourishment. Not saying you can't eat the stuff. Just don't ask me to pay your medical bills either.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:19 | 2072917 infinity8
infinity8's picture

In a nutshell, my 2 gigantic tom cats will eat almost anything (mostly CAT food), but, they will NOT eat any "processed meat foods" meant for HUMAN consumption. One of them will eat peas, grean beans, etc. . . We both love to cook and eat probably 90% "real food" so, at dinner, we often treat them to human-food scraps. Through that discovered (really tasty local pizza shop) that they will NOT even lick fake meat. 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:35 | 2072952 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

As someone who's owned and lived with many cats, I've concluded that cats avoid:

1) anything spicy at all (meaning scoville-units spicy, not basil/paprika spicy)
2) garlic and/or onions
3) anything with appreciable levels of MSG

There are plenty of personal preferences.  I've got one now that is the first I've seen who likes plain white rice.  But those 3 rules have seemed to hold true for all of them.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:52 | 2072998 infinity8
infinity8's picture

The one that will eat his vegetables will also eat onion and garlic. Granted, he's half crazy but, he's healthy. Maybe it's the MSG. . .

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:54 | 2072866 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

Although using tax policy for social engineering is pretty popular, you've got the wrong idea here.  People dying before they start collecting Social Security and/or get their medical expenses covered by Medicare is GOOD for the Federal budget.

We could cut costs even more with a national smoking promotion.  Should start paying off in the next 20-30 years.

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:03 | 2073356 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

The problem is the obesity problem is hitting our children. Those costs are rising and those of us that work are stuck footing the bill.

I am not saying that all children should be healthy. There will always be unhealthy children. The problem is our policies concerning food are creating far too many unhealthy children for our tax base to handle. I wonder how much of our deficit is from costs associated with obesity in children.

As for older people. They are adults. They should be able to be responsible for their decisions and health. Sigh. Waiting for someone to call me the product of a public education because I advocate personal responsibility....

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 13:59 | 2074957 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

Thing is, obesity SAVES tax money because people die younger.

Obese kids are a problem of parenting--you're not going to get anywhere trying to legislate good parenting.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:19 | 2073260 cranky-old-geezer
cranky-old-geezer's picture

 

 

Tax the shit out of fast food and hand the proceeds over to hospital cardiac units.............

I have a better idea.  Let the slobs die.

No public support for treating degenerative illnesses.  The ruined their own health. Let 'em die.

That might be one bright spot in Obamacare. 

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:07 | 2073368 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

I don't understand why Republicans hate Obama Care. It is chock-full of great goodies that take away benefits from folks and give them to corporations. Look at how health-care stocks have done. Duh. (I think the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that one party is full of idiots and the other party is full of morons and both don't care about 99.999% of the population other than to keep them alive long enough to extract economic production).

 Once the mandate to purchase coverage is found unconstitutional you will see deficit spending on a scale that dwarfs what we have now. Start thinking Quadrillions. Heck even FRNs will need to be larger for the additional zeros.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:46 | 2072584 Flesh Wound
Flesh Wound's picture

Mcdonalds killing americans one burger at a time.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:47 | 2072588 Cheesy Bastard
Cheesy Bastard's picture

I prefer the chicken mcnugget index.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:58 | 2072622 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

it's priceless... not even a blojob can get you any...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:09 | 2072646 Cheesy Bastard
Cheesy Bastard's picture

Heh.  You want sauce with that?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:38 | 2072721 Teamtc321
Teamtc321's picture

Here is one pissed cow. http://www.totallytom.com/MadCow.html

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:04 | 2072633 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

Size of McNuggets has gone down recently.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:27 | 2072695 Randall Cabot
Randall Cabot's picture

That's because the cost of silly putty has gone up.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:33 | 2072710 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Do you have any idea what is in Chicken McNuggets?  Google how Chicken McNuggest are made.  You will probably never eat another one again.

Beware of all products with mechanically seperated chicken, pork or beef.  Google it.  More than likely you would not eat it on a dare.  Basically, cat or dog food fit for humans.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:39 | 2072724 ozziindaus
ozziindaus's picture

Never mind that, how about the silicon?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydimethylsiloxane

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:56 | 2072871 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

The mechanical separation part isn't the problem.  The problem is the chemical agents required to kill the bacteria in the factory-farmed livestock.

