May 27, 2024 • 29 mins
If you think the price of a visit to MacDonalds, Taco Bell, Chipotle, and many other fast food restaurants is leveling off, you need to listen to this!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Face pam America. I'm Beowulf Rocklin. How's it going. How are you
enjoying the spring? Kind of getlate in the spring, heading towards June.
Now, my goodness, summer's almosthere. Just a few more weeks.
How time flies? And time doesfly? Because it seems like just
(00:38):
a few short years ago, ourfast food was reasonably priced, by the
way, How you can go tofacepalmamerica dot com get more information about the
show, connect with us on socialmedia, all that sort of good stuff.
(01:03):
You can also call us a twozero two six five six six two
seven to one. But yeah,I've been, Uh it was inspired to
come to the mic today and talkabout fast food, and I've been.
I've been trying to stay away fromit. It's been a couple of weeks.
(01:26):
I don't think I've had any inthat time. I'm desperately trying to
stay away from it. It's notgood for me, it's not good for
you. It's not good for anyof us. Sure, we almost all
of us have some from time totime, but we shouldn't. It's bad
for us, and the less wehave, the better off in general we
(01:52):
are. And you know, Iknow a lot of people have said over
the years, Well, you know, that's all that some people can afford
when they're busy at the end ofthe day, when they're finished working,
if they ever finished working, maybeall you can do is, you know,
bring your family through the drive through, pick up some fast food,
(02:15):
and that's the only thing that youcan afford. But the thing is this,
and you may have noticed it.I'll tell you. I'll tell you
what I noticed. First. Inoticed the last time I did go through
fast food, and I think itwas about a month or two ago.
(02:38):
Last time I definitely remember doing itis how small the filet o fish is
at McDonald's. Yes, that's right, and I know, I know those
used to be bigger. I havenot found anything definitive online about how much
(03:07):
the filet o fish from McDonald's hasshrunk over the course of time, but
I know that it has, andI know that it is now minuscule.
It's tiny. It's a teeny tiny, teeny tiny, itsy bitsy little of
(03:30):
a thing. It'll blow away inthe wind. If that's really what you
want, go to the grocery store, buy some fish sticks and some tartar
sauce, and you'll be you'll bebetter off for it nutritionally, really,
(03:55):
but you'll be richer for it alittle bit for what you get. So
there's shrink flation. We've talked aboutthat before. Companies fast food and other
companies decrease the size of the items. They give you, the number of
(04:20):
ounces in a package. They shaveit off, and they charge you the
same amount or more and let meunderline or more. That's a phenomenon.
But the phenomenon that I'm here totalk about primarily is the one of greedflation.
(04:50):
That is the one that people havebeen talking about. That's what they
call it now. I like tocall it price gouging. I mean,
that's basically what it is. It'scompanies saying, hey, I can get
away with making this just about anyprice I want to. And you know
(05:11):
what they're doing it because, asI said a moment ago, it used
to be affordable to go through McDonald'sdriver and it may not have been nutritious,
but it was quick and it waseasy, and it was affordable.
You could get a meal for cheap. That was the case for a long
(05:32):
time. It's not the case anymore. I remember what I got to have
promotions within the last five years,you could get, you know too,
filial fish sandwiches for four bucks.Not anymore. One costs almost four bucks
(05:58):
now. And I remember, andyou can tell why I'm trying to get
away from fast food. I cantell you too many tales about fast food
past Ussine, fast food down Tom. Where is the fast food of yesterday
(06:26):
in my belly? Unfortunately? ButI can tell you too many stories.
I remember just a few years ago, five ten years ago, when you
could get at Taco bell A cheesybean and rice burrito for a buck.
It was one of the things onthe dollar menu that they had there at
that time. There ain't no dollarmenu anymore. I don't know. Maybe
(06:50):
they call it something else. Andthere ain't no dollar menu at McDonald's anymore.
They've increased their prices, but theywill you say, everybody's increasing their
prices. It's it's inflation. Costsare going up, wages are going But
(07:13):
here's the thing. There's inflation.And sometimes you can excuse that if wages
are going up, which they're not. And sometimes, you know, prices
increase because the cost of goods increase. But for fast food at any rate,
(07:41):
and for other things that we've documentedon this show before, like eggs,
for example, where I went throughand showed you how the egg industry
was increasing prices far and above theincrease in the costs of feed for chickens.
