HW 7d Reading Response

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

Chapter 1: The Founding Fathers

Precis:
The sacrifices we make for something can either affect us in the future or expand our growth. Carl Karcher helped to create the fast food industry through his persistance to stay in the game even with all the competition from McDonald's and the development of several other fast food businesses.

Gems:
"My whole philosophy is-never give up..The word can't should not exist...Have a great attitude" (Pg. 27).

Thoughts:
1. If people were more informed about fast food restaurants do you think they would apply that knowledge to their daily lives?
2. McDonald's is a franchise, it is in politics, and sports and many other things, making it that much harder to change our natural way of life.

Chapter 2: Your Trusted Friends

Precis:
As competition intensified between McDonalds and other fast food restaurants, McDonalds found new ways to keep their business sales up. One of the ways in which sales increased was through children. Advertisements were created to use children to persuade their parents to bring them to McDonalds.

Gems:
"The aim of most children's advertising is straightforward: get kids to nag their parents and nag them well" (Pg. 43).
"The fundamental goal of the "My McDonald's" campaign that stemmed from these proposals was to make a customer feel that McDonald's "cares about me" and "knows about me" (Pg. 50).

Thoughts:
1. Good marketing strategies come when you include the influences into your plans. For example: if your mom takes you to McDonald's she may order food for your family and that gives McDonald's a couple more customers.
2. What makes McDonald's so special, why are there more McDonald's in the world and not Wendy's or Burger King?

Chapter 3:Behind the Counter

Precis:
WW2 helped to create economic prosperity for certain businesses that's why fast-food restaurants succeeded. McDonald's is a business that likes to keep processes simple, their is an instruction manual that breaks down how every single object is used. Behind the counter is where it all goes down and you notice specific patterns among workers and a certain age group as well.

Gems:
"Her family's modest townhouse sits beside a busy highway on the south side of Colorado Springs,in a largely poor and working-class neighborhood" (Pg. 67).
"At Burger King restaurants, frozen hamburger patties are placed on a conveyor belt and emerge from a broiler ninety seconds later fully cooked" (Pg. 69).
"Godbout called McDonald's "one of the most anti-union companies on the planet" (Pg. 77).

Thoughts:
1. What would happen if a manager wanted to start a union, would the corporation "leaders" handle that situation?
2. Why isn't McDonald's willing to compromise as a result of all the difficulties the restaurant has been facing with workers?
3. It's very interesting that most of the people working in McDonald's come from poor or working class families and their job becomes their life. Sometimes when you get a job it becomes more important than everything else because you feel like an adult but in a way McDonald's is robbing its workers of their freedom and salary.
4. It's sad how some people can look down on someone for having a job at certain fast food restaurants. The most important thing is that the person is working because they know there is no one else to care for them at home.
5. What are the ethnic percentages among the customers?

Chapter 4: Success

Precis: McDonald's and other fast food restaurants are not the problem. Everyone is being squeezed by the government and those who have more power can avoid being squeezed. Opening new franchises is the way these businesses succeed.

Gems:
"Set goals to meet key people. Imagine yourself talking to them. Plan in advance what questions to ask them...When there is an important individual you want to network with, be prepared to say something insightful to them that shows you're aware of their achievements.." (Pg. 106).
"I see people who achieve these conventional goals," he says in a mild, even tone. "None of it matters" (Pg. 107).

Thoughts:
1. Their marketing strategies are good but there are a number of people being exploited in fast food businesses. Illegal immigrants, teens, and the people that are buying the products.
2. When they had the fast food convention it was interesting reading about the things the speakers said to the audience. They gave them words of wisdom and possibly helped some people to realize that you don't get joy from material things because they can be gone in a second.

Chapter 5: Why the Fries taste Good?

Precis: We prosper because the things we make originate from us and it's better when people don't follow the things we created. When people do follow our lead it becomes more difficult to succeed in competition. Our consumption of potatoes is a big part of society as well as it's production.

Gems:
"The only thing I did smart, and just remember this- ninety-nine percent of people would have sold out when they got their first twenty-five or thirty million. I didn't sell out. I just hung on" (Pg. 116).
"You increasingly find two classes of people in rural Idaho: the people who run the farms and the people who own them" (Pg. 118).
"If potato farmers don't badn together they'll wind up sharecroppers" (Pg.119).

