OPINION
6A
T HE
D AILY A STORIAN
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2015
McDonald’s turns ‘progressive’
By MARK BITTMAN
New York Times News Service
Y
ou could almost feel sorry
for McDonald’s.
That’s an odd sentiment when
you consider that the company’s rev-
enues in 2014 were $27.4 billion and
its stock price makes it worth some-
thing like $92 billion.
It’s among the world’s most valu-
able brands and has three times the
U.S. market share of Subway, its
nearest competitor.
Enviable. Yet for years its new
products, business ventures, even so-
AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duty
cial media attempts have gone wrong:
It sold a 90 percent share in Chipotle, Diana Herrera leads protesters outside a McDonald’s, April 2, in Houston.
now one of its strongest competitors; The Fight for $15 campaign, which began calling for fast-food chains to
it introduced products like chicken raise wages and allow workers to unionize in 2012, wasn’t mollified by
wings, which went nowhere; it cre- McDonald’s announcement last week that it would boost pay.
ated a Twitter hashtag, #McDStories,
That the nonantibiotic move has
t’s like discovering the person we thought was Santa Claus that turned into a bashing event. And begin referring to itself as a “modern,
it has spectacularly failed to attract or progressive burger company.”
taken this long (Chipotle has tried to
is actually rapaciously mean old banker Mr. Henry F. Potter even hold on to millennial customers,
Is it too little, too late? Recall Po- be antibiotic-free for more than a de-
laroid trying to manage digital pho- cade, as has Panera) and is so incom-
from It’s a Wonderful Life: respected philanthropist Warren ZKR¶YHÀHGLQGURYHV
Meanwhile, it’s the most visible tography or BlackBerry struggling to plete — that is, there’s no word about
Buffet turns out to be America’s worst mobile-home slumlord. WDUJHWRIDQDOOLDQFHRIZRUNHUV¿JKW- recover after being devastated by the pork or beef, and the move is being
This is the conclusion of an in- Housing Institute. The result has ing for $15 an hour (most
iPhone. Once again, an en- phased in — also seems pathetic.
trenched company has sat (Even more pathetic is the refusal of
vestigative series by The Seattle been a hands-off approach to the McDonald’s workers make
back while nimbler, more the Food and Drug Administration to
Times and The Center for Public LQGXVWU\ DQG WR WKH VSHFL¿F SUDF- slightly more than the fed-
eral
minimum
wage,
$7.25,
with-it others ate its lunch. mandate the removal of nonmedici-
,QWHJULW\ WKH ¿UVW SDUW RI ZKLFK tices engaged in by these Berkshire
but it varies by state), and
Many of the new fast- nal antibiotics from animal produc-
was published April 2. Buffet’s +DWKDZD\RZQHG ¿UPV 6RPH RE- its food is seen as anything
food chains are paying tion, but that’s another story.)
Berkshire Hathaway, the legend- vious legislative and regulatory re- but sustainable, fresh or
These moves demonstrate that
workers better, sourcing
ary investment conglomerate that forms highlighted by the report:
healthy. A result has been
sustainable ingredients, McDonald’s is hardly a “progres-
creating different forms of sive” company but one that is merely
has built a reputation for sensible
• Mobile-home buyers now are a decline that includes a
whopping
15
percent
drop
fast food and even making trying in a halfhearted way to catch
acquisitions of famous American usually forced to take out person-
in its U.S. operating in-
better burgers. Now Mc- up with changing market norms and
companies, owns a veritable rat’s al-property loans, meaning that come in the last quarter of
Donald’s is trying to play to anticipate inevitable regulation.
Mark Bittman
nest of mobile-home interests col- WKHLU KRPHV DUH FODVVL¿HG LQ WKH 2014.
