McDonalds cuts back to, er, beef up, profits

Now here’s an interesting thing: McDonalds is pulling out of three countries, shutting 175 outlets and laying off 600 staff because of falling sales. Needless to say, the Middle East has suddenly become a profit-free zone, and sales in the UK have not recovered from the BSE scandal — which has put a lot of people off eating beef they haven’t been introduced to beforehand. But the really interesting thing of course is that McDonalds, like Coca Cola, is a token for American values. If it is really a victim of anti-Americanism, then the US corporate world will sit up and take notice. Who’ll be next? Disney? Microsoft? Meanwhile, fat people in the US are suing fast food chains for selling them the gunge that made them obese. Isn’t capitalism wonderful.