(08:07):
They're jacking up prices for fast foodway above the already egregious and questionable
rate of inflation, as they callit. And I have some actual numbers
here that have come through courtesy inthis case of financebuzz dot com, which
(08:35):
uses has done an actual study onthe increase in prices, and they're significant.
They are. They're not small.They're not small. Let me start
out here from twenty fourteen to twentytwenty four so the last ten years,
(09:01):
average menu prices, that is,among major fast food chains have risen between
thirty nine and one hundred percent.Prices have risen between thirty nine and one
hundred percent. Those are all increasesthat outpace inflation during the given time period.
(09:26):
And inflation during that time period wasthirty one percent, which is ridiculous,
but that's what it is. Fastfood prices much more ridiculous, in
some cases three times as ridiculous,because they've risen again thirty nine to one
hundred percent over the last ten years, McDonald's menu prices have doubled, doubled,
(09:56):
doubled, one hundred percent increase sincetwenty fourteen across popular items, and
they are not alone. Popeyes hadan eighty six percent increase in that amount
(10:20):
of time, and Taco Bell hadan eighty one percent increase in that amount
of time. Menu prices at Subwayand Starbucks rose thirty nine percent since twenty
fourteen. That's it's not affordable.It's not affordable, and people, at
(10:56):
least people who aren't well to doare cutting back. They're not going to
McDonald's so much, they're not goingto Taco Bell Doo. But it's too
much. And you know what,I go to local places and you can
get a much better deal for theamount of food that you can get.
(11:20):
Now you're not always gonna, youknow, have a meal that is the
at a price point that's that's cheapernecessarily, but for what is prepared for
the amount of food that you getat a local place. You know,
(11:41):
there's a local drive through Tacorea thatI go to all the time that is
not a chain, that is astandalone place or even a food truck.
Go to a local food truck ora local Tacorea. The prices are are
much better, much better, betterthan you will get at a chain restaurant.
(12:05):
And I think there's there's a veryimportant reason for that, and we'll
get to that at a moment,but let's go back to some of the
background on this from financebuzz dot com. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the cost of goods has risen inthirty one percent since twenty fourteen.
(12:28):
That means one hundred dollars in twentyfourteen dollars is worth one hundred and thirty
one dollars in twenty twenty four dollars. Much of that happened in just the
last five years, and yeah,that's that's kind of what I noticed it
too. Inflation is up twenty twopercent since twenty nineteen. The restaurants they
(12:54):
evaluated raised their prices by sixty percenton average between twenty fourteen and twenty twenty
four. That means they've raised pricesat a rate nearly double that the national
rate of inflation. It's true ofMcDonald's, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Chipotle,
(13:20):
Jimmy Jones. In the case ofMcDonald's, as we just went through
their prices increased more than three timesthe national rate of inflation. And in
a moment, if you will standby with me, I'm going to go
through the specific item menus and justhow much they have increased over the course
(13:50):
of time. I'm big Wolf Rocklin. This is face Palm America. We
shall return Facebam America. I'm BayowolfrocklinFacepalmamerica dot com. So I am reading
(14:16):
from a report on how much theprices of fast food have increased. Yes,
it's and they shoot near and dearto my heart, even closer to
my gut. Yes, and youcan laugh, go ahead laugh. But
we all do it. We alldo it. Every one of us does
it, most of us. I'vetried to do it less, I really
(14:39):
am. I'm trying to. I'mtrying to stay on the wagon. But
I want to go over with youthe increase in individual items on the menu
of McDonald how much it's going up. Let's let's let's go through them.
(15:07):
Medium drink, the price in twentyfourteen was a dollar twenty nine. Now
it's a dollar sixty one. That'srelatively mild. It's only it's only a
twenty five percent increase. A BigMac average twenty fourteen price three ninety nine,
(15:35):
twenty twenty four price five ninety nine. That's a fifty percent increase.
My favorite, the filet of fishsandwich. Twenty fourteen, you could get
one for three dollars and forty ninecents. Now the typical price in twenty
twenty four is five forty nine.That's a fifty seven percent increase. And
(16:00):
I know, look, you maylive in a different part of the country
where this is not exactly what isbeing charged, what wasn't charged. Then
these are averages, these are thisis aggregated information, all right. If
(16:22):
you want to get a happy meal, a four piece McNugget happy meal for
your kid in twenty fourteen would havebeen two ninety nine now two bucks more
four ninety nine, sixty seven percentincrease, ten piece McNugget increase of eighty
three percent, oreomook flurry increase ofeighty eight percent. Quarter powder with cheese
(16:49):
meal went from five thirty nine toeleven ninety nine, one hundred and twenty
two percent. Medium fries went fromone fifty nine to three seventy nine,
one hundred and thirty eight percent increase, and a mcdouble sandwich went in twenty
(17:10):
fourteen, you could get one forone nineteen dollar nineteen twenty twenty four three
dollars in nineteen cents. That's onehundred and sixty eight percent increase in price.
