How does fast food affect America’s economy? Does fast food affects Americans economy in the bad way or good way? Some people say that fast foods are ruining Americans economy. They want to reduce effects of the fast food industry in America. However, the advocates do not agree because they think that fast foods are giving a major boost to the economy. They give out a few examples about the advantage of fast food to the economy such as proving jobs or helping America’s agriculture by purchasing agriculture products.
In my point of view, the fast foods are affecting American economy negatively, which can be seen through the average wages of Americans, the cost of medical care for fast food consumers and America’s agriculture. Americans have been suffering the negative of the economy since the economic crisis in 2008. Following the unstable economy is the sequence of negative consequences. The lower and middle class are the people who are impacted the most since they have to experience food and gas price hikes. Many of them are losing their jobs and struggling to find a new one.
As a result, consumers have to cut spending, manage their budget and “cheap meals like Big Macs and Whoppers become even more attractive” (“Good and Hungry”). People go and buy more fast food for their breakfast, their lunch and even their dinner. By selling cheap meals for people fast food companies as Mac Donald or Burger King are making billions of dollars in profits every year. These companies are helping the economy by creating more jobs for Americans; however, they are paying their employees low wages, which could reduce the minimum wages in the America. “Low wages are holding back Economic growth.” (Ruetschlin, Traub).
Low paid workers tend to put money in their pockets and buy less foods or clothes than before for their families. Reduction in the consumers spending will lead to reduction in the demand for goods and services, which make companies to reduce their production. After that, companies will have to implement their plan for cost cutting measures, which may lead to job cuts or reducing working hours. As a result, less tax revenue will be collected, and money which is put into bank will be reduced. Government may be unable to invest into the economy, and the banks may collapse because of lack of money.
The economy will be affected badly by fast foods companies after all. The economy has lost billion dollars because of health care cost for which fast foods customer have to pay every year. Fast foods such as burger or pizza are not a bad choice for occasional breakfast or lunch since they are tasty and will fill up our empty stomachs quickly. However, fast foods do not contain necessary nutrients that help our bodies stay healthy since they are high in fat, sodium and sugar, which can lead to obesity or heart disease and other illnesses.
Fast foods do not give us enough protein and good carbohydrates which are negative for your health since “…your blood sugars level will drop suddenly after eating, leaving you feeling grumpy, fatigued and craving sugar. ” (“Fast food”). These symptoms directly affect to people’s concentration in work, which reduce productivity of employees. Because of those unproductive times of people, the economy will be slowed down which lead to the difficulty of full recovery of the economy in a short time. Junk foods also make people pay more for healthcare services because of unhealthy factors which are contained in them.
Some diseases such as heart disease, obesity or diabetes which are caused by fast foods are expensive and take a long time to cure. Those diseases are making the economy less productive which costing billions dollars. According to Victoria Colliver, Chronicle staff writer, “Curbing obesity alone by close to 15 million cases could translate to a saving of $60 billion by 2023 and improve country’s productivity by $254 billion…” When people get chronic illness they will have to spend money on treatment which is usually expensive, and they also have to use their time to cure their illness.
The more time people spend to cure their illness the more time of work they lose. In the modern economy, time is money, so when people lose their time they also lose money. Generally, the economy will be “cost billions of dollars” (Colliver) because people are losing their time and money to cure their illnesses which come from their bad habit of consuming fast foods. Fast food industry not only causes illness for people but also create problems to American agriculture since “The fast food chains now stand atop a huge food-industrial complex that has gained control of American agriculture.” (Schlosser).
The fast foods companies need to purchase a vast of the agriculture products such as potatoes or cattle, and so they create corporate farms to provide products to their demands. Famer and cattle ranchers are being replaced by giant agribusiness companies which take over their lands. The independent famers are vanishing, and the gap between a small amount of wealthy elites and the large numbers of the working poor is getting bigger.
When the fast foods companies control a vast of agriculture products, they also control prices of those products, which has driven down the prices and benefits that are offered to American farmers. According to Eric Scholosser, Nation Magazine Award winner, “In 1980, about thirty-seven cents of every consumer dollar spent on food went to the farmer. Today, only twenty-three cents goes to the farmer - a decline of forty percent. ” Even though America’s agriculture produces more than before, the farmers’ benefits keep going down.
This phenomenon is turning American back to the 19th century. “'We're coming full circle', says Paul Patterson, a professor of agricultural economics. 'One day you may find two classes of people in rural Idaho: the people who run the farms and the people who own them. '”(Schlosser). When the farmers are forced out of their lands and hired to work on their own lands, the gap between rich and poor will get bigger and bigger which will lead to “…economic inequality can be pernicious and damaging. ” (Simons).
The economy can be vulnerable when the gap between rich and poor may create an unstable situation in society, which often starts from dissatisfaction of the poor toward the rich. Fast foods industry is growing strongly and quickly in the negative economy. It has created a lot of new jobs and giving a great boost for American economy in a short time. However, in the long run, fast foods industry will create problems to the Americans economy which may not be seen immediately. Fast foods customers, especially the lower and middle class always look for a source of cheap meals which could save money in their pocket.
As a result, they choose fast foods as a good source of foods which are cheap and convenient to carry around. Nevertheless, people do not aware of the danger of effects of fast foods on their pocket since fast foods are not really cheap. For example, when people buy a burger they often buy fries and coke and the total prices are equal to other healthy foods. Moreover, fast food affects customers’ health negatively, and people will have to pay a remarkable amount of money to cure the negative effect of fast foods such as diabetes, heart diseases or obesity.
Fast foods industry also badly damages Americans agriculture by taking lands away from American farmers and making a gap between rich and poor bigger, which lead to an economic inequality. It is impossible to stop fast foods companies spread their bad effects to the economy, but we should warn people about the other side of fast foods industry. People can make fast foods companies change by insisting on increase minimum wage, requiring more healthy foods in the menu and creating a group of farmers to help each other when the corporate farms are threatening their business.
