Matthew Lau :How greedy McDonald’s became the most effective poverty-fighter in the country

...Poor people (and not-so-poor people) are enriched by McDonald’s offerings of cheap and filling food. The popular economics blog Freakonomics has suggested McDonald’s McDouble burger could be “the cheapest, most nutritious, and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history.” With two beef patties, pickles, and onions, McDoubles offer — for just a couple of bucks — half the daily recommended serving of protein, seven per cent of daily recommended fibre, and 20 per cent of your daily calcium and iron.

But it’s not through cheap food that McDonald’s helps those in need. Visit an outlet in any major city’s downtown and you’ll see, essentially, a temporary shelter for struggling people who badly need a rest, some warmth, or just a bathroom. As a report in U.K.’s left-wing Guardian described a couple years ago, “for many of the poorest, for the homeless, and for people caught in an addiction, McDonald’s are an integral part of their lives.” The washrooms are clean, there is social interaction, McDonald’s restaurants are often safer than homeless shelters, and many locations are open 24 hours.

And many kids get their first job working at McDonald’s, developing work habits and customer-service skills that qualify them for higher-paying jobs down the road. When it comes to getting young Canadians onto the first rung of the economic ladder, McDonald’s has outdone every anti-poverty organization in the country...