That's crazy, and Taco Bell thesame kind of thing. Some of
Taco Bell's most iconic menu items showhow much costs have risen. A Dorito's
(17:37):
Locos taco, you know, theone with the with the Dorito's nacho cheese
shell, has gone from an averageof a dollar thirty nine and twenty fourteen
to two dollars and fifty nine centsin twenty fourteen. That's an eighty six
percent increase, while a cheesy Gorditacrunch I don't think you've ever had one
(18:00):
of those, has doubled in pricefrom two forty nine and twenty fourteen to
four ninety nine today, doubled inprice two and a half bucks to five
bucks. And the beefy five layerburrito went from a cost of a dollar
(18:22):
fifty nine an average cost of adollar fifty nine and twenty fourteen to a
current price of three dollars and sixtynine cents. That's one hundred and thirty
two percent increase Chipotle twenty fourteen,the average price for an entree was six
(18:44):
seventy five Those same meals cost tenfifty or more today. And I guacamali
costs sixty four percent more now thanit did ten years ago. And again
the baseline of inflation, which itselfis questionable as to whether it's price gouging
(19:11):
or not, is thirty one percent. These increases are, for the most
part, far more than that.Starbucks, there's another one. Many prices
have gone up, Oh, onlythirty nine percent. It's still more than
inflation. Burger King prices fifty fivepercent, they got up fifty five percent.
(19:44):
Have you noticed this? Have younoticed this going on? I bet
you have. What have you seen? What have you experienced? You can
give me a call if you likeit to zero two sixty five six six
two seven one, and we'll talkabout this as we move forward. Now,
(20:07):
I know a lot of people aresaying, well, you know,
costs are going up. These poorcompanies, you know, they have to
in order to in order to makea profit, they've they've got to increase
their prices. I mean, they'rethey're they're struggling. I mean they got
the twenty dollars an hour in Californianow, which is barely it's not enough
(20:34):
to get by. I don't thinkin any part of California twenty dollars is
a minimum wage for fast food,which they recently required by law. Are
fast food company struggling? They arenot struggling, according to common dreams dot
(20:56):
org. But Iroinald has made eightpoint five billion in profit last year,
eight point five billion in profit.That's where your money is going. That's
where the one hundred percent increase inprices is going to their profit. Burger
(21:22):
King made one point two billion inprofit, Starbucks made four point one billion
in profits. And what are theyspending the money on. They're spending it
on stock buybacks. The ten largestpublicly traded fast food companies spent six point
(21:47):
one billion dollars in stock buybacks lastyear alone. That while fast food price
is sored by forty six point eightpercent over the last decade, well that's
what common dream says, But aswe've seen by the metrics, according to
(22:08):
finance buzz dot com, it's morelike sixty percent. In twenty twenty three,
fast food companies charged their customers twentyseven percent above their production costs.
That's where any money is going.It's going to the people who run these
(22:32):
companies. It's going to their shareholders, I will say. And there's some
things that I don't like about thiscompany because I know it's supported some people
on the far right, But inan out burger now, they're privately held
company, they don't have stockholders,and they have a reputation for paying their
(22:56):
employees decently, and from everything I'veseen, they do and they have happy
employees. And this is just anecdotal, but it's it's way cheaper to buy
a burger in and out burger ifyou live near one. Certainly, their
(23:18):
prices have not gone up as muchas McDonald says, so I have to
laud them a little, even thoughI am critical about some of the political
contributions that those associated with the companyhave made. So I'm wondering what you've
experienced. Where is the worst offenderin terms of the fast food industry.
(23:44):
Seems from this evidence that it's McDonald's. But what have you seen two zero
two six five six six two sevento one and will we'll talk about this
over the coming weeks, but Ithink it's important to discuss and also where's
(24:07):
the rest of my fialleo fish?Because the damn things are smaller, they
just are. I remember what thesize of a fileleo fish was. I
have ordered many, far too manyfile of fish sandwiches, and in the
last five years they have gotten smaller. They are charging us more for less.
