[speechlesstx]

I knew there was something nasty about raisins.

[smoothy]

I thought they were dried up gonads from all those child sex changes taking place in California?

[speechlesstx]

I don't know if I'd go as far as the headline suggests, but good points.

The greatest food in human history
In terms of cost-per-calorie, no locavore, organic veggie can compete with the McDouble

By KYLE SMITH

What is “the cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history” Hint: It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving, of protein, plus 7% of daily fiber, 20% of daily calcium and so on.

Also, you can get it in 14,000 locations in the US and it usually costs $1. Presenting one of the unsung wonders of modern life, the McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger.

The argument above was made by a commenter on the Freakonomics blog run by economics writer Stephen Dubner and professor Steven Leavitt, who co-wrote the million-selling books on the hidden side of everything.

Dubner mischievously built an episode of his highly amusing weekly podcast around the debate. Many huffy back-to-the-earth types wrote in to suggest the alternative meal of boiled lentils. Great idea. Now go open a restaurant called McBoiled Lentils and see how many customers line up.

But we all know fast food makes us fat, right? Not necessarily. People who eat out tend to eat less at home that day in partial compensation; the net gain, according to a 2008 study out of Berkeley and Northwestern, is only about 24 calories a day.

The outraged replies to the notion of McDouble supremacy — if it’s not the cheapest, most nutritious and most bountiful food in human history, it has to be pretty close — comes from the usual coalition of class snobs, locavore foodies and militant anti-corporate types. I say usual because these people are forever proclaiming their support for the poor and for higher minimum wages that would supposedly benefit McDonald’s workers. But they’re completely heartless when it comes to the other side of the equation: cost.

Driving up McDonald’s wage costs would drive up the price of burgers for millions of poor people. “So what?” say activists. Maybe that’ll drive people to farmers markets.

For the average poor person, it isn’t a great option to take a trip to the farmers market to puzzle over esoteric lefty-foodie codes. (Is sustainable better than organic? What if I have to choose between fair trade and cruelty-free?) Produce may seem cheap to environmentally aware blond moms who spend $300 on their highlights every month, but if your object is to fill your belly, it is hugely expensive per calorie.

Junk food costs as little as $1.76 per 1,000 calories, whereas fresh veggies and the like cost more than 10 times as much, found a 2007 University of Washington survey for the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. A 2,000-calorie day of meals would, if you stuck strictly to the good-for-you stuff, cost $36.32, said the study’s lead author, Adam Drewnowski.

“Not only are the empty calories cheaper,” he reported, “but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.” Where else but McDonald’s can poor people obtain so many calories per dollar?

And as for organic — the Abercrombie and Fitch jeans of food — if you have to check the price, you can’t afford it. (Not that it has any health benefits, as last year’s huge Stanford meta-study showed.)

Moreover, produce takes more time to prepare and spoils quickly, two more factors that effectively drive up the cost. Any time you’re spending peeling vegetables is time you aren’t spending on the job.

Activists will go anywhere to wave the banner of caring and plant their flagpole of social justice right in the foot of the working class.

Forcing New Yorkers to pay unnecessary high prices, they’ve managed to keep Walmart out of the five boroughs of New York City. The City Council of Washington, DC, recently passed a bill, designed specifically to punish only Walmart, which would mandate a super-minimum wage to benefit a small number of employees while effectively placing a surtax on every Walmart shopper. (Walmart responded by saying it was canceling plans for three stores. The bill may yet be vetoed by Mayor Vincent Gray.)

Fuel prices, like food prices, disproportionately hit the poor, so do-gooders do everything they can to raise energy costs by blocking new fuel sources like the Keystone XL pipelines and fracking. And they are always up for higher gasoline taxes and regulating coal-burning energy plants to death.

If the macrobiotic Marxists had their way, of course, there’d be no McDonald’s, Walmart or Exxon, because they have visions of an ideal world in which everybody bikes to work with a handwoven backpack from Etsy that contains a lunch grown in the neighborhood collective.

That’s not going to work for the average person, but who cares if they go hungry because they can’t afford a burger anymore? Let them eat kale!

I tried kale, ick. But again, who cares if people suffer because of your collective vision? It's for the cause man!

[paraclete]

Speech now I know they drank the koodaid and even if they didn't that diet will kill you

[talaniman]

His connection of selective dots is interesting, but highly suspect.

[paraclete]

Are you seeing dots, maybe you drank the koolaid

[speechlesstx]

His connection of selective dots is interesting, but highly suspect.

OK, so exactly how are poor folk supposed to shop at Whole Foods? Food stamps only go so far when buying organic arugula.

P.S. Plus they don't have them in your most poor neighborhoods.

[tomder55]

Progressive elites pay lip service to the needs of the poor and create programs for them that don't work and expect the middle class to foot the bill.

[talaniman]

In a tight job market with low wages, and higher prices, and service industry jobs more important after manufacturing higher wage work became increasingly unavailable, then logic indicates higher wages in the lower wage income classes, to better circulate the currency. It's a lack of circulation that has stymied economic growth in a consumer driven economy.

Even supply siders are recognizing that not enough is trickling down to expand growth.

[talaniman]

progressive elites pay lip service to the needs of the poor and create programs for them that don't work and expect the middle class to foot the bill.

Unless the private sector recognizes the need for expanded growth there will be no middle class.

[tomder55]

Oh they do.. as soon as the gvt gets out of the way you'll see plenty of economic growth

[speechlesstx]

oh they do .. as soon as the gvt gets out of the way you'll see plenty of economic growth

I'm pretty sure I have the next response from Tal memorized...

[talaniman]

oh they do .. as soon as the gvt gets out of the way you'll see plenty of economic growth

There is nothing stopping the private sector from seeking growth and expansion. They have been doing great through a faltering global economy. Corporate profits are off the charts. If the government is in the way then they sure ain't stopping anything.

Or slowing down anything either.

[smoothy]

Um.. yes the government is holding them back...


Its called Obamacare...

[speechlesstx]

There is nothing stopping the private sector from seeking growth and expansion. They have been doing great thru a faltering global economy. Corporate profits are off the charts. If the government is in the way then they sure ain't stopping anything.

Or slowing down anything either.

In other words under Obamanomics the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, exactly what you whine about daily. It's not that complicated Tal, if you keep growing government, expanding regulations and mandates and protecting your favorites it's the big, rich and powerful you scorn that benefit while the little guy gets choked out.

[talaniman]

Corporations are figuring out how to profit from it, just give 'em another year. Leveraging investments is what they do.

[speechlesstx]

Corporations are figuring out how to profit from it, just give 'em another year. Leveraging investments is what they do.

It's been 6 years of Obamanomics and thus far the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Right?

[talaniman]

In other words under Obamanomics the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, exactly what you whine about daily. It's not that complicated Tal, if you keep growing government, expanding regulations and mandates and protecting your favorites it's the big, rich and powerful you scorn that benefit while the little guy gets choked out.

Corporations do what they want no matter what the government does. Always has. Corporate profits have gone up for 30 years, wages have not.

Profits-

CHARTS: Corporate Profits Have Skyrocketed Over Last Three Years | ThinkProgress

Wages-

http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm

Study: CEO Pay Increased 127 Times Faster Than Worker Pay Over Last 30 Years | ThinkProgress

[talaniman]

It's been 6 years of Obamanomics and thus far the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Right?

Expand your data to 30 years and get a bigger picture of the wage trends.

[NeedKarma]