Bill Gates Foundation Invests In McDonald's
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, built on Microsoft money and supposedly dedicated to global health issues, is a major investor in junk-food giant McDonald's, Gates disclosed yesterday. So while Gates and company are curing diseases like malaria and tuberculosis in the third world, they're FINANCING DISEASES like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the industrialized world.
Labels: Bill Gates, Gates Foundation, McDonald's
5:29 AM * PERMALINK * 24 comments
Comments:
how is this any different than taxes on cigarettes to finance health care? if Gates only invested in "good" stocks, there wouldn't be any money for curing diseases. Organic foods and wind power aren't exactly burning up the stock market.
740,000 shares, huh? i'm too lazy to look up how many total shares there are, but perhaps those shares=votes=a voice for change. dunno.
Oh please, Mike, "Financing diseases..." Hopefully that was a joke. Please don't go down the path of blaming McD for causing obesity. That's a dangerous raod to walk. Next thing you know Nokia causes brain cancer, the power company is responsible for all electrocutions, and the water company is responsible for most drownings... Must we stop them all? Some lawyer will think so. Or, let's just say that people should take responsibility for their own actions and behaviors..
I don't think that's quite a fair rap. Junk food doesn't cause obesity etc. Eating TOO MUCH of it does. How is this McD's fault?
Did you know drinking too much water can KILL YOU? And yet we don't have any regulation on the bottle water industry? Someone please think of the children!
***** how is this any different than taxes on cigarettes to finance health care? *****
The difference is that taxes retard business, while investment enables it.
***** Organic foods and wind power aren't exactly burning up the stock market. *****
The reason for that is that asshats like Bill Gates don't live by their own principles. If they did, healthy and environmentally sound stocks WOULD be burning up the stock market.
Mike Elgan
***** Nokia causes brain cancer, the power company is responsible for all electrocutions, and the water company is responsible for most drownings. *****
Nokia, the power company and the water company don't spend billions of dollars to market to very young children and get them brainwashed with branding before they're old enough to know anything about the obesity and diabetes that will ruin their lives.
Have you seen THIS STUDY?
That's quite a result. You and I helped pay for that marketing, apparently, when we bought our overpriced copy of Windows.
Mike Elgan
***** Junk food doesn't cause obesity etc. Eating TOO MUCH of it does. *****
And smoking cigarettes doesn't give you cancer, just smoking too many does.
I'm just a lowly technology columnist, and I managed to make sure my 401k money isn't invested in McDonald's or other companies that market deadly junk food to toddlers.
I'm sure the world's richest man who claims to have devoted his life to public health can do it, too.
***** Did you know drinking too much water can KILL YOU? *****
From THIS STUDY: "type 1 diabetes, which usually strikes in youth, are up 40%-60% for white children and 20%-40% for black and Hispanic children over previous estimates"
Is there a deadly epidemic that's growing at two-digit percentages cause by the overconsumption of water?
Mike Elgan
How about concentrating on the real problem, the parents not teaching their kids about proper nutrition, than a restaurant that's been around for decades before this "epidemic" started? Especially since concentrating on a scary clown means you ignore Burger King and all the others.
If you really care about kids, your first target should be the automotive industry since car wrecks kill more kids than anything else. I think swimming pools are second IIRC.
***** How about concentrating on the real problem, the parents not teaching their kids about proper nutrition *****
It takes a village to feed a child. So, yes, somebody should teach parents about healthy food for their kids (actually, my wife does that for a living).
Meanwhile, parents (wisely) don't come to me for nutrition advice. My job here is to point to and sometimes comment on the nexus between technology and culture, hopefully to must a few myths and expose a few hypocrites -- like Mr. Gates here.
Mike Elgan
Mike,
We love you man, but we all think you're missing it on this one. All companies, and rightfully so, spend millions of dollars (or whatever they reasonably can) to market their products. I don't fault Phillip Morris, McDonalds, Boeing, Motorola, or anyone else for doing this. If their products are unsafe, let the government mandate the appropriate warnings, and let the people decide for themselves and their children if they want to use those products. If you want the governments to start making these decisions for us, I can’t imagine where that would stop.
