Timsup2nothin wrote:Absolutely. Adam Smith's pin factory has overtaken every enterprise.
Well, if it works...
..McDonald's doesn't create the market for hamburgers, they just supply the hamburgers. In the absence of McDonald's someone else will supply hamburgers. That someone else will still need buns, and those buns are more likely to come from local sources and support local jobs.
ROFL ROFL ROFL! You can't be serious! Look, man, you're smarter than this. You can't honestly believe that McDonald's doesn't create its own market? Have you ever eaten a McDonald's hamburger? They suck! They're dry, the buns are tasteless and the only thing good about them are the condiments and the onions... That's it. The patty, itself, is like old spackling paste. And, I should know - I've eaten old spackling paste.
But, get a car-full of kids and you just try to drive by a McDonald's without the little brats screaming their bloody heads off! Go ahead, try it! Do you think McDonald's puts "Play Areas" in its stores because there is a demand for "Play Areas" and they're just serving that demand? Do you think that a guy dresses up as a pedophilic clown because there is a demand for pedophilic clowns?
Companies who "win the game" do not rely on "demand" in order to sell their products. That's just self-defeating and leaving far to much up to chance. No, companies who "win the game" create their own markets and then exploit the heck out of them. That is what McDonald's does.
No, that's not to say that everything is bad with McDonald's food. I like a few items on their menu. I like the salads and some of the breakfast items. I like the apple pies and chocolate shakes. I even like the french fries, some of the time. So, they do have some menu items that you can't get somewhere else and that are worthy of paying attention to. Here, they've also created their own market by selling desirable food. But, it's not "burgers" and that's for sure.
The packaging is another matter. A McDonald's franchise buys everything with a McD's logo from the corporation, which is one of the world's largest suppliers of paper products. That entire part of the business does nothing at all for the local economy, and any McDonald's franchisee will tell you that the most expensive part of a McDonald's hamburger is the wrapper.
Dude... McDonald's is not going to ship paper from the United States to Russia... They're not going to ship styrofoam or plastic, either. These are very expensive items to ship! No, these products are going to be manufactured according to McDonald's specifications by regional manufacturers. That's how "Big Restaurant" supply systems work. I know this because I have dealt with these sorts of suppliers and manufacturers for a very long time. McDonald's is not going to desire to waste money by shipping low-margin "air" overseas. Ain't gonna happen; They'll have a regional manufacturer make that stuff.
The benefit to the local economy of replacing McD's with a local chain isn't as big as replacing them with independent hamburger stands that actually draw from all local sources, but it is still beneficial.
Raising the bar, eh? Where are these "independent hamburger stands" and why is McDonald's able to muscle in on their territory? You can't make comparisons against something that doesn't exist.