Thoughts:
1. It's interesting when businesses are always in competition with one another when it would be much easier for them if they worked together. There are some skills that each business that someone else can benefit from.
2. Businesses want to sell as much as they can. This is a good thing but sometimes there are disadvantages to wanting to sell as much as possible in a small amount of time.

Chapter 6: On the Range
Precis: As meatpacking industries become more high in demand, the need for ranchers is decreasing. Ranchers pay is decreasing and they fear that they will become powerless and in debt. As society progresses their is less demand for farms, and the work farmers contribute to the meat industry.

Gems:
"Ranchers currently face a host of economic problems: rising land prices, stagnant beef prices, oversupplies of cattle, increased shipments of live cattle from Candada and Mexico, development pressures, inheritance taxes, health scares about beef" (Pg. 136).
"Anger toward the large meatpackers is growing, and a new range war threatens to erupt, one that will determine the social and economic structure of the rural West" (Pg. 137).
"Over the last twenty years, the rancher's share of every retail dollar spent on beef has fallen from 63 cents to 46 cents" (Pg. 138).
"Instead of buying their own ranches, the meatpacking companies have been fincancing a handful of large feedlot owners who lease ranches and run cattle for them" (Pg. 138).

Thoughts:
1. If a selection of ranch owners are chosen to lease ranches and run cattle for them I can understand why some ranch owners share's are starting to decrease. There may be a number one farm that these companies look to for their meat and they raise that industry higher than the others. If you are financing for a farm of course the farm owner will make more money.
2. Are farm owners rights being stripped from them once they decide to partner with businesses that rely on the meat industry?
3. I think farms should continue to run because everything that is done on farms are more natural. A farm may not be easy to maintain but i'm sure that once you get the hang of things you can handle it. Machines can break down but the farms will always be there to provide meat.

Chapter 7: Cogs in the Great Machine

Precis: Workers at slaughterhouses are being exploited. Illegal immigrants dominate jobs at meatpacking industries because they will not organize unions and they are willing to work for little pay. These jobs are dangerous because these immigrants are not provided with health insurance, and they are replaced very easily.

Gems:
"Insurance is not available to new employees until they've worked there for a period of a year or, in some cases, six months. Vacations don't acrue until the second year. There are some economies, frankly, that result from hiring new employees" (Pg. 161).
"Far from being a liability, a high turnover rate in the meatpacking industry-as in the fast food industry-also helps to maintain a work-force that is harder to unionize and much easier to control" (Pg. 161).
"Mexington"- as it is now called, affectionately by some, disparagingly by others-is an entirely new kind of American town, one that has been transfigured to meet the needs of a modern slaughterhouse" (Pg. 165).

Thoughts:
1. There is so much corruption in the meatpacking industry, not that I wouldn't guess, this book confirmed it. Workers are being exploited because they hire workers that will not compain about the working conditions. Whenever someone attempts to organize a union they move the plant to another location as a warning not to organize unions.
2. Farmers are being cheated out of their money because one company had a law suit filed against them because they purposely misweighed grain to buy it at a lower price from the farmers.
3. I can't imagine what life would be like working in a meat-packing industry. Workers constantly smell burning hair, blood, and an odor of rotten eggs. They have gotten used to this smell and this is their way of life because they are willing to do anything to provide for their family. I can tell they have great family values because they are willing to put up with anything just to provide money for their families.

Chapter 8: The Most Dangerous Job

Precis: Working in the meatpacking industry is one of the most dangerous jobs. There are different tasks that require a great amount of sacrifice and workers are more often than not, injured. The IBP purposely treats patients with minor injuries so they don't have to report those case to the OSHA. Workers are used up until they are weak and can barely walk, they are then replaced like old shoes.

Thoughts:

1. It's sad the way workers are treated. I remembered some scenes from the movie Super Size me but I didn't know the truth behind the way workers are treated.

2. Do you think the workers organize secret unions outside of work that no one knows about?Are they doing something to protect their rights or at least expose these industries?

3. How can the supervisors be so heartless towards these workers. Most of them have given up everything just to work in these factories where they are mistreated and injured.

Gems:

1. "During a three month period in 1985, the first log recorded 1,800 injuries and illnesses at the plant. The OHSA log recorded only 160- a discrepancy of more than 1,000 percent" (Pg. 180).

2. "The court found that seriously injured workers were required to show up at the IBP plant briefly each day so the company could avoid reporting "lost workdays" to OHSA" (Pg. 181).

