Fast Food Poverty

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At a time when unemployment is incredibly high, 46 million Americans live below the poverty line, and the minimum wage remains almost 20 percent lower(adjusted for inflation) than it was 40 years ago, farmers are dying at unprecedented rates, and obesity and diabetes are killing millions of people all over the world, there is often a need to find someone or something to blame. In this case, there are multiple factors that play into the global issues we are facing, one of which is the creation of the fast food market. From climate change, to the greed of food cooperations, to the declining of the nations economy all of these things combine to create the need for cheap easy food, it's no wonder that fast food restaurants are popping up at an …show more content…
With both parents working incredibly long hours, many children are spending more time at school and more time watching tv and fast food cooperations are banking on it. In the US alone over $10 billion dollars a year is spent marketing fast-food products to children. At school our children are being introduced to sugary snacks and drinks in addition to being force fed educational activities like reading programs and challenges from companies like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Coca Cola, and more. At home children are bombarded with an endless barrage of ads, toys, contests, and marketing gimmicks that have fueled fast food sales. Families in which both parents work outside the home often don’t have the time to prepare meals from scratch, between working all day to children’s extracurricular activities meals are often purchased at the nearest drive through and eaten on the way to little Johnny's soccer game. Furthermore, Patel points out that the nations poor and persons of color live in environments that unlike their whiter richer counterparts, are less likely to have inexpensive, healthy, fresh food easily accessible. The fact that there are food deserts, or lack of supermarkets in neighborhoods where the population is predominantly African American, Latino, or poor is not a coincidence, and because of that you will find that this neighborhoods boast the highest concentrations of fast food

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