The hidden cost of cheap food

Most people reading this post are familiar with the feeling of pulling out of the drive through at McDonalds or Dunkin' Donuts feeling good about the amount of money remaining in your wallet. With gimmicks like the dollar menu and the happy meal, fast-food chains are able to globally keep there prices artificially low at the checkout counter by externalizing the majority of their costs and imposing them on U.S. tax payers. So although you only pay $4 for a big mac, the 10 largest fast-food companies cost tax payers $3.8 billion each year in public assistance for their employees (1), not to mention the estimated $414 billion in externalized costs such as environmental damage and health care for Americans suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and numerous other health problems accelerated by American's over-consumption of fast food products (2).  While the latter figure requires much more explanation, the $3.8 billion in public assistance is almost irrefutable.

Some of you may remember the nationwide strikes in August of this year, when thousands of fast-food workers posted up outside of popular fast-food stores such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Jimmy Johns demanding a "living wage" of $15 per hour, up from their current salary of $9 per hour and the right to organize a union without retaliation. (3) How would an increase in fast-food worker pay decrease the tax burden on the rest of Americans you might ask? Well, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and public benefit programs, "52 percent of fast-food cooks, cashiers, and other front-line staff relied on at least one form of public assistance such as Medicaid, food stamps, and the Earned Income Tax Credit program between 2007 and 2011."(1) If fast-food industry, generating an estimated $200 billion in sales each year were to pay their workers more, it is more than likely that the number of people requiring assistance from government programs would drop dramatically and the cost would shift from american's pockets to the fast-food employers.

Fast-food chain representatives contend that the majority of their workers are teenagers who rely on their parents and other outside sources for financial support, however a recent study found the median age of fast-food employees to be 28. An article posted on Aljzeera's website entitled Unhappy meal: Fast-food workers want unions, like their elders tells the story of Jonathan Lamb, a 24-year-old Detroit native raising a 9-month-old baby with his girlfriend in a small one-bedroom apartment. Both Jonathan and his girlfriend work at Checkers Drive-in earning a $7.50 hourly wage. Although they rely on food stamps for groceries, they still must rely on family for help with covering the cost of diapers and other necessities for their baby. Many fast-food workers have tried to increase their income by taking second or third jobs, however the irregularity of hours from week to week makes it impossible in many cases to coordinate weekly schedules between two workplaces.

As delicious and cheap as fast-food products may be, the industry is increases the poverty line, tax burden, health problems, and environmental impact of americans. It is in every sensible americans best interest to decrease support for these fast-food chains, even if it means cutting back from three to just one visit to a fast-food restaurant each week.