3. "They used me to the point where I had no body parts left to give," Kenny said, struggling to maintain his composure. "Then they just tossed me into the trash can. Once strong and powerfully built, he now walks with difficulty, tires easily, and feels useless, as though his life were over. He is forty-six years old" (Pg. 190).

Chapter 9: What's in the Meat?

Preics: If your cattle has not been cleaned properly it's possible that there is feces in your meat. There was an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 due to improper sterilization of the animals. E.coli is a potentially harmful, deathly stomach virus that developed around the time of AIDS.

Gems:

"The meatpacking system that arose to supply the nation's fast food chains- an industry molded to serve their needs, to provide massive amounts of uniform ground beef so that all of McDonald's hamburgers would taste the same- has proved to be an extremely efficient system for spreading disease" (Pg. 196).

"Stomachs and intestines are still pulled out of cattle by hand; if the job is not performed carefully, the contents of the digestivesystem may spill everywhere" (Pg. 203).

Thoughts:

1. If there was an outbreak of E.coli do you think it could be prevented?

2. I remember the process of taking out the animals intestines mentioned some other time. How do the workers take the necessary steps to make sure their are no intetines or other insides left in the stomach of the cattle.

3. Do you think giving cattle dirty water and dirty food has an effect on their bodies, which then causes viruses that are passed on to humans?

Chapter 10: Global Realization

Precis: "Americanization" has lead to an epidemic of different cultures attempting to follow the American way of life. This way of life is not necessarily the best to follow because no country has higher obesity rates than the United States.

Thoughts:

1. The connection between the fall of communism and food is intersting because after winning the war when we got to take colonies we imperialized those countries and left something from the United States in their culture. We are constantly in cotnrol of other countries, we would never stand for another culture/country trying to destroy the United States.

2. It is true that other countries want to be just like the USA because their are advances in technology, and other things that make our country seem more attractive. What these people don't realize is that they are not following the correct way of life. If those countries continue following us theyir obesity rates may increase and everything will collapse, like the fall of communism.

Gems:

"As people eat more meals outside the home, they consume more calories, less fiber, and more fat" (Pg. 241).

"The kiddie factor alone- children urging their parents to shop at Wal-Mart because they have a McDonald's inside the store- could generate an upsurge in customers" (Pg. 233).

"The golden arches have become so commonplace in Germany that they seem almost invisible" (Pg. 233).

Epilogue: Have it your Way

Precis: Officials claim that the United States has the safest food supply in the world. This statement has been proven wrong through outbreaks of E.Coli 0157:H7 and the exploitation of workers in the factories, and the fast food restaurants themselves. There are alternatives to living and eating healthier, including the source of our meat supplies. There are ranches such as: Dale Lasater, which was run by a man who bred cattle in inexpensive, less harmful ways. There are better ways to eat, it's our choice to decide what we want to do about it.

Gems:

"Their philosophy of cattle ranching is based upon a simple talent: "Nature is smart as hell" (Pg. 256).

"According to the consumers polled by Restaurants and Institutions in 2000, the lowest-quality food of any major hamburger chain was served at McDonald's" (Pg. 260).

"If all that mattered were the unfettered right to buy and sell, tainted food could not be kept off supermarket shelves, toxic waste could be dumped next door to elementary schools, and every American family could import an indentured servant (or two), paying them with meals instead of money" (Pg. 261).

Thoughts:

1. This book has opened my eyes to the reality of food and it's connection to the government, and that connection to our way of life. Big businesses have begun to control our society and they are squeezing the workers, and consumers because they want to make money.

2. A question that seems to come up is : "How can we avoid eating this food?" as Ally said. As I began to think about it for days I realize that it takes extra work to eat healthier but if it's worth the work, and it is then we will take the necessary steps to eat healthy. There is also a point of view that it doesn't matter what you eat because if 70% of the meat we eat os coming from factories that are not so clean, theat are cleansing meat with amonia, etc; there is no way to avoid eating this meat.

3. A point that was made in the movie Food, Inc that connects to Fast Food nation is when a family was talking about their eating habits. The father had diabeties and instead of changing his eating habits they remained the same. Both parents worked all the time and the last thing they wanted to do when they came home was cook. When they went to the grocery store they found that a head of broccoli is more expensive than a cheeseburger. These big corporations know this information and they use it to their benefit. It is more expensive to eat healthier and that is why there is such an outbreak of obesity and diabeties. I don't think out eating habits will change too much beacuse the big corpporations have some connection to the government and each law that attempts to be passed does not go through because of the connections these businesses have with the government.