Before I say anything, I just wanted to say that I do not support McDonald's, but I do believe that business regulation is wrong. Businesses have rights too. As long as they follow the laws, they should be allowed to sell what they want.
I agree to some extent. The thing is, there are certain things that should be regulated so that individuals aren't screwed over-- for example, toy companies should not be able to sell toys with toxic chemicals like lead in them. Restaurants should not be able to sell meat from animals that have feasted on other animal brains, because this can cause prion diseases such as Mad Cow, which are incurable, and the customers wouldn't know until it's too late. Things that are acutely harmful should be banned outright. Things that are only acutely harmful to a certain part of the population (such as those allergic to a certain ingredient) should have to display adequate information to warn those people.
Companies should not be allowed to sell things that they know are harmful with habitual use to their customers unless warning labels are clearly displayed, such as on cigarette packages, and in the case of McDonald's, displaying the nutrition facts about their food.
Since McDonald's isn't being secretive about their food's saturated fat content, and since one burger never killed anyone, there is no reason for it to be banned outright. People who buy it know what they're getting, and it's the parents' fault for letting their children eat this crud all the time, not the company's.
I agree with other people ITT who say that the way to go is raising awareness about the causes of obesity and trying to lower the costs of healthy food. This is difficult, of course, but if we could havecampaigns against junk food of the same quality as we have had against smoking, obesity would probably decrease a lot more. People should be made to see just how bad junk food is for them and how disgusting a habit it is to eat McDonald's every day. The movie SuperSize Me is a good illustration of this, and if this were displayed more, it would be a good start. Banning Happy Meals is just going to have people go "I want my junk food, dammit!" and go elsewhere for their carbs and saturated fats.
It kind of sickens me that politicians would just go the lazy route like this and ban one form of food just to look like they're doing something, when it's probably not going to help at all.
Edit:
You know, when I think about this whole issue, I start to think about World War II. Why, you ask?? Well, what exactly were we fighting for the whole time. We wanted to stop the spread of communism, right?? And what is communism?? Well, to put it simply it means government interferes with business. Now, with the US interfering with the way McDonald's runs their business, is this not communism?? In the US, the government has always believed that minimal government interference with business is the best way to go, as this encourages business growth. I find it ironic that the US is beginning to turn into the very thing it was fighting to stop.
I disagree with the way the US is handling McDonald's, but I think you're also a little off. The US has not always believed in minimal government interference with business; this is mainly the Republicans and Libertarians now, and the real movement towards deregulation of business as we know it now didn't start until the Reagan era. Now, I agree that interference by the government shouldn't be as extreme as it is in this example, but businesses also shouldn't be allowed to do everything they want. The individual should still be protected against things like monopolies and trusts where the businesses can screw them over (and I'd argue that such regulation fosters more competition between businesses to make better, cheaper products so that at least the better one can grow more). The individual should also be allowed to be fully aware of what he or she is purchasing. I don't support communism by any stretch, and I don't support the specific regulation being discussed ITT, but I also don't support businesses running completely amok. There needs to be balance.
