McDonald's US consumption: menus no longer cheap

McDonald's menu is no longer cheap even in the United States

A fast-food meal that costs more in Spain than a standard daily set menu at any industrial estate bar. This scene summarizes the discontent: junk food has ceased to be the budget option and has become an expense many families can no longer afford. The complaint is not isolated. In the United States, part of the analysis argues, deteriorating purchasing power intersects with homelessness figures, housing access difficulties, and an addiction crisis that is no longer hidden. The chosen symbol is McDonald's: if the flagship of mass consumption wobbles, the rest of the hull creaks too.

What peine to McDonald's and why its value is debated

The stock trades around $288 when a decade ago it hovered near $90. A participant provides this data, admitting he is not a technical analysis expert but detects a pattern: over the last two years, the value has remained sideways and appears to form a triple top at $300, a figure that, according to that reading, could anticipate declines. The opposing interpretation is that the business model does not depend on the hamburger, but on real estate: the company leases premises to its franchisees, and its U.S. business is small compared to the rest of the world.

Here lies the crux. If quarterly accounts show weakness, the share price may plummet, another intervention argues. And if the product does not fit demand, franchises paying monthly rent may close: the franchisor loses sales royalties and rental income. Most properties are drive-thrus located in remote areas, premises worth only for a burger joint with no other commercial outlet.

Menu prices: from cheap food to occasional luxury

The historical comparison is stark. In Spain, in the early 1980s, a local burger joint charged between 60 and 90 pesetas for a burger, and a drink did not exceed 70 or 80 pesetas. A McDonald's menu never dropped below 300 or 400 pesetas, more than double. It was never cheap here: it was middle-class weekend fare, linked to leisure. Many outlets failed and closed.

In the United States, the narrative was different. Eating out was incredibly cheap years ago; today, price absurdity is the norm. Add quality issues: four burgers stacked together barely reach one centimeter of meat thickness. The "wafer technique," they joke. The result is that a subpar menu costs more than a daily set menu at any industrial estate bar.

Is McDonald's the thermometer of the U.S. economy?

The parallel drawn is explicit: if El Corte Inglés went bankrupt, it would be the symbolic collapse of the Spanish economy. What symbolism would McDonald's fall hold for a leaking U.S. economy? The question remains open. What is pointed out is that value sustainability depends not on results, but on support: Boeing is cited as an example, losing billions per quarter yet experiencing relatively contained declines given its situation.

The general stock market bubble is gaining traction as the explanation: if accounts deteriorate, share prices should be significantly lower. That they are not is read as a sign the market is not pricing in operational decline. Goldman Sachs, according to the material, plans to lay off between 1,300 and 1,800 workers, reinforcing the adjustment thesis.

Consumption cracks and the dollar is questioned

The thread shifts to the macro framework. It is claimed that the Federal Reserve props up the house of cards and is running out of ammunition. Questions arise about bets on the debut of a second civil war in the United States. Dollar disobedience is proposed as leverage: if countries stop submitting to the currency, pandemics and many global wars would end, this current argues.

De-dollarization is presented as key. Countries unwilling to submit to economic sanctions via the dollar seek alternatives. The real value of the dollar, it is argued, alarmingly approaches the image of a depreciated currency. Meanwhile, Germany's impoverishment via energy costs is described: exchanging a hot dog for a Porsche, Mercedes, or BMW.

Work, wages, and the effort narrative

The other axis is labor. It is maintained that in the United States, if you have no money, you are treated like garbage, and radical capitalism is exported worldwide. The root of work stress is not discussed on TV, it is said: employers believe paying you gives them the right to treat you thus. Against this, the classic rebuttal: there have never been fewer poor people than now, social mobility works, and societies attempting equitable distribution ended in ruin. The clash between these currents permeates the entire exchange.

The discussion intensifies when defining what constitutes work. Picking fruit, repairing cars, night fishing, building houses: that is working. Singing, playing football, acting, or doing politics, is not. The conclusion drawn is that the system allows four scoundrels to take the big share while the working class bears the rest.

The closing: the silent collapse hypothesis

The soberest summary of the thread does not talk about hamburgers. It speaks of accumulating minor disruptions in the West, a menu price resembling a pavor movie, and an agony with no less harsh solution. The lingering idea is that the USSR and its allies did not fall by a blow, but by decomposition. If something happens one day, it will be the collapse. And the disorienting fact is this: while debating whether McDonald's sinks, its stock remains at $288.