If McDonald’s were truly pro-
catch-up.
lectively known as Clayton.
same way as motor vehicles and
The company is los-
But it’s using half mea- gressive, what would it do? It might
“Buffett’s mobile-home empire can be seized with little or no warn- ing customers to higher-end burger sures, and that’s the problem. It’s revamp the menu in favor of sustain-
promises low-income Americans ing or legal oversight. Usually, chains like Shake Shack and Five not like the competition is going to ably sourced and fresher food (it’s
the dream of homeownership. But unless the mobile home is tied to- Guys, to small but intriguing startups go away, and the brand may be per- worth noting that in Britain, McDon-
that makes locally sourced, slow food manently tarnished. Fixing that isn’t ald’s uses free-range eggs and organ-
Clayton relies on predatory sales gether with a land title, judicial appealing, like Dig Inn, to Chick- going to be easy, and it’s not even ic milk), and might increase its work-
practices, exorbitant fees, and in- foreclosure protections don’t apply. ¿O$DURXQG
clear whether ers’ wages (and hours) to something
approaching a living wage.
terest rates that can exceed 15 per-
• Despite being told 15 years ago billion in sales
it’s possible.
It may be that the biggest bene-
What Mc-
cent, trapping many buyers in loans by Congress to make mobile homes in 2013) and, of ‘Hey McDonald’s,
they can’t afford and in homes that more affordable by investigating course, to Chi- let’s be blunt/This D o n a l d ’ s ¿FLDU\RI0F'RQDOG¶VUHFHQWPRYHV
potle, which has
should do is go is the food movement, which, smell-
DUHDOPRVWLPSRVVLEOHWRVHOORUUH¿- issues like loan terms, the federal sales in the $4
in and re- ing blood, continues to apply pres-
is just a PR stunt.’ all
nance,” the investigation found. See Department of Housing and Urban billion range.
ally transform sure. (In response to the raise, some
the story at tinyurl.com/n7pnlsf.
Affairs has yet to do so. This con-
McDonald’s
itself, because demonstrating workers chanted:
Mobile homes are a decent tributes to issues like Clayton get- can’t get a break. In the last two the effect of positive change would “Hey McDonald’s, let’s be blunt/
housing option for about 20 million ting away with loan interest rates far months, the company has made sev- be immeasurable. Instead it tries to This is just a PR stunt.”) And that
Americans. Thanks to square-foot in excess of the industry as a whole. eral well-publicized big announce- play it both ways, controlling what movement continues to gain credibil-
ments that were widely greeted with franchisees buy and sell but insisting ity as it attends more to the rights of
prices that can be far lower than Nationwide, Clayton’s rates aver- yawns or jeers.
that it cannot dictate how they treat humans than those of animals - not
stick-built homes constructed on- aged 6.8 percent more than those
7KH¿UVWZDVDGHFLVLRQWRSKDVH employees. Thus the wage increase that animals don’t matter, but it’s all
site and arrangements like leasing for a typical home loan in the 2010 out chickens raised using antibiotics touches only around 11 percent of relative.
It’s great that McDonald’s
rather buying the land on which to 2013 period, compared to 4 per- meant to treat humans. The second the chain’s workers, and workers im-
blinked.
I’d love to see it become
was
to
unilaterally
raise
the
salaries
mediately
decried
it
as
inadequate.
they sit, mobile homes are often cent more for other mobile-home
of those minimum-wage workers (Even Wal-Mart did better.) No one a truly progressive company — I’d
WKHGHIDXOWFKRLFHIRU¿UVWWLPHUX- lenders. In Oregon, Clayton’s rates the company directly employs by turns down a raise, but this one virtu- even help them if I could — but if
ral home buyers, retirees, the dis- exceeded 7.5 percent more during at least a dollar an hour, granting a ally guarantees that most of the com- that’s not in the cards, it would be
abled, immigrants and the working that period, whereas other lenders small amount of paid vacation time pany’s workers will remain eligible ¿QH WR VHH D FRQWLQXLQJ GHFOLQH LQ
WRFRPSDQ\HPSOR\HHVDQG¿QDQFLDO for food stamps, thus perpetuating its business. Either would be a sat-
poor. Here in coastal Oregon and averaged only 3 percent more.
