McDonald's revenue down, blames economy instead of unhealthy products

From Forbes:

"Was the introduction of the pumpkin spice latte too little, too late? McDonald's MCD -0.82% released its third quarter 2013 earnings on Monday morning, and the results were mixed, with better-than-expected earnings per share but revenue that was on the light side — which the company attributed to a challenging global environment."

Then:

"In a statement, CEO Don Thompson attributed the third quarter’s mixed results to a challenging global environment. One particular weakness was sales in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA), which declined 1.4% for the quarter. Third quarter operating income declined 12%, which the company said reflected “weakness” in China, Japan and Australia due to an “ongoing” challenging macro environment."

Image: forthefunoffit.wordpress.com

Of course it's not McDonald's fault, it's some other reason: trust them, they care about you! Let's not mention the fact that people are simply eating less fast food. And let's not mention the fact that McDonald's reputation has taken a huge hit in the last year after revelations that Chicken McNuggets aren't really "chicken" after all.

This, combined with the growing food consciousness swelling around the world and the heavy opposition to processed and GMO foods, seems to be a recipe for disaster for the 'Big Food' chains as they face ever stiffer competition from healthier alternatives like Chipotle, which has already vowed to label GMOs in their food.

The problem with McDonald's argument that the economy is to blame is that it runs contrary to political establishment and mainstream media rhetoric that the economy has recovered.

So who's lying? Is the government lying to us and saying that economy is recovered to keep people calm, just like they are doing by refusing to acknowledge that the entire Pacific ocean is now polluted from the continued meltdown at Fukushima. Many analysts think that the economy is actually in worse shape than it was before the recession started, given the 17 trillion national debt and the highest percentage of people not in the work force in 35 years. Maybe by economic recovery they mean that the stock market is soaring to new highs due to the $1 trillion being pumped directly into the the banks from the Federal Reserve each year: making the 1 percenters richer than ever, while driving record numbers of working class Americans into poverty and government assisted living

And let's not even talk about the mainstream media coverage. The last mainstream article about Fukushima didn't even bother to mention that the radiation has already been pounding the West Coast of the US and Canada, nearly all tuna being caught in the Pacific have record levels of radiation contamination, and very well could be responsible for the two Oar Fish and Saber Toothed whale that have recently washed ashore in California.

Or is McDonald's lying to us, denying that their inferior products are the actually the cause of their lost profits and their shift to "healthier" food is too little, too late?

McDonald's has a vested interest in the media thanks to their massive advertisement spending, causing large networks who profit from their ad money to think twice about running a negative story on them. This could explain the fact that alternative media outlets have recently taken McDonald's to task over strange fibers, or Morgellon's, that were found in chicken nuggets while the mainstream has been silent, all the more reason to support independent media outlets like NaturalCuresNotMedicine.com.

So what are your thoughts? Is McDonald's telling the truth about the economy, or is the government telling the truth that the economy is good and McDonald's products are to blame for their decreased revenue? Let us know what you think in the comments below.