The Wash­ing­ton Post talks to Jim Skin­ner, the McDonald’s CEO, and presents a pos­i­tive view­point of McDonald’s.

McDonald’s exem­pli­fies the role of small busi­nesses in Amer­i­cans’ upward mobil­ity. The com­pany is largely a con­fed­er­a­tion of small busi­nesses: 85 per­cent of its U.S. restau­rants — aver­age annual sales, $2.2 mil­lion — are owned by fran­chisees. McDonald’s has made more mil­lion­aires, and espe­cially black and His­panic mil­lion­aires, than any other eco­nomic entity ever, anywhere.

On the nutri­tion of their meals:

Amer­i­cans eat 90 meals a month. In a nation with 900,000 restau­rants, the aver­age Amer­i­can eats three of those meals at McDonald’s. Surely the other 87 meals are more of a prob­lem. Even McDonald’s core cus­tomers, who eat there 50 times a year, con­sume more than 1,000 meals elsewhere.

A per­sua­sive argu­ment, but surely a red her­ring fal­lacy?