- McLibel -

McDonald's stole jobs

Posted by: Sven Siylak ( IBIA, USA ) on July 05, 1997 at 11:11:29:

In Reply to: Re: McLibel 2 winners in USA posted by Paul Nicholls on June 23, 1997 at 15:46:26:

No, I have a part of a small company -- nothing like McDonald's. I am not vegetarian and I didn't intend to explore causes of exploitation on
the global level. McDonald's is not exploting its workers on the global
level either, it tailors its operations to the local conditions. It is an extremely foolisj idea that the McDonald's is the savior, that if didn't exist they would be no place for teenagers to earn money for sneakers or what have you. If McDonald's were to go out of business, say, in the UK, somebody else would have instantly taken its place.

Countries (cities, towns) which "acquired" McDonald's gained absolutely NOTHING. No high-tech technology, no improvement in infrastructure, no substantial (if any) increase in tax revenues. There is a big difference among types of foreign investment, good and bad, and McDonald's is perhaps the example of the worst one. For instance, in the UK and France (or almost anywhere else), McDonald's did not create any new jobs. It stole jobs. People who are now employed by McDonald's, would be otherwise employed by a local, most likely privately, (the essence of capitalism!) owned restaurants. They would have received equal, or most likely better wages, serve quality REAL food, re-sell products of local (European) agriculture and create other jobs from the supplier companies.

Profits from these businesses would have stayed in local community, re-invested in the traditional Adam Smith's sense, and creating wealth in their native country (city,town). Instead, these folks are slaved at minimum wage, reselling products of an alien corporation, with all the money going to some unknown savage place in the United States to be spent on God knows what (I assume McDonald's provides some grants to the institutions of "higher learning" in the United States, so the things like you can spread propaganda of t pseudo Capitalist theories and outlandish "free trade" ideas.

Folks who complain about McDonald's have the full right to do so: McDonald's is a destructive, exploiting purveyor of garbage, a cultural pest and an environmental hazard if McDonald's were to disappear, the people who work there won't lose much. As you know,under our system, the capitalism, somebody would take McDonald's place almost immediately. And thw workers-- most likely they'll geta better job.

Cheers

Sven Siylak




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