McDonald’s

June 22, 2016

McDonald’s as social enterprise: Capitalism’s community center?

We live, work, and consume within an increasingly grand, globalized economy. Yet standing amidst its many fruits and blessings, we move about our lives giving little thought to why we’re working, who we’re serving, and how exactly our needs are being met. Continue Reading...

September 05, 2014

Are Fast Food Strikers Just Political Agitators?

According to Thomas McCraw, who is the author of American Business, 1920-2000: How it Worked, “More people in the U.S. workforce were getting their first job at McDonald’s than at any other employer, including the Army.” Continue Reading...

May 08, 2014

Why McDonald’s Has Become a School for Remedial Work Skills

“Clean up your own mess. Your mother doesn’t work here.” That was a sign, printed on dot matrix printer paper, which hung in the breakroom of the McDonald’s where I worked. Continue Reading...

August 28, 2013

Walmart Will Never Pay Like Costco (and Probably Shouldn’t)

In light of the ongoing discussion over fast-food wages, I recently wrote that prices are not play things, urging that we reach beyond the type of minimum mindedness that orients our imaginations around artificial tweaking at the bottom instead of authentic value creation toward the top. Continue Reading...

August 09, 2013

The McDouble and the Minimum Wage

The protests organized by labor organizations to advocate for an increase in the minimum wage have garnered attention, most recently from the NYT, which editorialized in favor of such moves. Over at Think Christian, I weigh in with an attempt to provide some more of the complex context behind the moral evaluation of such mandates. Continue Reading...

August 05, 2013

Appreciating McDonald’s: Beyond Minimum Mindedness

McDonald’s has been under fire over its Practical Money Skills Budget Journal, a planning tool designed to help employees organize their personal finances. The tool’s sample budget fails to account for a variety of first-world expenses, leading to a predictable cacophony of folks calling for newer, fresher, more enlightened price-fixing tricks. Continue Reading...

July 12, 2013

Peace and Prosperity at McDonald’s

The other day I had to bring my wife to the airport for an early-bird flight. Thus, I chose to work for a few hours at a nearby McDonald’s before going into the office. Continue Reading...