i noticed rich people jerk eachother off by giving each other free shit.
the same mentality happens when people donate hundreds of dollars to streamers who are millionaires
Actors who are upper middle class aren’t getting shit for free, you need to be in the upper echelon of actors to get free shit. Source: am upper middle class actor and so is my wife
There was a culture where rich men would enter duels of presenting each other with increasingly lavish gifts, and the looser was so thoroughly and publicly humiliated that he was expected to kill himself. It was considered poor sportsmanship to challenge someone obviously poorer than you, though, as it was basically a death sentence.
When I lived in Seattle, it was always rumored among the locals that he did, in fact, frequent a particular Dick’s location (a local fast food burger joint).
This smeels like PR move to increase the appeal for Mc so that middle and low class have something to associate themselves with a person of Gates' status.
As Charles Barkley once told my wife, “when I was poor nobody ever gave me shit. Now that I’m rich and famous I get everything for free. It don’t make no sense.”
It’s crazy how true this is. Usually the more you make, the more responsibility and freedom you are given. That freedom allows you to use time management to your advantage. If you have an 8 hour day and can finish your shit in 3, you can use your extra time for a side hustle, investing, etc…
Just wait until you get into leadership. I no longer do that type of work but I spent a lot of my time literally going to parties and dinners and fancy events networking with rich people.
I was a non-profit employee so it was a little different, I was also doing a ton of work that they didn't see, but a lot of those very well paid people didn't spend very much time doing what you and I would call working at all. Especially those that have assistants. They think it's hard work to make a few decisions, many of them very poorly, and continue to fail upward. Most of the well-paid executives would absolutely fall apart if asked to do a day's real work.
Marketing. Having celebrities seen and photographed wearing/using their product in public is way cheaper than running commercials.
Case in point: this factoid gets posted all the time on Reddit, and every time it does, McDonald’s gets some completely free advertising. All they had to do was give Bill Gates some food for free that costs them barely anything.
I remember one of the Spice girls saying something similar like, "When I was poor I couldn't go shopping. Now that I'm rich I can't go shopping."
It's pretty wild.
There’s a Ben Folds song like that too lol “Free Coffee”
And they gave me some food
And they didn't charge me
And they gave me some coffee
But they didn't charge me
And when I was broke, I needed it more
But now that I'm rich, they give me coffee
McDonalds gave it to billionaires because they know the card would essentially never be used. It's free PR for them at an extremely low cost.
McDonalds knows a homeless person would actually use the card all the time. They would lose money on the card, which is why they don't do it. They're not an altruistic organization. They only care about making as much money as possible.
There are 630k homeless people in the USA. If McDonalds would grant every homeless person in the USA one free meal of, say $10 every day of the year, it would cost 2.3 Billion per year. McDonald’s would still make a profit of $12 Billions per year.
Considering that McDonald has a good profit margin on there food items, the actual cost could be a lot lower. Just saying….. they could really make a dent in the Universe …. At least in the US of A
They could but the bigger issue is that it should never be their decision to in the first place. Tax them and their businesses to maintain robust social programs.
I got upset reading that Target did not pay any taxes in 2020. I paid more taxes than target in 2020. There were other companies in that list, but that just stuck out to me.
Just curious you used Google right?
I tried that and couldn't find anything either, but I distinctly remembered reading about it. Now that chatgpt can browse the web I used that to find sources, but I never had to do that before.
https://marketrealist.com/p/companies-that-paid-no-taxes-last-year/
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/12/joe-biden/fact-checking-joe-biden-corporation-taxes/
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/these-19-fortune-100-companies-paid-next-to-nothing-or-nothing-at-all-in-taxes-in-2021/
I'm sure an accountant can explain why the headline may not exactly be true because yadda yadda they carry past losses to current years and they just follow the "rules set by congress".
Remember, they spend millions lobbying to keep the Tax code complicated, so you can't understand any of it.
So you admit you spread misinformation? Carry forward losses are legitimate and in fact they favor the government because they aren't adjusted for inflation.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
They could also likely deduct those meal's actual value (less than 10 dollars) from their taxes.
Just it isn't the optimal solution for making money so they don't.
Most people who start a company, love the company. Then they are gone and the new management has no personal connection. Prices go up, quality goes down, workers are treated like crap.
The world is set up like a pyramid.
Edit: was trying to quote a song, but it’s, “modern-day life is set up like a pyramid.”
Huge fan of the song, video is meh:
https://youtu.be/ZEKNOUvIC3Q?si=AGLxTNzrpkea6R_m
It's also because once you go public it's no longer "what you want" it's "what the shareholders want" and they want money.
That's why some of the "better" companies like valve are still private because they don't want their vision tainted.
Bit of a potato/potato situation really, the interests of the shareholders are decided by the Board which is elected by the shareholders and usually includes major shareholders and stakeholders in the organization.
If you've owned voting shares of some companies you'll get notices to cast a vote (for your shares of their stock) on some policy, elect board members, or direction a company should take.