If you mechanically separate meats from traditional farm-raised animals, you'd get similar results without needing to add all the poisons.

The problem is the farming, not the manufacturing.

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 00:11 | 2073376 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

Throw in all the synthetic products/fillers found in the feed as well as hormones and GMO tinkering.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:47 | 2072591 tallen
tallen's picture

So fat americans travel to where burgers are cheaper thereby increasing the value of their currencies?

/s

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:49 | 2072596 Dapper Dan
Dapper Dan's picture

Those here who don't know Chris Hedges should!

Chris Hedges sues Barack Obama and Leon Panetta over legality of NDAA Posted on by

Hedges lays it out in clear, unequivocal language: “I suspect the real purpose of this bill is to thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state. . . I suspect [this law] passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them. They want to be able to call in the Army. And now they can.”

http://exopermaculture.com/2012/01/16/chris-hedges-sues-barack-obama-and-leon-panetta-over-legality-of-ndaa/

Get to know this guy before his is hot tubbed, long video but imperative for all to watch.

http://wwww.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChrisHed

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:07 | 2072639 gwar5
gwar5's picture

OK, I'll agree with Hedges on this one but he has became a nutjob with his last books, and is way late to this party. He hates the Tea Party and anybody who owns a gun or has the temerity to go to church.... Horrors! If he is not a coward he will call out the FED, JPM and GS by name, not McDonalds and Wal-Mart. We'll see.

 

He should have been there 3 years ago when we hit the streets over TARP, bailouts, and Constitutional rule of law -- bonus: there was no lice, no rapes, no violence.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:11 | 2072781 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I consider him a typical disinfo agent, coherent in one area, while incoherent in all others. That way, they get maximum mileage from both sides with False Authority Syndrome taking in his fans on incoherent issues, as well as his detractors "strengthening their resolve" against any coherent issue, as he taints it for them.

My favorite example of "tainting the coherent" was a few years ago, when the CEO of Exxon stated that "Ethanol is genocide," a common idea amongst many lefties (and one I agree with, as burning food to fuel cars is duuuuuuumb (topsoil is far too valuable, which is why ethanol has to be subsidized to be marketable (or mandated by criminal law (fuckers, now all of my small engines need constant repair)))).

Where was I again? Oh, yeah, Exxon. When my lefty friends heard his statement (I made sure they did), they were absolutely speechless, wanting to cheer, but would rather rip out their tongue than admit support for their idea coming from that man.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:51 | 2072599 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

World parity, bitches.  Ask not how long you must work for the fat fried fat, but ask yourself where does the fat fried fat taste better?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:43 | 2073317 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

At the Texas State Fair we have had Fat Fried Coke, Fat Fried Twinkies, and Fat Fried Snickers bars. I watched as folks downed this crap in copious quantities. My wife and I were amazed by the 400LB female that had 3 of the snickers bars in her hand eating all of them simultaneously. She had 3 more on her plate.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:53 | 2072603 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

"The big Mac Index suggests most emerging-market currencies are significantly undervalued."

 

I think it should be" The big Mac Index suggests that the US$ is significantly overervalued compare to the emerging-market currencies." now makes more sance. A gallon of gas should be around US$12.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:57 | 2072616 SilverDOG
SilverDOG's picture

Oh man, now that would challenge the USD psychological dependency. RUN!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:18 | 2072610 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

I'm waiting for the McRib Index to form my worldview...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:26 | 2072691 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Just Google how McRib is made.  You would not eat it for love or money once you find out what is in it.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:29 | 2072698 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

I wouldn't even feed a McRib to a stray dog...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 18:55 | 2072611 ShankyS
ShankyS's picture

If I am not mistaken eating Big Macs towards the end was the only thing that saved that dude's life in the movie Supersize ME. 

And the Big Mac jingle for you old folks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en4muUSIRT4

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:10 | 2072649 uno
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:17 | 2072668 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

Somebody's gonna get shot...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:26 | 2072690 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

I volunteer to be the delivery boy in MILF/Cougar neighborhoods... & I don't take SNAP cards...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:58 | 2072762 Widowmaker
Widowmaker's picture

You couldn't get laid in a women's prison with a fist full of pardons. 