Washington, where available jobs
• Clayton and related Berkshire assistance for education to all work- the public subsidy for McDonald’s isfactory ending to the McDonald’s
story.
sometimes don’t pay enough to af- +DWKDZD\ ¿UPV DUH GHVFULEHG LQ ers in its system. And the third was to labor force.
ford a mortgage on a conventional the investigation as engaging in
house, mobile homes put roofs over a wide variety of practices that
the heads of many in the hospitality most people would consider slea-
and seafood industries.
zy — such as running multiple
By ROGER COHEN
be a good thing, because it
hard-liners was clear. Once
In other words, there’s nothing mobile-home lots under different
New York Times News Service
VWLPXODWHV FUHDWLYH UHÀHF-
again, Rouhani suggested
wrong with mobile homes. But names in the same city that pretend
he is more courageous and
tion. This breakthrough with
there’s a lot wrong with taking to compete against one another,
resourceful than Iran’s oth-
ONDON — The nuclear Iran, impossible without the
advantage of those who lack good and leading borrowers to believe
er presidential reformist,
tireless
work
of
Secretary
of
deal with Iran is still only
Mohammad Khatami, who
State John Kerry, looks like
alternatives.
they can only qualify for loans
preliminary, but if concluded it the cornerstone of Obama’s
spoke a good line but could
The Times/CPI story makes it through Clayton-owned lenders.
will represent the most import- foreign policy legacy.
not deliver.
clear that beyond simple corporate
All this is an ugly picture, to
Many Iranians are
Of course, the president
ant
U.S.
diplomatic
achievement
greed, there is much blame to go which Clayton and Berkshire
rubbing
their eyes in dis-
needed
partners.
He
found
around for political leaders, who Hathaway have barely bothered since the Dayton Accords ended them in other major powers,
belief: Obama’s post-ac-
Roger
cord statement broadcast
have acquiesced to millions of in- to respond. They must do so. And the Bosnian war two decades ago. but most of all in President
Cohen
That agreement was imperfect. Hassan Rouhani of Iran,
LQ 7HKUDQ VHO¿HV WDNHQ
dustry lobbying in recent years from state and federal intervention is
against that TV backdrop
6WLOO QRW DQRWKHU VKRW ZDV ¿UHG LQ who, as Karim Sadjadpour
a trade group called Manufactured long overdue.
anger after the loss of more than of the Carnegie Endowment for Inter- became popular); praise of Obama’s
national Peace observed to me, “aspires understanding of Iran from former
100,000 lives.
to be Iran’s Deng Xiaoping.” Rouhani’s President Hashemi Rafsanjani; sup-
7KLV DFFRUG WRR UHÀHFWV KDUVK UH- mantra is: Preserve the system, fast-for- port for the preliminary agreement at
Friday prayers. A revolution that de-
alities — Iran has mastered the nucle- ward the economy, open to the world.
Rouhani does not aspire to be Iran’s livered not freedom but oppression
t’s not too late” could become ness that was recruited to Port prop- ar fuel cycle — yet represents the best
the motto of the Port of Astoria. erty on the premise there would be a possibility by far of holding Iran short Gorbachev. His thing is adaptation, not is now promising reasonable adapta-
transfor- tion to changed times. But of course
After a disastrous decision to close boatyard. Tim Hill of J&H Boatworks of a bomb,
ring-fencing
m a t i o n . Iran has often veered from reason.
its boatyard, Port Executive Director has overseen a number of high-visi- its nuclear
Renewed disappointment is not im-
He is of
Institutionalized
Jim Knight on March 17 reversed bility boat reconditioning and recon- capacities,
the sys- plausible. There are implacable oppo-
course, saying “It’s never too late to ¿JXULQJ SURMHFWV ZKLOH DOVR EXLOG- c o a x i n g
discord is far better tem, hence nents of détente in both countries. The
his room supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khame-
make the right decision.”
ing boats. Steve Fick of Fishhawk change in
than
traumatized
the
Islamic
for maneu- nei, has been silent, even if things could
Now the Port has appointed a Fisheries works at the epicenter of our
Republic,
ver. Un- never have come this far without his
boatyard committee to build a strat- UHJLRQ¶V¿VKLQJLQGXVWU\
alienation.
