McDonald's business drops

Robert Reich - The Big Mac has a big problem. According to the CEO of McDonald’s, fast food chains saw a double-digit dip in visits from lower- and middle-income customers in the first quarter of 2025.

He says we’re becoming a two-tiered economy, and lower- and middle-income customers can no longer afford fast food.

While the stock market is riding high and the Trump administration is slashing taxes for corporations and the rich, nothing is “trickling down” to everyday Americans.

Frankly, it’s a little galling to hear the CEO of McDonald’s complaining about income inequality, because corporations like McDonald’s are making the problem worse.

They pay their workers so little that many have to rely on food stamps and Medicaid to make ends meet — for which the rest of us pay in our taxes.

Meanwhile, their CEOs are paid roughly 1,000 times more than their typical employee.

Big corporations have a history of union busting, further reducing the power of their workers to negotiate a living wage.

Finally, they make the entire economy fragile. As wealth concentrates in the richest 10 percent, the rest of America can’t afford to buy enough to keep the economy running.