Good thing for you that fucking faggot Barney Frank is retiring, he will show you snap or button or whatever...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:30 | 2072667 Wakanda
Wakanda's picture

At my local McD's I am served by BA's and MA's and even BS's who are grateful for any income.  Even if the food is the same dreck, the quality of service has skyrocketed in the last three years.  The help is often smarter and faster than the local managers who have been there forever and have an associates degree from Hamburger U.  Even some of the kids run circles around the local managers.

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 11:01 | 2074196 prole
prole's picture

You obviously live in Helsinki. I stopped going to McD when I couldn't get service, got ignored at the counter, then after finally being acknowledged never had my food brought to me requiring me to literally beg for it.  Full disclosure: Yeah if you notice Latinos working in any particular franchise then you can get service no problemo, but in 'majority' of Mcds I was persona non grata until I got the message I wasn't wanted and stayed out about 15 years ago.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:19 | 2072669 saulysw
saulysw's picture

I seem to recall from the movie "supersize me" that each MCD hamburger pattie has a mix of over 200 different cattle's meat in it. As opposed to a butchers mince where it is probably one or two. For some reason I find this deeply off putting.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:16 | 2072789 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Think of it this way. You might get mad cow more often, but with less severity.

That help?

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 11:02 | 2074202 prole
prole's picture

I have actually spent some time pondering this pardox. IE like at a buffett what is your safest bet way to eat?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:18 | 2072670 HamyWanger
HamyWanger's picture

Yeah right, the reason a Big Mac is cheaper in China than in the US is because, I quote, "The Yuan is undervalued 44% against the US dollar".

Certainly not because of differences between the two countries, like cost of workforce or bigger agricultural production. 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:24 | 2072681 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

Yum.  I almost feel deprived right now.  All I eat is home made food.  Lots of big pots of soup or a roast or roasted chicken that lasts a week or so.

Although, I am a good cook, sometimes home cooked food does not taste as good as the fast food variety.  Although, I do not put all of the STUFF the fast food restaurants put in their food.

Funny.  I bought Bologna which I like to fry for fried Bologna sandwich.  It just did not fry right, stuck to the pan and burned.  Then I looked on the label and found that Oscar Meyer is putting Corn Syrup in their Bologna.  I mean really, Corn Syrup in a Meat product?  No wonder Americans are fat.  I wrote to Oscar Meyer and told them that if I wanted Corn Syrup on my Bologna I would put it on after it was cooked but really who wants Corn Syrup in their Bologna?  They are not selling pancakes they are selling Bologna.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:54 | 2072752 chump666
chump666's picture

For me Tacos...I make a mean Taco.  Good cheese, meat, beans with a side tomato salad.  Wash it down with some quality Tequila or vodka.  But of course Tequila.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:30 | 2072700 BlueStreet
BlueStreet's picture

Go vegetarian boys, you'll feel much better.  Although, now that I think about it, the world is so fucked up who the hell wants to live longer?  On second thought, have a big t-bone boys. 

 

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:17 | 2072795 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Isn't there a pasture somewhere for you to graze in with the other sheep?

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:53 | 2072865 BlueStreet
BlueStreet's picture

Don't think I'd take advice from someone who admits they are irrelevant. 

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 11:39 | 2074309 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

The problem with fresh vegetables is the pesticide they put on them.  You cannot even wash it off.  The side effects of eating pesticide is probably worse that the fat in beef.

But, today no matter what we eat most of the food has been tampered with.  Thru pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics in beef, to genetically modified corn, soy beans and all of the junk they put into processed foods.  No one is better off no matter what they eat.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:33 | 2072709 ozziindaus
ozziindaus's picture

Another variable, beef vs dog shit.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:34 | 2072714 Biff Malibu
Biff Malibu's picture

My food journey began when I moved out of suburbia, intoa more rural area.  Shopping at the various farm stores in the area my kids became enamored by some baby chickens for $3 a piece.  I thought they would make good pets for the kids so we raised them from 3 day old chicks to adulthood.  Every day we were provided 3 fresh eggs.  I noticed that the shells were much stronger than store bought eggs, and the yolks were dark yellow almost orange and tasted very rich.  My wife used them for baking and a simple cake was very fluffy and moist.  Much different than store bought.  Thus began my quest for what food is supposed to taste like, and what we actually consume.  After that we found a woman that would sell us milk from cows that she raised and milked herself.  Our milk came in large jars that the top quarter was rich cream.  We used that to make our own butter, and for coffee.  The milk was very rich, very creamy, didn't taste all watered down like milk from the store. 