(24:37):
It's a great business model if youcan get away with it. And
in spite of all the hullabaloo aboutoh my god, they're paying them twenty
dollars an hour in California, Lala la la. The wages of their
employees have fallen in comparison to whattheir money can buy in comparison to inflation.
(25:10):
Inflation has reduced their salaries, evenin places like California. So they're
paying their employees less, they're chargingyou more, they're reducing the portions,
and they're making a huge amount ofprofit. What are we going to do
(25:33):
about that? What do you thinkwe should do? I'd be interested in
hearing solutions. My solution, Ithink would involve a lot of taxation.
And you know, frankly, ifa few McDonald's go out of business given
(25:57):
the amount they pay to workers,given the opportunity for small business that they
include smaller businesses that they cause togo out of business, and the impact
(26:17):
that it has on our waistlines andour health. I'd say that a few
a few fewer McDonald's or Taco Bellsor or even Chipotle, you know,
which is nominally more healthy. Ifwe had a few fewer of those,
it would be better for us.If we if we had more local businesses
(26:38):
that we bought from again, whichare a better deal. I think that
would be better for our communities,It would be better for our economies,
It would be better for our bodies. By the way, I want to
(27:00):
give, speaking of fast food,an rip to Morgan Spurlock, who twenty
years ago addressed the fast food industrywith his documentary Supersize Me, in which
(27:25):
he for a number of weeks ormonths ate nothing but fast food and saw
how detrimental that was to his health, both physical and mental. He passed
away this week. He was onlyfifty three years old. There was complications
from cancer, and I know hehad a lot of other issues in his
(27:49):
life. I know that he hadcome forth and talked about his issues with
women. He admitted to problems withsexual harassment and assault, and I don't
(28:11):
think he ever really completely took aresponsibility for this, and that's a shame
and we need to remember that too. But he put some important information out
there and framed it in an importantway. So Morgan Spurlock rest in peace.
(28:40):
I'm be Wolf Rocklin. This isface Palm America. You can go
again to Facepalmamerica dot com for moreinformation. Two zero two sixty five six
six two seveny one is the numberthat you can call if you want to
follow up on any of this.And until next time, enjoy the day.
Face pam America. I'm Beowulf Rocklin. How's it going. How are you
enjoying the spring? Kind of getlate in the spring, heading towards June.
Now, my goodness, summer's almosthere. Just a few more weeks.
How time flies? And time doesfly? Because it seems like just
(00:38):
a few short years ago, ourfast food was reasonably priced, by the
way, How you can go tofacepalmamerica dot com get more information about the
show, connect with us on socialmedia, all that sort of good stuff.
(01:03):
You can also call us a twozero two six five six six two
seven to one. But yeah,I've been, Uh it was inspired to
come to the mic today and talkabout fast food, and I've been.
I've been trying to stay away fromit. It's been a couple of weeks.
(01:26):
I don't think I've had any inthat time. I'm desperately trying to
stay away from it. It's notgood for me, it's not good for
you. It's not good for anyof us. Sure, we almost all
of us have some from time totime, but we shouldn't. It's bad
for us, and the less wehave, the better off in general we
(01:52):
are. And you know, Iknow a lot of people have said over
the years, Well, you know, that's all that some people can afford
when they're busy at the end ofthe day, when they're finished working,
if they ever finished working, maybeall you can do is, you know,
bring your family through the drive through, pick up some fast food,
(02:15):
and that's the only thing that youcan afford. But the thing is this,
and you may have noticed it.I'll tell you. I'll tell you
what I noticed. First. Inoticed the last time I did go through
fast food, and I think itwas about a month or two ago.
(02:38):
Last time I definitely remember doing itis how small the filet o fish is
at McDonald's. Yes, that's right, and I know, I know those
used to be bigger. I havenot found anything definitive online about how much
(03:07):
the filet o fish from McDonald's hasshrunk over the course of time, but
I know that it has, andI know that it is now minuscule.
It's tiny. It's a teeny tiny, teeny tiny, itsy bitsy little of
(03:30):
a thing. It'll blow away inthe wind. If that's really what you
want, go to the grocery store, buy some fish sticks and some tartar
sauce, and you'll be you'll bebetter off for it nutritionally, really,
(03:55):
but you'll be richer for it alittle bit for what you get. So
there's shrink flation. We've talked aboutthat before. Companies fast food and other
companies decrease the size of the items. They give you, the number of
(04:20):
ounces in a package. They shaveit off, and they charge you the
same amount or more and let meunderline or more. That's a phenomenon.