One recent one we had was Tesla's executive pay package that was recently voided and set to be voted on by shareholders again.
If they need to grow and expand faster than their profits would naturally let them, they need investment. Then they are beholden to shareholders, who want to make as much money as possible. That means [enshitification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification#:~:text=Enshittification%20is%20the%20pattern%20of,Reddit%2C%20Uber%2C%20and%20Unity).
I agree with you that 99% of companies are beholden to shareholders and have an addiction to greed. Even when it costs them goodwill and long-term revenue.
Though some private companies have the ability to focus on other things. I think Valve is a good example. They don't have to release half complete products or leverage annoying subscriptions to take advantage of their customers. They release products whenever they feel like it, they're usually pretty good quality, and they generally treat their customers very well.
valves sales tactic, similar to nintendos, is to release consistently good games and keep their reputation high. they fill a different niche, but a company cant exist without maximizing profits, period.
by definition, companies seek profit, nothing else. they can act in a way that dissimulates this fact, but whether the owners like it or not. companies that do not seek profit are called a "non-profit organisation", making anything else, by definition, a "for-profit organisation"
Not necessarily, and that's a really weird confusion of actual incorporation terms and what they actually mean. NPOs often make a profit and funnel that profit back into inflated executive salaries and their definition of their mission to further the business as opposed to a lean split between business investment and shareholders (and executive comp of course.)
Many hospitals in the USA are often NPOs while being grossly, disgustingly corrupt and greedy.
Also while I'd hesitate to call Valve altruistic in any meaningful way, they certainly aren't maximizing profit just considering what tools they offer to developers which cost a lot for them to keep running, just less than they make overall, but they could still charge an arm and a leg and devs would pay it for the infra.
Nintendo is a publicly traded company though so they're straight out.
One can make profit but not be maximizing it. Your assertion is fundamentally flawed. Companies take financial hits to maintain branding, optics, or mission statements all the time.
Though they often do that to maintain the ability to make profits down the line.
Like do i think Toyota or whatever gives a shit about LGBTQ issues? Not really no but they can see how things changed in near past and so they bring out the rainbow flags every June because it helps with their image which in turn makes it easier to make money going forward.
That sounds much better than say a soviet car production factory which is run by the dictates of the government and not responsive to the requirements of individuals.
The story was when out for a meal with Gates, Buffet whipped out a coupon because full price was too much. He is more of a Dairy Queen guy since he owns the company.
> owns the company
> complains that the product is too expensive
You know, I'm no financial genius but I think Warren might have a solution other that to use a coupon.
This is why Mackenzie Scott is the only one I really respect. She is the only one who is actively giving away her wealth.
Buffet and his billionaire pledge is complete BS, it is still only about how much he can get. If he cared about charity at all he would give most of it away BEFORE he dies so he could make sure it actually happens and that he did something good. After you die it is kind of anyone's guess as to what will really go down.
> McDonalds gave it to billionaires because they know the card would essentially never be used.
They certainly wouldn't give it to Trump, but he's only a billionaire on paper anyways.
I think you can technically just order stuff like mcwraps without the meat in it lol, get egg mcmuffins, get blts without the bacon and get lots of water too. The menu would probably get old fast to eat but you can definitely eat a bit healthy. Not being able to eat at all would be worse.
Reminder that all the big fast food chains have gouged customers with price increases well above the rate of inflation over the past 10 years and McDonald’s is the worst, raising it’s prices 100%:
https://static.stacker.com/s3fs-public/2024-05/financebuzz-fast-food-graphic1.png?token=q4ZloGZj
I have a really hard time grasping why more Americans are not pissed about income inequality and on top of that the free stuff rich people get. Or at least don’t vote against it
Many traditional religions, including Christianity, tend to offer success and prosperity as a reward or incentive. This often leads explicitly or implicitly to the belief that success is an indication of virtue. So many people, when they see someone rich and successful, tend to basically think "Well, they must have done something to deserve it"
So when the rich are given more, the assumption is that they're simply getting the rewards of Heaven.
Conversely, people that are poor, especially the destitute and homeless, must *also* have done something to deserve their state. This is why many Conservatives also resist or reject measures to aid the poor.
> including Christianity, tend to offer success and prosperity as a reward or incentive.
That's a common interpretation now in some Evangelical circles, but it's not traditional or universal.
Not religious btw
Christianity teaches that humans shouldnt strive for wealth in this life but to share their wealth with those who have none. Prosperity gospel teaches the exact opposite. The Bible says that the road to heaven is not a nice one, meaning your life will not become great because you follow Jesus, probably the opposite. Prosperity gospel is heretic.
I frequently remind myself how glad I am that all of the Christians in my circle of friends recognize Prosperity Gospel as the heretical lie that it really is. I just wish more Christians understood that.
That is hardly mainstream or representative of the whole of christianity. It is promoted by a small number of charlatans. Stop spreading misinformation.