Long story short, McDonalds does not sell food.  It sells a product that fills your belly and makes you not as hungry, and a little sick and bloated.  We stopped eating it over a year ago, however we still would occasionally let the kids have it. 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:19 | 2072798 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

As admitted by the founder, McDonalds is a real-estate acquisition company funded by burger-things.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:36 | 2072716 moskov
moskov's picture

Why bother buying BIG Mac with a weak dollar when you can buy it with Sound value Food stamp???

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:37 | 2072720 Alex Kintner
Alex Kintner's picture

Today cockroaches were picketing outside McDs for healthier food choices.

In related news, Americans have the highest BMI in the world. #WINNING!!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:39 | 2072723 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Oh, we love those "Le Royal with Cheeses,"  but please hold the freeze dried onions, they make me fart.

 

--The only problem I have with the "Obese America" label is the unknown methodology being used. People get fatter as they get older because of less growth hormone and testosterone with the aging process.  Demographically, Americans are getting older so one would expec the weight average and/or BDI to be skewed. I have yet to see anything that says they are compensating the national stats for this phenomenon.

--And on the other end of the scale, pun intended, Hispanics tend to carry a higher weight average because of their diet and also have a higher diabetes incidence. We've taken on a lot of illegal aliens and that might also be skewing these numbers as well. When I was in Texas this phenomenon was well known and a big deal in the medical community.

--Ever wonder why patient dumper Moochelle Obama is carrying the healthy diet program to America instead of the Surgeon General? Because Obama's Surgeon General is -- OBESE! She is hidden away and no one has seen her for 3 years. 

-- "If Oprah can't keep the weight off what chance do the rest of us have? She has a boatload of chefs and personal trainers!" -- random person, heard on the street


Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:47 | 2072851 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

No one ever looks at the Rembrandt's or the paintings of Michael Angelo?  The Women even then were not thin.  They were robust women, with lots of fat, big bellys and thighs.

Why is it in our society that everyone has to look like a skeleton?  I do not think that is the way we were intended to be. 

I remember my Grandmother telling me how she used to wrap her waist with gauze to make herself look heavier, because in her day only the prosperous were heavy. 

I do not understand with the wealth and abundance of food in this Country why everyone wants to look like they are starving to death.  What kind of signal does that send to our young children to look at models that look like they have not eaten for 2 or 3 months?

Sorry,  I guess I got on the Band Wagon for a while.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:44 | 2073149 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

I don't know how old you are.

I am in my 40s. I remember a world where you rarely saw obesity. Ask any 40+ year-old and they will probably have similar memories. In fact it was so uncommon that people referred to an obese person as in "hey, go ask the fat kid" and everyone would know just who that was.

Now we are in a world where we have obesity rampant across every demographic. Yet people keep claiming there is no problem or that our methodologies are flawed and we can't effectively define obesity yet we know it when we see it.

The growing epidemic of obesity is the perfect storm of a confluence of events such as:

1) Sedintary lives.

2) Automation at work.

3) High calorie low nutrition foods. Calories do not equate to nutrients. Lack of proper nutrients (not fat content or carbohydrates) which drives this problem.

4) Dependency bias ingrained in our culture. People seem to not want to think about what they consume and assume corporations and government have their best interests in mind.

5) A medical community bent on prescribing pills instead of educating people about behavior.

6) Stressful jobs with long hours, increasingly poor pay, and little sense of accomplishment for most. Feeds into other socio-dynamics such as weakened family relations, binge eating, lack of time to prepare healthy meals, etc.

There are more but what I am saying is this epidemic is complex. I do think ultimately it does go back to the Fed and money printing. ;-)

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:43 | 2072733 chump666
chump666's picture

very f*cking cool! 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:44 | 2072736 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

wopr index

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:48 | 2072743 lemosbrasil
lemosbrasil's picture

Dow Jones arrives at the edge of the wedge on the daily chart.

 Vix and VXD closed  on top of their downtrendline

I put also a weekly chart of the SP500 with a downtrendline, considering the shadow of the candles.

The next 3-4 days most likely will fall sharply.

 

See here: http://pracompraroupravender.blogspot.com/2012/01/dow-jones-nao-tem-mais-pra-onde-correr.html

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:49 | 2072745 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

at least their arches are golden.