But the phenomenon that I'm here totalk about primarily is the one of greedflation.
(04:50):
That is the one that people havebeen talking about. That's what they
call it now. I like tocall it price gouging. I mean,
that's basically what it is. It'scompanies saying, hey, I can get
away with making this just about anyprice I want to. And you know
(05:11):
what they're doing it because, asI said a moment ago, it used
to be affordable to go through McDonald'sdriver and it may not have been nutritious,
but it was quick and it waseasy, and it was affordable.
You could get a meal for cheap. That was the case for a long
(05:32):
time. It's not the case anymore. I remember what I got to have
promotions within the last five years,you could get, you know too,
filial fish sandwiches for four bucks.Not anymore. One costs almost four bucks
(05:58):
now. And I remember, andyou can tell why I'm trying to get
away from fast food. I cantell you too many tales about fast food
past Ussine, fast food down Tom. Where is the fast food of yesterday
(06:26):
in my belly? Unfortunately? ButI can tell you too many stories.
I remember just a few years ago, five ten years ago, when you
could get at Taco bell A cheesybean and rice burrito for a buck.
It was one of the things onthe dollar menu that they had there at
that time. There ain't no dollarmenu anymore. I don't know. Maybe
(06:50):
they call it something else. Andthere ain't no dollar menu at McDonald's anymore.
They've increased their prices, but theywill you say, everybody's increasing their
prices. It's it's inflation. Costsare going up, wages are going But
(07:13):
here's the thing. There's inflation.And sometimes you can excuse that if wages
are going up, which they're not. And sometimes, you know, prices
increase because the cost of goods increase. But for fast food at any rate,
(07:41):
and for other things that we've documentedon this show before, like eggs,
for example, where I went throughand showed you how the egg industry
was increasing prices far and above theincrease in the costs of feed for chickens.
(08:07):
They're jacking up prices for fast foodway above the already egregious and questionable
rate of inflation, as they callit. And I have some actual numbers
here that have come through courtesy inthis case of financebuzz dot com, which
(08:35):
uses has done an actual study onthe increase in prices, and they're significant.
They are. They're not small.They're not small. Let me start
out here from twenty fourteen to twentytwenty four so the last ten years,
(09:01):
average menu prices, that is,among major fast food chains have risen between
thirty nine and one hundred percent.Prices have risen between thirty nine and one
hundred percent. Those are all increasesthat outpace inflation during the given time period.
(09:26):
And inflation during that time period wasthirty one percent, which is ridiculous,
but that's what it is. Fastfood prices much more ridiculous, in
some cases three times as ridiculous,because they've risen again thirty nine to one
hundred percent over the last ten years, McDonald's menu prices have doubled, doubled,
(09:56):
doubled, one hundred percent increase sincetwenty fourteen across popular items, and
they are not alone. Popeyes hadan eighty six percent increase in that amount
(10:20):
of time, and Taco Bell hadan eighty one percent increase in that amount
of time. Menu prices at Subwayand Starbucks rose thirty nine percent since twenty
fourteen. That's it's not affordable.It's not affordable, and people, at
(10:56):
least people who aren't well to doare cutting back. They're not going to
McDonald's so much, they're not goingto Taco Bell Doo. But it's too
much. And you know what,I go to local places and you can
get a much better deal for theamount of food that you can get.
(11:20):
Now you're not always gonna, youknow, have a meal that is the
at a price point that's that's cheapernecessarily, but for what is prepared for
the amount of food that you getat a local place. You know,
(11:41):
there's a local drive through Tacorea thatI go to all the time that is
not a chain, that is astandalone place or even a food truck.
Go to a local food truck ora local Tacorea. The prices are are
much better, much better, betterthan you will get at a chain restaurant.
(12:05):
And I think there's there's a veryimportant reason for that, and we'll
get to that at a moment,but let's go back to some of the
background on this from financebuzz dot com. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the cost of goods has risen inthirty one percent since twenty fourteen.
