Quote of the Day

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Fast food involves both hideously violent economies of scale and sad, sad end users who volunteer to be taken advantage of.

From this very interesting article about the McRib.

13 thoughts on “Quote of the Day”

  2. “(indeed, there is even a phenomenon called the Pork Cycle, which economists have used to explain the regular dips in the price of livestock, especially pigs. In fact, in a 1991 paper on the topic by Jean-Paul Chavas and Matthew Holt, the economists fret that “if a predictable price cycle exists, then producers responding in a countercyclical fashion could earn larger than ‘normal’ profits over time… because predictable price movements would… influence production decisions.” At the same time, they note that this behavior would eventually stabilize the price, wiping out the pork cycle in the process).”

    F.A.Hayek pointed out that this could occur in 1928 (in “Intertemporal Price Equilibrium and Movements in the Value of Money”. That is, if the seasons cause regular changes in the scarcity of inputs, then that will result in regular changes in the price of output that depend on them. That applies even if the cycle is predictable, and need not lead to the cycle being wiped out, it may continue stably over time.

  4. Current,

    That reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Homer starts buying pumpkin futures and watches with much glee as his paper wealth surges daily throughout the month of October.
    Visions of wealth and grandeur circulate in his head until the morning of November 1st when he checks the futures quotes and”¦….well…..you get the gist…….

  5. I’m all for economies of scale, I’m just getting further turned off from eating sickened, medicated, and abused food. I’d rather it be well fed and well treated. Pastured or grass-fed ftw, it’s just a pain in the wallet.

    Speaking of being well-fed, I wish McDonald’s would return to preparing their fries in lard, rather than high omega-6 vegetable oils. Tasted better and not bathed in pro-inflamatory fats.

  6. i know that McDonalds is a huge buyer of potatos – I forget the percentage of potato sales in the world are to McDs.

    But victims “taken advantage of”?

    A few years ago I got tired of my extra weight – not egregious – as one of the reason Detroit is “supersizing” their car seats – but I was up to 210 lbs – when in the Army I was 160.

    Of course that was a long time ago ;-)

    But I made it a point to lose weight. Simply found one of those calorie websites – that tells you how many calories you are ingesting when you tell it what you have eaten.

    So I lost the weight – and have kept it off. My best is 177 but I seem to go up and down by 5 lbs.

    It is just being aware of what you are eating – and once you are aware fast food is usually not on the menu.

    Being from California I can’t resist an In N/ Out hamburger and fries once in awhile but even there I learn that having the cheese on the hamburger is another 130-150 calories.

    So I forgo the cheese.

    Some of those places, like Carl’s Jr – have 2500 calorie burgers. When the website told me to loose the weight I wanted I needed no more than 1600/day.

    Victims indeed.

  9. There are few pleasures in life like In-N-Out Burgers. When I drive home from Tucson, I even go through two Border Patrol checkpoints on I-8 because there are no In-N-Out Burger places on I-10, which is the same distance and no Border Patrol. That’s devotion.

  10. And there are no franchises with In -N- Out – all owned by a family. When they can afford to build another one, they build it.

    Always a big line at the drive out from about 11:30 – 2:00.

    The fries are superb too!

    @Michael – When my niece came out from MN I had to take her to one – and now- she always asks when she’s here – that’s devotion too!

    @Setbit – I learned a few more things about them too – you can ask for as many patties as you want – there is no limit – although I always get the single. And I take my dog in the little sports car and got tired of his staring at me waiting for a bite – until someone there asked me if I’d like to order a patty for Toby – (for an additional 75 cents) – so now when I am at an In -N- Out with the dog he is happy and I’m happy!

    Find another fast food franchise with that kind of personal service!

    The burgers I believe – without cheese are about 450 calories and the fries another 450 or so. So you aren’t really blowing good eating habits by going there

    @Dan – I always think of Jim Fixx as the guy who did everything right – and still dies in his 40s ….

    As Ben Franklin said, “Everything in moderation”!

  11. The local In N Out is across the street from a Burger King. The In N Out is always busy. Always. Meanwhile, the people manning the drive through at the Burger King could take a nap between customers.

    I’m quite sure the owner of the Burger King is not happy.

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