In high school my friend hated wearing that hat and slinging grease. The only fun, he claimed, were after hour wars with the secret sauce gun.  

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:03 | 2072884 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

Ice-cubes in the fryolator are fun, too.  Drop one in, back away, and watch the hijinks.  Definitely don't want to try this if you're on fry-duty, tho.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 19:54 | 2072753 Pinktip
Pinktip's picture

Here's the deal....

1-If a dairy cow is alive when it is dragged on the trailer, it goes to fast food (if dead, dog food)

2-The fodder fed to dairy cows and for that matter beef on feed lots has a majority portion in

  corn silage.(fiber) Cow's can digest it well, so they have loose stools (as in liquid, no cow pie)

  when the digestive system moves that quick, there is limited nutrient absorbtion.

3-Dairy cows (in the modern farm) are kept in a free stall, where they are free to roam the barn, eat at will

  pick there stal to rest in.  Sounds good right?  They stand on concrete all day, in their own liquid feces.

and no direct sunshine (drive by any major freestall at sunrise and see the cows lined up to get Vit D from the sun)

4-Since they do not recieve direct sunlight, their immune system is comprimised, Mastitis, foot rot (from standing condtions is previlant.....soulution? antibiotics.

5- back to the fodder (feed)  In the midwest especially, corn is king.  Without getting into Monsanto hybrid

   GMO, the fields are not rotated (3:1:3) ie corn, wheat, alfalfa to keep trace minerals up,so isolated,mined or derrived from methane, N.P,K are used, no trace minerals........the "food" is hollow. 

Result?  You want to eat more because your not getting enough nutrients from your "food"

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:08 | 2072765 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

nice post. If you thought fiat was a weapon, you haven't looked at food.

Monsanto: the Halliburton of Hunger

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:49 | 2073168 Stack Trace
Stack Trace's picture

Ding Ding Ding BINGO!

Too bad most people just don't understand what Food is supposed to be just like they don't understand what money is.

Remember Reggie Middleton writing that you can determine a person's socio-economic demographic asking them what money is for and if they answered buying things they were lower caste otherwise if they answered for buying labor (and profits from that labor) then they are upper?

I would think this could apply to food:

The lower class individual would answer with something such as "making hunger go away" while the upper class(caste) might say "for providing the nutrients my body needs to maintain health. (and as an extension the economic benefits that entails)."

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 23:16 | 2073258 lotsoffun
lotsoffun's picture

correct.  mcdonalds contains no nutrients - so people eat more because the body is craving nutrients and all they know to eat is mcd and they get empty calories and fatter and fatter.  it is a vicious circle.  if science could prove anything, they've proved this.  and if you don't believe the studys - just stand outside mcd's and look at what goes in and out.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:08 | 2072771 JuicedGamma
JuicedGamma's picture

My friend worked at Macky Dees in the late 70s and proudly claimed there was a crunch in every quarter pounder.

I asked my broker in 2003 what he thought of McDonalds he said stay away, I bought a half trade,  He also told me not to buy Google at the IPO and I still have the 4 shares he got me.  I fired him and thankfully no longer talk to the idiots and just trade my own ideas.

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:06 | 2072774 oddjob
oddjob's picture

McDonalds is working O/T just to keep Michelle in McRibs.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:09 | 2072779 Landrew
Landrew's picture

Sorry to put this crap article of old news down,but, (or butt), this is not current. The very latest is Americans are slimming down. With the high cost of food and unemployment Americans are joining the rest of the world and reducing spending on food. Rice and beans are still more affordable then meat. This is old news and shows people seldom update their own sterotype data points with new data. 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:26 | 2072808 Hulk
Hulk's picture

Its only a dozen or so people who have actually slimmed downed and for those interested, they can be seen once a week on NBC...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:03 | 2073026 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

the austerity diet - you can never be too poor or too thin

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:35 | 2072823 non_anon
non_anon's picture

obesity is my protest against TPTB

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:37 | 2072834 the misanthrope
the misanthrope's picture

I will skip the " I haven't eaten fast food in.." and the " I would not eat ______ no matter how hungry I am."

And no, the state does not need to tax something in order to make people change their behaviour.

This is my anecdote.

Last year I suffered a nasty round of the flu. I rarely get sick, not even colds. But it happens.