***** We love you man, but we all think you're missing it on this one. *****
Hey, don't speak for Raw Feeders without polling them first. That's MY job! ; )
I agree with you that federal government regulation isn't the solution. I didn't call for that.
And I agree with you that people need to make informed decisions. That's why I'm informing people.
The link between fast food and disease is well established.
The Gates Foundation exists in part to cure diseases, but invests in a company that make foods that cause disease.
Which part of this do you disagree with?
Mike Elgan
I still think the magnitude of hypocrisy is a bit overstated. McDonalds isn't the paragon of nutrition, but they've been responding to public demand by advocating an active lifestyle, introducing bottled water, apple dippers, and yogurt sides, and by making the already-available nutrition information more prominent. Wouldn't you want to support those moves as opposed to Burger King's "stackers" that remove those pesky veggies from the burger?
Malaria is easy, it's directly caused by the bite of an infected mosquito. Get rid of the mosquitoes or stop the biting and you've solved the malaria problem. Obesity isn't as clear cut, get rid of McDonalds and you've still got overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. I would argue MS has done more damage through its efforts with Media Center PCs trying to add more incentive to stay stationary rather than get exercise.
***** I still think the magnitude of hypocrisy is a bit overstated.*****
I didn't say anything about the "magnitude" -- only the fact of -- Gates' hypocrocy.
***** McDonalds isn't the paragon of nutrition, but they've been responding to public demand by advocating an active lifestyle, introducing bottled water, apple dippers, and yogurt sides, and by making the already-available nutrition information more prominent.*****
This is the kind of thing that giant corporations do. They compile a list of going-through-the-motions "initiatives" so everyone's behind is covered and the money can keep flowing.
***** Wouldn't you want to support those moves as opposed to Burger King's "stackers" that remove those pesky veggies from the burger? ****
No, I don't think anyone who knows anything about or cares anything about health should support any of these companies in any way.
***** Get rid of McDonalds and you've still got overeating and a sedentary lifestyle.*****
Whatever.
It's still absurd for a philanthropy focused on ending disease to invest in a company that sells disease on bun.
Mike Elgan
yes Phil I agree always blame someone and something other than our own weaknesses~~They have a right to make money where he can and they are sharing in that wealth
unlike many others in the same $$$ boat.
***** They have a right to make money where he can and they are sharing in that wealth *****
And I have a right to say, "dude, don't share that wealth with McDonald's!"
Mike Elgan
They also increased their stake in Eastman Kodak despite their key role in a lot of the world's kiddie porn, polluting the environment with film processing chemicals and used up digital cameras and undoubtedly using third world child labor in some factories associated with its products. Progressive insures cars, they make payoffs to guys who run down young kids. Crown Castle is a wireless company, some think their towers cause birth defects and cancer. Hypocrisy is everywhere if you look hard enough.
Your belief that McDonalds is an evil corporation and any good they do is naught but lip service borders on religious fervor, apparently not everyone here agrees that giving parents the choice of a treat for their kids with apple wedges instead of fries is a step in the wrong direction. If you don't like it, don't invest but don't be surprised if not everyone agrees.
***** If you don't like it, don't invest but don't be surprised if not everyone agrees. *****
I don't like it. I don't invest. And I'm not surprise that not everyone agrees. If everyone agreed, McDonald's wouldn't have the money to spread the gospel of junkfood worldwide at the rate they're currently doing.
***** religious fervor *****
Posting a short blog item hardly constitutes "religious fervor."
Mike Elgan
I think you may be overstating your case here just a bit, McDonalds food doesn't cause obesity or diabieties, those are more along the lines of a lifestyle disease. Exercising and leading an active lifestyle and eatting that stuff once in a while won't cause obesity, at best they are enabliers, but not the cause.
And just because a child wants that stuff, doesn't mean you have to give it to them, so that is the parents fault for giving in because it is easier then saying no.
***** McDonalds food doesn't cause obesity or diabieties, those are more along the lines of a lifestyle disease.*****
Yes, McDonald's food causes obesity and diabetes. Fast food, store-bought junk food (made largely of the same scientifically engineered stuff (plus a lack of excersie) is exactly what causes these diseases, and contributes to cardiovascular disease, cancer and many other diseases.