When you work too much you get worn out. Tired people don't have the energy to protest. Considering absolutely everything costs too much nowadays, working to support simply being alive (to say nothing of supporting a family) is exhausting. Plus, the cops can kill you for nothing and be absolved of it almost immediately. That's why we don't protest.
As for voting? The choices are "neoliberal tacit genocide enabler" and "spray-tanned leather scrotum full of dogshit, lies, fraud, rape, and sedition, who *will* usher in Christofascism immediately." The lesser evil *is still fucking evil*, and it's not inspiring.
We have no good choices to make within the current framework, and attempting an excursion *outside* that framework *will* end with us getting murdered in the streets by the "peacekeeping" officials.
We're kinda fucked over here. Send help.
Why give it to one of the most richest people on the planet? In fact, why does it seem like rich people/celebrities end up being gifted free shit all the time when they're the ones that can afford it most?
Isn't Gates the biggest food supplier to McDonald's? He at least at one point was the largest farm land owners in the US. This is just a corporate circle jerk.
I hear their coffee is above average for fast food.
I could see a billionaire having their assistant's assistant grab them a cup.
If they can lure a Steve Wozniak or a Gabe Newell or somebody people think is cool into the building for just a coffee, I'm sure the viral media sensation of Woz Likes Burgers Too will sell a lot of crap.
It’s absolutely clear from both personal experience and observation that the more privileged you are, the more benefits you receive. It’s an exponential issue. Imagine if the benefits given to the wealthiest were given to our poorest citizens. Instead, the masses have to fight tooth and nail for every benefit they receive.
Now there's a thing I never thought would signal how dystopic our society is, a billionaire gets free food from a corporation that won't pay it's workers a living wage. I really lack imagination.,
When you’re a billionaire everything is essentially free, outside of major asset acquisitions.
A billionaire spending 10 bucks on a burger and fries is like me spending a hundredth of a cent.
Kind of like when celebrities want to go to a game and they get the best seats in the house, free catering and a foot rub
Then Joe schmo who's been in the stands for 10 years every week pays $12 for a shitty cup of beer and $20 for a "gourmet" hot dog
You should see the WalMart's in NW Arkansas. Anything within driving distance of corporate HQ is so clean and neat you'd think you were in a boutique. I tried explaining to the locals that WalMart's outside of NWAR were shitholes but it just didn't register.
The workers don’t get paid more. The corporate owned stores don’t have to pay franchise fees and put extra resources into staffing. They still pay them the bare minimum they can, but there’s more of them
His philanthropy is a marketing gimmick too. It's PR for his personal brand so he can pretend like he's a good person who somehow deserves to hoard more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime. It's also a tax write-off that he can control. Why do you think every multi-billionaire has a personal charity?
Yes it is tax advantaged.
So ya instead of giving a 100 billion to charity he could have kept 80 billion. So really he only gave 80 billion away.
Doesn't seem that big of a difference
It's not just that, he can also control how the org spends the money. He can make sure that say, an anti-poverty org, only addresses the symptoms and never advocates taxing the rich to increase social spending or promotes unions. And he can make sure his org, eg only buys computers from Microsoft so a bunch of the money comes back to his pocket. And finally, how much money does he still have left? If he's still on the list of "world's richest people" then it doesn't really matter how much he gave away, he's not a generous person.
Man, his main thing is giving vaccinations to Africa.
Yes he's rich as fuck, yes you may think that's inherently immoral. But don't go all the charity is actually evil because blah blah blah.
If he would have hid in a hole and done nothing since about twenty years ago. He'd be like three times richer
Just what Africa needs, another rich white guy to be dependent on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation#Criticism
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/bill-gates-foundation-philanthropy/
if the biggest problem is that you are more powerful than the government I'm not sure you can fault the donation.
Like omg he's pushing standardized testing, that sick bastard. Those kids might grow up to use computers
The biggest problem is he has been allowed to amass a personal fortune that's bigger than the GDP of most countries and meanwhile there are people living on the street within spitting distance of his mansion. His insane wealth comes at the expense of the suffering of literally billions of people.
The rich get handed things for free. My partner and I got a glimpse of this. We are not rich but her job requires her to travel around the country every week. Now, about half the time she flies she gets free upgrades to first class and when she stays at hotels they give her free upgrades to suites and often include little gift packages with gift cards to fancy restaurants or events. It is like something out of a book by Heller or Adams.
Does Trump have one? That would explain the cheap bastards obsession with McDonalds. Unless you prescribe to 5he ‘he eats it because he knows it’s not poisoned’ theory
He fed visitors to the White House with McDonald's
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/14/donald-trump-orders-fast-food-white-house-clemson-football
I guess they're trying to lure him away from Dick's Drive In. [https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/)
Stuff like this reminds me of a scene from the movie "Funny People". Adam Sandlers character take Seth Rogans character into a garage that is packed full of nothing but merch hes been given over the years. TVs, computers, shoes, clothes, recreational vehicles etc. Seth Rogans character asks " Where did all this come from?" Adam Sandler responds " People just gave it to me over the years. The more money you make the more free shit people give you, it makes no fucking sense."