I lost my sense of taste and smell. Still have. Oh the smell of really strong things makes its' way in, like vinegar,

dog shit, human shit, bull shit....but no taste, you can tell what it is supposed to be, but nothing comes across.

Some days go ok. some days i would kill just to taste coffee again, or the trout, anything.... but there is nothing.

so, there is quite a bit of joy lost, and some days i just might want to jump..... or find a good piece of rope....

think about that the next time you waste your precious taste on something that is called food but really is not.

take your time, and actually taste what it is you are putting in your mouth and body.and savour it.

 

lots of folks on here educate themselves about economics, finance, etc.. but not health and food.

 

 

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:44 | 2072848 non_anon
non_anon's picture

ha ha, too late, everything fat and greasy tastes good!

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:47 | 2073161 the misanthrope
the misanthrope's picture

what is the "ha, ha" about? if you are taking in plenty of fried or deep fried foods get ready for a case of appendicitis.

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 11:19 | 2074240 prole
prole's picture

That's exactly what happened to me brother!

It's like the scene from Pirates 1 where Barbosa laments his loss of taste it's depressing as Hell.

Although I think I lost only 60 or 70% of my taste and smell for example I can't smell fish at all but I can smell smoke and most regular scents just greatly diminished. I remember what fish tastes and smell like, I just can no longer smell it.   Oh to be able to taste a Starbux Coffee just once more..

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:08 | 2072894 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

That's interesting, hadn't heard of that before.  Although it's very common to lose your sense of smell if you experience any kind of sudden deceleration accident.  The nerves through the porous bone into the nose get sheared off and generally won't grow back.

You don't happen to remember any minor fender-benders from a similar time-frame, do you?  IIRC it's a sudden stop from a speed of about 7MPH that'll do it.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:14 | 2072904 Landrew
Landrew's picture

Interesting, experience and I hope your sense of taste returns. I live in Chile for a month at a time 3/4 times a year. I found the food there actually had taste. It was as though I had never eaten before. So with that I started a garden. My father and I share a garden since I am gone part of the year. We still raise enough food to share. People just don't know what they are missing. Fresh food without chemicals the only way to go. BTW, thanks Dad for everything you do.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 21:39 | 2072963 haskelslocal
haskelslocal's picture

Misanthrope - I too had a bad cold and have for three years now had sinus issues rendering my smell and taste rather useless. Prior to I had one of the most powerful "shnoz'" on earth, even being able to detect things like cleanser residue on food residing post pan fry. I've heard and read so much about how people feel they've lost their smell and taste forever but it's my experience that that's simply not the case. Instead, it's blocked. Lately I'm begining more and more to have great days where I'm overwhelmed with boquet and flavor!

Do yourself a favor. Research and get yourself some Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar and start drinking it every morning. Splash a tab in the bottom of a 16 ounce glass and fill the rest with water. This stuff works wonders for your health, skin and sinus passages.

There is no doubt you'll smell and taste again! 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 22:45 | 2073151 the misanthrope
the misanthrope's picture

I know of the benefits of apple cider vinegar - had not read about it in context of the sinus, so haven't been taking it regularly. I will give it a try. Most of the time I do keep thinking it will return. Thanks for the tip.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:37 | 2072835 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

How many Big Macs would 10 Trillon Euros buy...? Not adjusted for inflation, because it's already priced in...

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:55 | 2072868 Cassandra Syndrome
Cassandra Syndrome's picture

Why can't the Keynesian buffoons at the "Economist" magazine get there heads around the Subjective Theory of Value?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value

 

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 20:59 | 2072874 Arkadaba
Arkadaba's picture

A friend of mine just did a road trip with his kids in the US south and he was shocked: 1500kms to N.Carolina to see the US obesity crisis up close at an all you can eat Asian buffet, unbef..kinlievable! They must think me and my kids are starving albino Ethiopians!!!

One thing I will say is some of it is genetics. I would have to work really hard at getting overweight as would my parents and siblings - metabolism.  I also grew up (at least in the early years) eating tons of vegetables and meat. That being said ... I love good food. Foie gras once in awhile, good cheese, wine and single-malt. But I also eat oatmeal, brown rice and lentils and you can make it taste good. And buy local and in season. As a student will never forget the comparing the cost/protein of some fresh mussels, tomatoes and bread to take out - the musses won.

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