This is not a point of controversy. The link between junk food and these diseases is perfectly well established: http://tinyurl.com/2qt97d
I'm curious why you think it's so absolutely necessary for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to invest in the largest junk food maker in the world? There are thousands of companies that either contribute nothing to major diseases, and thousands more that actually sell products that make you healthier.
Please tell me: Why do you think this is necessary?
Mike Elgan
"Please tell me: Why do you think this is necessary?"
Perhaps to help influence the diets of millions of children worldwide in one fell swoop? As an opportunity to provide research into foods that kids want to eat that aren't nearly so bad? Just to support the Ronald McDonald House? Or maybe, just maybe, because it's a prudent investment and they don't mind using profits from McDonalds to help offset real suffering in other countries - ones that would gladly accept the burden of obesity because it's a lot better than starving to death.
We're not sure why you feel it's so evil to invest in them. McDonalds does NOT cause obesity any more than GM causes car accidents. Like so many other things abuse of McDonalds' products causes health issues. By your logic anyone who has eaten there once must be obese and diabetic, I eat there (and other fast food) all the time and I am neither.
***** We're not sure why you feel it's so evil to invest in them. *****
Who's "we"?
If you're not sure why I feel that way, please read my comments.
***** McDonalds does NOT cause obesity any more than GM causes car accidents.*****
Again, yes: McDonald's causes obesity, etc. I'm not going to link to yet another article that states definitively that junk food causes these diseases.
An accident is an accident, and it's possible to drive a GM car every day for 50 years and never suffer an accident.
If you ate at McDonald's every day, you would be dead in five years.
If you eat at McDonald's a lot, you get really, really sick. If you eat there a little, you get a little sick.
***** By your logic anyone who has eaten there once must be obese and diabetic *****
Really? What a ridiculous thing for you to say.
Below are five facts. Which do you believe are false?
Fact 1: diabetes and obesity exist.
Fact 2: McDonald's sells junk food.
Fact 3: Scientists say junk foods are major contributors to diabetes and obesity.
Fact 4: Diabetes and obesity are diseases.
Fact 5: The B&M Gates Foundation claim as part of its charter help with the eradication of and protection from diseases worldwide.
Please tell me which of these five facts you believe is wrong.
Mike Elgan
We know Mike doesn't eat at McDonalds because he has a great build and he has some pretty awesome looking hamstrings and glutes. Those fat little boys could be studly too one day, but at the rate they are going, their parents are condeming them to a life of being not just chubby, but downright obese. Remember that Nip/Tuck episode where that truly fat woman was stuck in a couch because her skin had grafted to it, and they had to tear a whole in the wall to get her out of her house and to the hospital? May such a horrible fat never come to these kids!
The fatter of the two has arms that look fake, don't you think? Can the poor kid even reach around to wipe himself? Their parents should be ashamed.
Hey Mike, I'm with you.
More than the chubby arms of the chubby kids, what impresses me is the lard that resides in these brains that couldn't do anything but to attack your viewpoint with unreasonable blindness and denial.
Wake up people. Check yourselves out, the reason you were resistant to Mike's brilliant article is because you have taken too much Fluoride-filled tap water, drank too many acid-filled fizzy drinks, chewed on too many poisonous Aspartame filled gums, watched too many TV shows and News (more than 15 minute a day is too much), and get this - YOU ARE ALL MASS-HYPNOTIZED so when someone tells the truth and "sticks the finger in the wound", so to speak, you react adversely.
Your defenses are crazy, irrational, unreasonable, irresponsible. It's like there's a fetid swamp on one side and a perfumed garden with butterflies and a cheerful small creek on the other and you go about advocating the need for the fetid rat infested swamp arguing that it's one's responsibility to get stuck and be swallowed by its moving sands!
Yeah, like war is necessary - many would say - because the economy is slow.
To all of you that opposed Mike - especially the one who spoke on every one's behalf without ever been appointed to - you're so full of it that you cannot distinguish good from evil, clean from dirty, right from wrong anymore!
Sad, isn't it?!
YOU HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED and you're in for a well deserved good time with your warring Presidents and $ worshiping associates.
Good luck with that!
Mike - thank you for the great article and for the courage of standing by it despite the aggravation those humanoids brought you.
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