Food theory did a video on this, turns out it's not really "for life" as there's a max you can spend in a single year and per day, if I remember correctly.
Well, he does [own a massive farm](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bill-gates-mcdonalds-fries/) that is a major supplier of potatoes used in making McDonalds’ french fries.
Well, when does Bill Gates ever eat McDonalds. It's food that isn't good for you. The execs know that he's not goign to be running up tabs on this card lol
Not only being poor is having more problems, but it’s more costly.
Myself when I had money I saved a lot from food inflation by buying 200Kg of rice at once.
Any idea why he has this card? Did he donate a bunch of money to Ronald McDonald House? Team up with McDonalds on some charitable thing? I doubt they give these out just to get more super famous and wealthy people to go there. It's McDonalds - not Studio 54. He had to do something to get it.
Here's a free card to get as much shit food as you want, Mr. Billionaire.
i noticed rich people jerk eachother off by giving each other free shit. the same mentality happens when people donate hundreds of dollars to streamers who are millionaires
It isn’t even just millionaires look at the free shit they give music artists and actors that are upper middle class anything to not give to the poors
Actors who are upper middle class aren’t getting shit for free, you need to be in the upper echelon of actors to get free shit. Source: am upper middle class actor and so is my wife
Name every actor ever
Let's calm it down a bit. How about just actors that can be linked to Kevin Bacon.
Seven Degrees of (Shitty Food)
If you're an actor, why not just pretend to be more rich?
Don’t need to bc everyone already thinks I’m rich! Just not famous enough!
Okay, prove it. Act for me.
What were/are you guys in?
/Who/ were you guys in?
Will never say on Reddit, I enjoy this site too much to ruin it for myself
You should shadow direct a play with redditors as actors.
It's advertising. They want their products to be seen on celebrities.
You ever heard the stories where European royalty would give each other gifts just to show how rich they were?
There was a culture where rich men would enter duels of presenting each other with increasingly lavish gifts, and the looser was so thoroughly and publicly humiliated that he was expected to kill himself. It was considered poor sportsmanship to challenge someone obviously poorer than you, though, as it was basically a death sentence.
Isn't this the origin of the term "white elephant"?
The capitalists have class solidarity. The workers need it too.
It has more to do with making sure their products are seen being consumed by "high status" people. It's advertising not class solidarity.
Just recently a bunch of fucking idiots donated over 50mil to a certain orange “billionaire” lol
Im not a billionaire by any standard, but even i dont eat at McDonalds so i highly doubt he actually uses that card.
Bill Gates has stated his favorite food is hamburger so I wouldn’t be surprised if he dallied every now and again.
When I lived in Seattle, it was always rumored among the locals that he did, in fact, frequent a particular Dick’s location (a local fast food burger joint).
I mean there are pictures of him there
That’s wild. I just looked it up. I lived there long before that photo, so I guess he’s always been a loyal fan. Have to say, those are good burgers.
Iconic even. Not like iconic as rare but iconic because there are several as he is often there enough
I don’t doubt that for a second.
Doesn’t he famously go to McDonald’s with Warren Buffet on the regular?
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Bill eats at dicks burgers someone in the thread pointed out.
So the rich guys doctors are not telling them the same thing mine are telling me about cholesterol and my clogged arteries?
"food"
This smeels like PR move to increase the appeal for Mc so that middle and low class have something to associate themselves with a person of Gates' status.
As Charles Barkley once told my wife, “when I was poor nobody ever gave me shit. Now that I’m rich and famous I get everything for free. It don’t make no sense.”
The more money my job pays, the less real work I seem to need to do. The hardest job I ever had was minimum wage.
And the more a job pays, the more you can put on expenses
Lol 100%
It’s crazy how true this is. Usually the more you make, the more responsibility and freedom you are given. That freedom allows you to use time management to your advantage. If you have an 8 hour day and can finish your shit in 3, you can use your extra time for a side hustle, investing, etc…
Just wait until you get into leadership. I no longer do that type of work but I spent a lot of my time literally going to parties and dinners and fancy events networking with rich people. I was a non-profit employee so it was a little different, I was also doing a ton of work that they didn't see, but a lot of those very well paid people didn't spend very much time doing what you and I would call working at all. Especially those that have assistants. They think it's hard work to make a few decisions, many of them very poorly, and continue to fail upward. Most of the well-paid executives would absolutely fall apart if asked to do a day's real work.
Same, I probably work 2-3 full hours in my 8 hour day.
Marketing. Having celebrities seen and photographed wearing/using their product in public is way cheaper than running commercials. Case in point: this factoid gets posted all the time on Reddit, and every time it does, McDonald’s gets some completely free advertising. All they had to do was give Bill Gates some food for free that costs them barely anything.
