Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation: The Destruction of American Values

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In the book Fast Food Nation: The Darks Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser claims that fast food impacts more than our eating habits, it impacts “…our economy, our culture, and our values”(3) . At the heart of Schlosser’s argument is that the entrepreneurial spirit —defined by hard work, innovation, and taking extraordinary risks— has nothing to do with the rise of the fast food empire and all its subsidiaries. In reality, the success of a fast food restaurant is contingent upon obtaining taxpayer money, avoiding government restraints, and indoctrinating its target audience from as young as possible. The resulting affordable, good-tasting, nostalgic, and addictive foods make it difficult to be reasonable about food choices, specifically in a fast food industry chiefly built by greedy executives.

One of the largest reasons why people choose to eat fast food is because it is inexpensive. The United States government has increased the market for fast food by subsidizing many of the industry’s costs and by deregulating the industry, making it harder to inhibit collusion and monopolistic behavior. The construction of the interstate highway system and the agricultural subsidies are more than enough to give fast food corporations a competitive advantage over small businesses in the marketplace. However, giving tax breaks that enable high turnover rates for employees, and making Americans pay taxes for franchise fees, buildings, real estate, equipment, and supplies for fast food corporations turns a capitalist economy into a corporatist one (Schlosser 102). Ever since Nixon’s proposal for deregulating the marketplace, corporations have been committing unfair labor practices, not paying employees for working overtime as well...

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...isinformed public where corporations can exploit workers and consumers, and again would lead to a corporatist economy.

There are a few solutions to the problems of rampant obesity, unchecked greed, and huge disparities in wealth. The first would be place more significance on education, by funding it with taxes, banning advertisement of unhealthy foods or fast food corporations, and teaching children to make healthy food choices. The second step would be to regulate the fast food industry as much as necessary, especially with respect to food safety and working conditions. A third step would be to stop subsidizing the fast food industry with agriculture subsidies and tax breaks, and allow business to compete fairly. Although no system is perfect, ignoring a problem will only cause more.

Work Cited

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Perennial, 2002.

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