and usher-
like Iran’s EDFNLQJ+HPD\ZHOO¿JKWWRNHHSWKH
egy. The 11-person group looks like
No business these days — public ing a hope-
hard-lin- deal hermetic, sealed off from a wider
the real deal. There are boat own- or private — lives in isolation. Many ful society closer to the world. If the ers, he believes preservation of Iran’s opening. Rouhani takes an opposite
ers and others who work in the real of us seek advice and consultation yardstick is effectiveness, and it must theocracy is compatible with — per- view: He wants a deal that is a catalyst
world of boat repair. A few names UHJXODUO\7KH3RUWZLOOEHQH¿WHQRU- be, no conceivable alternative even haps dependent on — normalized rela- WR¿[LQJ,UDQ¶VUHODWLRQVZLWKWKHZRUOG
especially stand out. Kurt Englund mously from the real-life knowledge comes close. Perfection is not part of tions with the rest of the world, includ- Obama, too, hopes that a concluded
diplomacy’s repertoire.
ing the United States. That is a potential deal “ushers in a new era in U.S.-Irani-
of Englund Marine represents a busi- this group will bring to the table.
an relations.”
President Barack Obama, through game-changer.
$W WKH YHU\ OHDVW LI ¿QDOL]HG WKH
his courageous persistence, has
3HUKDSVWKHPRVWVLJQL¿FDQWZRUGV
changed the strategic dynamic in the after the agreement came from Rou- deal condemns the United States and
Middle East. As he reassures worried hani: “Some think that we must either Iran to interact for more than a decade.
allies, especially Israel and Saudi Ara- ¿JKW WKH ZRUOG RU VXUUHQGHU WR ZRUOG 7KH\ ZLOO EH LQ FRQÀLFW DERXW PRVW
onstruction workers have be lower than had been projected. bia, he has also signaled that the U.S. powers. We say it is neither of those, things. That’s all right. Institutional-
noted how polite and appre-
The best news is that the city’s will pursue its national interest, even there is a third way. We can have co- ized discord is far better than trauma-
ciative Astorians have been while Public Works Department has LQ WKH IDFH RI ¿HUFH FULWLFLVP ZKHUH operation with the world.” He added: tized alienation. I cannot see the ac-
having their streets torn up to ac- planned this extensive project the logic of that interest is irrefutable. “With those countries with which we cord being hermetic. There’s too much
Blocking Iran’s path to a bomb, avoid- have a cold relationship, we would like pent-up expectation among Iran’s
commodate the Combined Sewer thoroughly. And the city has been ing another war with a Muslim country, a better relationship. And if we have youth, too much economic possibility,
2YHUÀRZSURMHFW7KLVLVDPRQX- entrepreneurial in seeking grants and re-establishing diplomatic contact tension or hostility with any countries, too much pro-Western sentiment, too
mental public works project made and federal stimulus money to car- with a stable power hostile to the Islam- we want an end to tension and hostility much U.S. business interest in Iran. Of
course, that’s what Khamenei is afraid
ic State amount to a compelling case for with those countries.”
necessary by federal mandate.
ry a share of the costs.
7KHUH ZHUH QR TXDOL¿HUV WKHUH ² of. Yet he’s come this far.
Derrick DePledge reported last
Updating the subsurface in- an America facing a fragmenting Mid-
The 40th anniversary of the rev-
not for “the Great Satan,” as the United
Friday that Astoria water ratepay- frastructure of a city as old as dle Eastern order.
It is not a bad thing to remind allies States has been widely known in Iran olution, and the seizing of American
ers could get some relief. In es- Astoria has turned up some sur- that enjoying irrevocable support from since the theocratic revolution of 1979, hostages in Iran, is four years off. I’d
sence, the rate of increase in the prises. The city has dealt with the United States cannot mean exercis- not even for Israel. The message to the bet on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran re-
ing a veto on U.S. actions. Indeed, it may ¿JKWRUVXUUHQGHU KHDGVLQWKHVDQG opening then. The ice has broken.
consumption surcharge will likely those admirably.
SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager
Who knew?
I
Warren Buffet’s company is a
mobile-home slumlord
Reopening the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
L
‘I
C
It’s not too late
Doing the job well