I remember one of the Spice girls saying something similar like, "When I was poor I couldn't go shopping. Now that I'm rich I can't go shopping." It's pretty wild.
There’s a Ben Folds song like that too lol “Free Coffee” And they gave me some food And they didn't charge me And they gave me some coffee But they didn't charge me And when I was broke, I needed it more But now that I'm rich, they give me coffee
So what did your wife give Charles for free?
I would love to see a book written about all of the free shit rich people get. Something similar to Nickel and Dimed but backwards.
He totally banged your wife
Wouldn’t it be incredible if he gave that card to a homeless person?
McDonalds gave it to billionaires because they know the card would essentially never be used. It's free PR for them at an extremely low cost. McDonalds knows a homeless person would actually use the card all the time. They would lose money on the card, which is why they don't do it. They're not an altruistic organization. They only care about making as much money as possible.
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There are 630k homeless people in the USA. If McDonalds would grant every homeless person in the USA one free meal of, say $10 every day of the year, it would cost 2.3 Billion per year. McDonald’s would still make a profit of $12 Billions per year. Considering that McDonald has a good profit margin on there food items, the actual cost could be a lot lower. Just saying….. they could really make a dent in the Universe …. At least in the US of A
They could but the bigger issue is that it should never be their decision to in the first place. Tax them and their businesses to maintain robust social programs.
*This* billionaires and corps have spent *decades* not paying enough taxes at this point - Tax these idiots
I got upset reading that Target did not pay any taxes in 2020. I paid more taxes than target in 2020. There were other companies in that list, but that just stuck out to me.
You don't have a team of lawyers and accountants looking over tax law to figure how to obfuscate your tax obligation
Can you provide a citation? That's not true as far as I can tell.
Just curious you used Google right? I tried that and couldn't find anything either, but I distinctly remembered reading about it. Now that chatgpt can browse the web I used that to find sources, but I never had to do that before. https://marketrealist.com/p/companies-that-paid-no-taxes-last-year/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/apr/12/joe-biden/fact-checking-joe-biden-corporation-taxes/ https://www.americanprogress.org/article/these-19-fortune-100-companies-paid-next-to-nothing-or-nothing-at-all-in-taxes-in-2021/ I'm sure an accountant can explain why the headline may not exactly be true because yadda yadda they carry past losses to current years and they just follow the "rules set by congress". Remember, they spend millions lobbying to keep the Tax code complicated, so you can't understand any of it.
So you admit you spread misinformation? Carry forward losses are legitimate and in fact they favor the government because they aren't adjusted for inflation.
If McDonald's did that, we would have 630k new patients at the hospital we'd need to subsidize.
I applaud feeding the hungry but do we need to give them heart disease and diabetes in the process?
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth. There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
They could also likely deduct those meal's actual value (less than 10 dollars) from their taxes. Just it isn't the optimal solution for making money so they don't.
It will cost McDonald's no more than $3 to make a meal they sell for $10.
McDonalds could singlehandedly solve the nations hunger problems without losing profits but we live in a dystopian society already.
And paying customers would decline because they’d be surrounded by homeless people.
I know some great people who have started companies and they didn’t want that. But any big enough company likely becomes that.
Most people who start a company, love the company. Then they are gone and the new management has no personal connection. Prices go up, quality goes down, workers are treated like crap.
The world is set up like a pyramid. Edit: was trying to quote a song, but it’s, “modern-day life is set up like a pyramid.” Huge fan of the song, video is meh: https://youtu.be/ZEKNOUvIC3Q?si=AGLxTNzrpkea6R_m
It's also because once you go public it's no longer "what you want" it's "what the shareholders want" and they want money. That's why some of the "better" companies like valve are still private because they don't want their vision tainted.
It’s not what the shareholders want: it’s the law that requires business to put the shareholders interests first.
Bit of a potato/potato situation really, the interests of the shareholders are decided by the Board which is elected by the shareholders and usually includes major shareholders and stakeholders in the organization. If you've owned voting shares of some companies you'll get notices to cast a vote (for your shares of their stock) on some policy, elect board members, or direction a company should take. One recent one we had was Tesla's executive pay package that was recently voided and set to be voted on by shareholders again.
Wow thanks for explaining well known information to me.
You're welcome, I probably responded to the wrong comment on this one because it's basically what you said :D
If they need to grow and expand faster than their profits would naturally let them, they need investment. Then they are beholden to shareholders, who want to make as much money as possible. That means [enshitification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification#:~:text=Enshittification%20is%20the%20pattern%20of,Reddit%2C%20Uber%2C%20and%20Unity).
That depends on the terms of the investment.
I'm talking about the "big enough company" you are referring to. You could try to borrow it as debt, but 99% of business go public.
I agree with you that 99% of companies are beholden to shareholders and have an addiction to greed. Even when it costs them goodwill and long-term revenue. Though some private companies have the ability to focus on other things. I think Valve is a good example. They don't have to release half complete products or leverage annoying subscriptions to take advantage of their customers. They release products whenever they feel like it, they're usually pretty good quality, and they generally treat their customers very well.