(12:28):
That means one hundred dollars in twentyfourteen dollars is worth one hundred and thirty
one dollars in twenty twenty four dollars. Much of that happened in just the
last five years, and yeah,that's that's kind of what I noticed it
too. Inflation is up twenty twopercent since twenty nineteen. The restaurants they
(12:54):
evaluated raised their prices by sixty percenton average between twenty fourteen and twenty twenty
four. That means they've raised pricesat a rate nearly double that the national
rate of inflation. It's true ofMcDonald's, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Chipotle,
(13:20):
Jimmy Jones. In the case ofMcDonald's, as we just went through
their prices increased more than three timesthe national rate of inflation. And in
a moment, if you will standby with me, I'm going to go
through the specific item menus and justhow much they have increased over the course
(13:50):
of time. I'm big Wolf Rocklin. This is face Palm America. We
shall return Facebam America. I'm BayowolfrocklinFacepalmamerica dot com. So I am reading
(14:16):
from a report on how much theprices of fast food have increased. Yes,
it's and they shoot near and dearto my heart, even closer to
my gut. Yes, and youcan laugh, go ahead laugh. But
we all do it. We alldo it. Every one of us does
it, most of us. I'vetried to do it less, I really
(14:39):
am. I'm trying to. I'mtrying to stay on the wagon. But
I want to go over with youthe increase in individual items on the menu
of McDonald how much it's going up. Let's let's let's go through them.
(15:07):
Medium drink, the price in twentyfourteen was a dollar twenty nine. Now
it's a dollar sixty one. That'srelatively mild. It's only it's only a
twenty five percent increase. A BigMac average twenty fourteen price three ninety nine,
(15:35):
twenty twenty four price five ninety nine. That's a fifty percent increase.
My favorite, the filet of fishsandwich. Twenty fourteen, you could get
one for three dollars and forty ninecents. Now the typical price in twenty
twenty four is five forty nine.That's a fifty seven percent increase. And
(16:00):
I know, look, you maylive in a different part of the country
where this is not exactly what isbeing charged, what wasn't charged. Then
these are averages, these are thisis aggregated information, all right. If
(16:22):
you want to get a happy meal, a four piece McNugget happy meal for
your kid in twenty fourteen would havebeen two ninety nine now two bucks more
four ninety nine, sixty seven percentincrease, ten piece McNugget increase of eighty
three percent, oreomook flurry increase ofeighty eight percent. Quarter powder with cheese
(16:49):
meal went from five thirty nine toeleven ninety nine, one hundred and twenty
two percent. Medium fries went fromone fifty nine to three seventy nine,
one hundred and thirty eight percent increase, and a mcdouble sandwich went in twenty
(17:10):
fourteen, you could get one forone nineteen dollar nineteen twenty twenty four three
dollars in nineteen cents. That's onehundred and sixty eight percent increase in price.
That's crazy, and Taco Bell thesame kind of thing. Some of
Taco Bell's most iconic menu items showhow much costs have risen. A Dorito's
(17:37):
Locos taco, you know, theone with the with the Dorito's nacho cheese
shell, has gone from an averageof a dollar thirty nine and twenty fourteen
to two dollars and fifty nine centsin twenty fourteen. That's an eighty six
percent increase, while a cheesy Gorditacrunch I don't think you've ever had one
(18:00):
of those, has doubled in pricefrom two forty nine and twenty fourteen to
four ninety nine today, doubled inprice two and a half bucks to five
bucks. And the beefy five layerburrito went from a cost of a dollar
(18:22):
fifty nine an average cost of adollar fifty nine and twenty fourteen to a
current price of three dollars and sixtynine cents. That's one hundred and thirty
two percent increase Chipotle twenty fourteen,the average price for an entree was six
(18:44):
seventy five Those same meals cost tenfifty or more today. And I guacamali
costs sixty four percent more now thanit did ten years ago. And again
the baseline of inflation, which itselfis questionable as to whether it's price gouging
(19:11):
or not, is thirty one percent. These increases are, for the most
part, far more than that.Starbucks, there's another one. Many prices
have gone up, Oh, onlythirty nine percent. It's still more than
inflation. Burger King prices fifty fivepercent, they got up fifty five percent.
