Although the budget journal provides street smart practical knowledge and suggestions such as loaning books and movies from a local library at a minimal fee or for free in some cities' libraries, walking or riding a bicycle to work or carpooling. It even provide a line for a second job suggesting to employees earning a minimum wage at McDonald's isn't enough to make ends meet. However the booklet leaves out neccessary expenditure such as food, child care, clothes and gas has stir up public outcry. 

 

According to Huffington Post, while employee is supposed to get a second job to bring home an additional of almost $1000. And while they are putting 70-80 hours a week, how much money is allotted to child care expense? ZERO! 

 

McDonald's USA issue a statement after wide criticism from the public and the media: "As part of this program, several resources were developed including a sample budgeting journal, a corres-

ponding instructional video and an interactive website that had additional tools and information. The samples...are generic examples and are intended to help provide a general outline of what an individual budget may look like."

 

In her interview at MSNBC’s Weekends with Alex Witt, Tsedeye Gebreselassie, staff attorney for National Employment Law Project (NELP), said that this low paying jobs are not for teens anymore. Because of the economic downturn, many adults with an average age is 29 went into the for fast food industries.

 

“People are not humans, they’re just machines that are working at $7.25 an hour that’s $15,000 a year, assuming one full time job. That’s nearly not enough to support yourself, let alone a family. McDonald’s is essentially conceding that in order for a minimum wage worker at its fast food stores to make ends meet, they have to rely on publicly funded subsidies like food stamps and some even live in homeless shelters."

 

She also raised an important point that McDonald, being a highly profitable corporation, should raise the pay of each employees so that they can live comfortably, spend more quality time with their families and extra spending money to help boost the economy.

 

According to MarketWatch, Donald (Don) Thompson's 2012 compensation package worth a whopping $13.8 million or equivalent to more than 558 times of what McDonald’s employees expect to make from their two jobs income.

 

Rather than being a French fries cook in another fast food joint, being a French mime street performer, similar to McDonald's iconic "Ronald", may be a better second job alternative.

 

One McDonald’s employee said, "I never seem to have enough." and this resonate by many. By the way, other money saving tips – when the library closes at 9pm, go to a McDonald’s and order a $1 beverage or iced tea and load up on free refills, use the free Wi-Fi connection or watch the flat screen TV on the latest news hoopla about the public's outcry of unfair wages until 12am.

 

Most Americans are outrage with the unfair compensation of corporate capitalism. Just imagine, how many Whoppers could one buy with $13.8 million and we don't mind eating the scraps and even have plenty to share with our kids.  

McDonald's, an American successful iconic corporation,

yet so un-American. It must be " Merican"