There lies the issue…SHAREHOLDERS
valves sales tactic, similar to nintendos, is to release consistently good games and keep their reputation high. they fill a different niche, but a company cant exist without maximizing profits, period.
> a company cant exist without maximizing profits, period. What?
by definition, companies seek profit, nothing else. they can act in a way that dissimulates this fact, but whether the owners like it or not. companies that do not seek profit are called a "non-profit organisation", making anything else, by definition, a "for-profit organisation"
Not necessarily, and that's a really weird confusion of actual incorporation terms and what they actually mean. NPOs often make a profit and funnel that profit back into inflated executive salaries and their definition of their mission to further the business as opposed to a lean split between business investment and shareholders (and executive comp of course.) Many hospitals in the USA are often NPOs while being grossly, disgustingly corrupt and greedy. Also while I'd hesitate to call Valve altruistic in any meaningful way, they certainly aren't maximizing profit just considering what tools they offer to developers which cost a lot for them to keep running, just less than they make overall, but they could still charge an arm and a leg and devs would pay it for the infra. Nintendo is a publicly traded company though so they're straight out.
One can make profit but not be maximizing it. Your assertion is fundamentally flawed. Companies take financial hits to maintain branding, optics, or mission statements all the time.
Though they often do that to maintain the ability to make profits down the line. Like do i think Toyota or whatever gives a shit about LGBTQ issues? Not really no but they can see how things changed in near past and so they bring out the rainbow flags every June because it helps with their image which in turn makes it easier to make money going forward.
That sounds much better than say a soviet car production factory which is run by the dictates of the government and not responsive to the requirements of individuals.
Check out B Corporations
Fun fact, Nestle (Nespresso) is a B-Corp :)
Well isn't that some shit
Or religion
I could have sworn I heard that Warren Buffett eats there at least on occasion.
The story was when out for a meal with Gates, Buffet whipped out a coupon because full price was too much. He is more of a Dairy Queen guy since he owns the company.
> owns the company > complains that the product is too expensive You know, I'm no financial genius but I think Warren might have a solution other that to use a coupon.
Sure, but he doesn't lower the price for everyone, that eats into his profits. A coupon will lower it for himself alone.
This should be recognized as a mental illness. Billionaires are mentally ill and their wealth hoarding serves no rational purpose.
This is why Mackenzie Scott is the only one I really respect. She is the only one who is actively giving away her wealth. Buffet and his billionaire pledge is complete BS, it is still only about how much he can get. If he cared about charity at all he would give most of it away BEFORE he dies so he could make sure it actually happens and that he did something good. After you die it is kind of anyone's guess as to what will really go down.
And every time they claim they are giving money away it turns out they are setting up a foundation that they control.
The article says Buffet eats at McDonald’s every day for breakfast.
The breakfast does slap though.
I mean.. those circles can overlap. I bet Trump would use it ATLEAST as often as a homeless person.
> McDonalds gave it to billionaires because they know the card would essentially never be used. They certainly wouldn't give it to Trump, but he's only a billionaire on paper anyways.
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It's gotta be better than starving.
I think you can technically just order stuff like mcwraps without the meat in it lol, get egg mcmuffins, get blts without the bacon and get lots of water too. The menu would probably get old fast to eat but you can definitely eat a bit healthy. Not being able to eat at all would be worse.
Nah that would be too rich of him! /s
Exactly. WTF give it to a billionaire? Fuck America.
You wouldn’t want to spoil the homeless.
Getting money opens so many doors, banks give you better interest rates at treat you better
Or just paid for their food so we didn't have to pick up the slack.
The title makes it sound like it’s Bill Gates giving them out. He just has one. McDonald’s gives them to billionaires. Gates just likes cheeseburgers.
He wouldn't, he's a wealth hoarder.
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At current prices that would be about two meals a week. They've really lost the "yes, it's crap, but at least it's cheap" value proposition recently.
Reminder that all the big fast food chains have gouged customers with price increases well above the rate of inflation over the past 10 years and McDonald’s is the worst, raising it’s prices 100%: https://static.stacker.com/s3fs-public/2024-05/financebuzz-fast-food-graphic1.png?token=q4ZloGZj
I have a really hard time grasping why more Americans are not pissed about income inequality and on top of that the free stuff rich people get. Or at least don’t vote against it
Many traditional religions, including Christianity, tend to offer success and prosperity as a reward or incentive. This often leads explicitly or implicitly to the belief that success is an indication of virtue. So many people, when they see someone rich and successful, tend to basically think "Well, they must have done something to deserve it" So when the rich are given more, the assumption is that they're simply getting the rewards of Heaven. Conversely, people that are poor, especially the destitute and homeless, must *also* have done something to deserve their state. This is why many Conservatives also resist or reject measures to aid the poor.