(19:44):
Have you noticed this? Have younoticed this going on? I bet
you have. What have you seen? What have you experienced? You can
give me a call if you likeit to zero two sixty five six six
two seven one, and we'll talkabout this as we move forward. Now,
(20:07):
I know a lot of people aresaying, well, you know,
costs are going up. These poorcompanies, you know, they have to
in order to in order to makea profit, they've they've got to increase
their prices. I mean, they'rethey're they're struggling. I mean they got
the twenty dollars an hour in Californianow, which is barely it's not enough
(20:34):
to get by. I don't thinkin any part of California twenty dollars is
a minimum wage for fast food,which they recently required by law. Are
fast food company struggling? They arenot struggling, according to common dreams dot
(20:56):
org. But Iroinald has made eightpoint five billion in profit last year,
eight point five billion in profit.That's where your money is going. That's
where the one hundred percent increase inprices is going to their profit. Burger
(21:22):
King made one point two billion inprofit, Starbucks made four point one billion
in profits. And what are theyspending the money on. They're spending it
on stock buybacks. The ten largestpublicly traded fast food companies spent six point
(21:47):
one billion dollars in stock buybacks lastyear alone. That while fast food price
is sored by forty six point eightpercent over the last decade, well that's
what common dream says, But aswe've seen by the metrics, according to
(22:08):
finance buzz dot com, it's morelike sixty percent. In twenty twenty three,
fast food companies charged their customers twentyseven percent above their production costs.
That's where any money is going.It's going to the people who run these
(22:32):
companies. It's going to their shareholders, I will say. And there's some
things that I don't like about thiscompany because I know it's supported some people
on the far right, But inan out burger now, they're privately held
company, they don't have stockholders,and they have a reputation for paying their
(22:56):
employees decently, and from everything I'veseen, they do and they have happy
employees. And this is just anecdotal, but it's it's way cheaper to buy
a burger in and out burger ifyou live near one. Certainly, their
(23:18):
prices have not gone up as muchas McDonald says, so I have to
laud them a little, even thoughI am critical about some of the political
contributions that those associated with the companyhave made. So I'm wondering what you've
experienced. Where is the worst offenderin terms of the fast food industry.
(23:44):
Seems from this evidence that it's McDonald's. But what have you seen two zero
two six five six six two sevento one and will we'll talk about this
over the coming weeks, but Ithink it's important to discuss and also where's
(24:07):
the rest of my fialleo fish?Because the damn things are smaller, they
just are. I remember what thesize of a fileleo fish was. I
have ordered many, far too manyfile of fish sandwiches, and in the
last five years they have gotten smaller. They are charging us more for less.
(24:37):
It's a great business model if youcan get away with it. And
in spite of all the hullabaloo aboutoh my god, they're paying them twenty
dollars an hour in California, Lala la la. The wages of their
employees have fallen in comparison to whattheir money can buy in comparison to inflation.
(25:10):
Inflation has reduced their salaries, evenin places like California. So they're
paying their employees less, they're chargingyou more, they're reducing the portions,
and they're making a huge amount ofprofit. What are we going to do
(25:33):
about that? What do you thinkwe should do? I'd be interested in
hearing solutions. My solution, Ithink would involve a lot of taxation.
And you know, frankly, ifa few McDonald's go out of business given
(25:57):
the amount they pay to workers,given the opportunity for small business that they
include smaller businesses that they cause togo out of business, and the impact
(26:17):
that it has on our waistlines andour health. I'd say that a few
a few fewer McDonald's or Taco Bellsor or even Chipotle, you know,
which is nominally more healthy. Ifwe had a few fewer of those,
it would be better for us.If we if we had more local businesses
(26:38):
that we bought from again, whichare a better deal. I think that
would be better for our communities,It would be better for our economies,
It would be better for our bodies. By the way, I want to
(27:00):
give, speaking of fast food,an rip to Morgan Spurlock, who twenty
years ago addressed the fast food industrywith his documentary Supersize Me, in which
(27:25):
he for a number of weeks ormonths ate nothing but fast food and saw
how detrimental that was to his health, both physical and mental. He passed
away this week. He was onlyfifty three years old. There was complications
from cancer, and I know hehad a lot of other issues in his
(27:49):
life. I know that he hadcome forth and talked about his issues with
women. He admitted to problems withsexual harassment and assault, and I don't
(28:11):
think he ever really completely took aresponsibility for this, and that's a shame
and we need to remember that too. But he put some important information out
there and framed it in an importantway. So Morgan Spurlock rest in peace.
(28:40):
I'm be Wolf Rocklin. This isface Palm America. You can go
again to Facepalmamerica dot com for moreinformation. Two zero two sixty five six
six two seveny one is the numberthat you can call if you want to
follow up on any of this.And until next time, enjoy the day.
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