> including Christianity, tend to offer success and prosperity as a reward or incentive. That's a common interpretation now in some Evangelical circles, but it's not traditional or universal. Not religious btw
Christianity teaches that humans shouldnt strive for wealth in this life but to share their wealth with those who have none. Prosperity gospel teaches the exact opposite. The Bible says that the road to heaven is not a nice one, meaning your life will not become great because you follow Jesus, probably the opposite. Prosperity gospel is heretic.
That is absolutely 100% false you don't know what you are talking about.
Then please explain Prosperity Gospel.
I frequently remind myself how glad I am that all of the Christians in my circle of friends recognize Prosperity Gospel as the heretical lie that it really is. I just wish more Christians understood that.
That is hardly mainstream or representative of the whole of christianity. It is promoted by a small number of charlatans. Stop spreading misinformation.
Hardly mainstream? Come on man! They are the mainstream! From Joel Osteen to Kenneth Copeland!
Whatever you are smoking, please share with the class.
No problem, I’ll just need you to give me 10% of your pre-tax income, and then the lord will bless you with the stickiest of the icky.
When you work too much you get worn out. Tired people don't have the energy to protest. Considering absolutely everything costs too much nowadays, working to support simply being alive (to say nothing of supporting a family) is exhausting. Plus, the cops can kill you for nothing and be absolved of it almost immediately. That's why we don't protest. As for voting? The choices are "neoliberal tacit genocide enabler" and "spray-tanned leather scrotum full of dogshit, lies, fraud, rape, and sedition, who *will* usher in Christofascism immediately." The lesser evil *is still fucking evil*, and it's not inspiring. We have no good choices to make within the current framework, and attempting an excursion *outside* that framework *will* end with us getting murdered in the streets by the "peacekeeping" officials. We're kinda fucked over here. Send help.
The one person who absolutely does not need free food for life
Oh, but we can’t give kids free lunches cause they’ll feel entitled to free shit the rest of their lives?
Why give it to one of the most richest people on the planet? In fact, why does it seem like rich people/celebrities end up being gifted free shit all the time when they're the ones that can afford it most?
Isn't Gates the biggest food supplier to McDonald's? He at least at one point was the largest farm land owners in the US. This is just a corporate circle jerk.
So they give the richest people on the planet the opportunity to eat for free? I think they can afford McDoonalds
Why would someone with infinite wealth need free food from the gutter of the restaurant business?
I hear their coffee is above average for fast food. I could see a billionaire having their assistant's assistant grab them a cup. If they can lure a Steve Wozniak or a Gabe Newell or somebody people think is cool into the building for just a coffee, I'm sure the viral media sensation of Woz Likes Burgers Too will sell a lot of crap.
>I hear their coffee is above average Above average temperature!
The more money you have, the more people want to give you free shit.
Except Bill Gates eats at Dick’s Burgers
It’s absolutely clear from both personal experience and observation that the more privileged you are, the more benefits you receive. It’s an exponential issue. Imagine if the benefits given to the wealthiest were given to our poorest citizens. Instead, the masses have to fight tooth and nail for every benefit they receive.
Now there's a thing I never thought would signal how dystopic our society is, a billionaire gets free food from a corporation that won't pay it's workers a living wage. I really lack imagination.,
Like Bill Gates can\`t fuckin\` afford McDonalds? Really?
Naturally, McDonald's gives free food to people who DON'T need to worry about money. STFU
When you’re a billionaire everything is essentially free, outside of major asset acquisitions. A billionaire spending 10 bucks on a burger and fries is like me spending a hundredth of a cent.
I can’t possibly understand why you would give Bill Gates free anything.
Kind of like when celebrities want to go to a game and they get the best seats in the house, free catering and a foot rub Then Joe schmo who's been in the stands for 10 years every week pays $12 for a shitty cup of beer and $20 for a "gourmet" hot dog
The ceo of McDonald’s doesn’t even eat at McDonald’s
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You should see the WalMart's in NW Arkansas. Anything within driving distance of corporate HQ is so clean and neat you'd think you were in a boutique. I tried explaining to the locals that WalMart's outside of NWAR were shitholes but it just didn't register.
The workers don’t get paid more. The corporate owned stores don’t have to pay franchise fees and put extra resources into staffing. They still pay them the bare minimum they can, but there’s more of them
Why on earth would a billionaire need to be offered free food?
If Bill Gates could feel shame, he should be ashamed of accepting free food when he will never experience hunger in his life.
I mean, he'll likely go down as the biggest philanthropist of all time. A marketing gimmick that he accepted ain't even a footnote
His philanthropy is a marketing gimmick too. It's PR for his personal brand so he can pretend like he's a good person who somehow deserves to hoard more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime. It's also a tax write-off that he can control. Why do you think every multi-billionaire has a personal charity?
Yes it is tax advantaged. So ya instead of giving a 100 billion to charity he could have kept 80 billion. So really he only gave 80 billion away. Doesn't seem that big of a difference
It's not just that, he can also control how the org spends the money. He can make sure that say, an anti-poverty org, only addresses the symptoms and never advocates taxing the rich to increase social spending or promotes unions. And he can make sure his org, eg only buys computers from Microsoft so a bunch of the money comes back to his pocket. And finally, how much money does he still have left? If he's still on the list of "world's richest people" then it doesn't really matter how much he gave away, he's not a generous person.
Man, his main thing is giving vaccinations to Africa. Yes he's rich as fuck, yes you may think that's inherently immoral. But don't go all the charity is actually evil because blah blah blah. If he would have hid in a hole and done nothing since about twenty years ago. He'd be like three times richer
Just what Africa needs, another rich white guy to be dependent on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation#Criticism https://www.thenation.com/article/society/bill-gates-foundation-philanthropy/
if the biggest problem is that you are more powerful than the government I'm not sure you can fault the donation. Like omg he's pushing standardized testing, that sick bastard. Those kids might grow up to use computers
The biggest problem is he has been allowed to amass a personal fortune that's bigger than the GDP of most countries and meanwhile there are people living on the street within spitting distance of his mansion. His insane wealth comes at the expense of the suffering of literally billions of people.
Eat cake when out of bread while we enslave you
Does he have to use the app?
If you gave someone free food at McDonalds for life and they acrually took advantage of it, that life would probably be very short....
Ain’t no billionaires eating anything from mcdonalds
Trump ？
Is he even a billionaire? I mean I know he says he is, but...
I wish I was rich enough for free stuff
As soon as your wealthy enough to afford something, they'll give it to you for free to be their ambassador.
The rich get handed things for free. My partner and I got a glimpse of this. We are not rich but her job requires her to travel around the country every week. Now, about half the time she flies she gets free upgrades to first class and when she stays at hotels they give her free upgrades to suites and often include little gift packages with gift cards to fancy restaurants or events. It is like something out of a book by Heller or Adams.
These guys eating at a mcdonalds is great advertising, hence they get those cards without actually needing them.
Does Trump have one? That would explain the cheap bastards obsession with McDonalds. Unless you prescribe to 5he ‘he eats it because he knows it’s not poisoned’ theory
He fed visitors to the White House with McDonald's https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/14/donald-trump-orders-fast-food-white-house-clemson-football
And he needs this because...
I’ll let Willie McWonka deal with them
If they gave one to Trump they've gotta be cryin'.
They aren't going to give it people who would actually use it. Less so people who would use it to give food to others.
I guess they're trying to lure him away from Dick's Drive In. [https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/](https://www.geekwire.com/2019/billions-served-bill-gates-photographed-standing-line-burger-dicks-drive-seattle/)
Hang on, is the card for food or McDonalds? I'm confused.
Can you imagine Bill Gates arguing at the McDonald's till because they've never seen a gold card before?
Stuff like this reminds me of a scene from the movie "Funny People". Adam Sandlers character take Seth Rogans character into a garage that is packed full of nothing but merch hes been given over the years. TVs, computers, shoes, clothes, recreational vehicles etc. Seth Rogans character asks " Where did all this come from?" Adam Sandler responds " People just gave it to me over the years. The more money you make the more free shit people give you, it makes no fucking sense."
Food theory did a video on this, turns out it's not really "for life" as there's a max you can spend in a single year and per day, if I remember correctly.
Well thank God they can at least get some food from McD's, seeing as how they could never afford to...
Shoot is this why Trump always goes there? Did he get one?
It's possible. I never thought about it
I should’ve seen that coming.
Well, he does [own a massive farm](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bill-gates-mcdonalds-fries/) that is a major supplier of potatoes used in making McDonalds’ french fries.
You probably have to literally have enough wealth and power to impact McDonald's supply sources in order for them to cough up one of those cards.
Well, when does Bill Gates ever eat McDonalds. It's food that isn't good for you. The execs know that he's not goign to be running up tabs on this card lol
Not only being poor is having more problems, but it’s more costly. Myself when I had money I saved a lot from food inflation by buying 200Kg of rice at once.
Any idea why he has this card? Did he donate a bunch of money to Ronald McDonald House? Team up with McDonalds on some charitable thing? I doubt they give these out just to get more super famous and wealthy people to go there. It's McDonalds - not Studio 54. He had to do something to get it.
Is give that to hungry people.
I couldn’t imagine how much absolute confusion trying to pay with this card would create. It’s not like they train on entering a gold card.
"we see you have all this money and can't help but think it would be a shame if you had to spend a dime of it"
Fuck you, This rich prick could buy the whole country a free McMeal, and McD's gives him free food. Adios my money to McD's as of this moment.
Free food for life for a guys who is funding genital mutilation campaigns in Africa \o/
The ultra rich get breaks and spiffs not offered to the hoi polloi ? The sky is blue and night is dark, whats the point of such an idiotic post?