Burger King pulls a Whopper on us

Burger King, the fast food giant, bills itself as "Home of the Whopper," a name intended to convey to burger eaters that this one is jumbo, chockfull, and a whale of a deal. But "whopper" also means a prevarication, a crock, flim flam, a tall tale – ie, hogwash.

You're currently reading an archived version of Jim Hightower's work.

The latest (and greatest?) observations from Jim Hightower are only now available at our Substack website. Join us there!

Jim Hightower's Radio Lowdown
Jim Hightower's Radio Lowdown
Burger King pulls a Whopper on us
Loading
/

Burger King, the fast food giant, bills itself as “Home of the Whopper,” a name intended to convey to burger eaters that this one is jumbo, chockfull, and a whale of a deal. But “whopper” also means a prevarication, a crock, flim flam, a tall tale – ie, hogwash.

Both meanings apply to Burger King’s current effort to take over Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee-and-donut chain. The $10 billion price certainly is a whopper – the most ever paid to buy out a fast-food purveyor. And the deal would result in a mondo corporation, with 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries, making about $22 billion in annual sales.

Enjoying Hightower's work? Join us over at our new home on Substack:

But the deal is also a whopper in that it’s based on a fabrication, a scam, a con. While Burger King’s CEO, Daniel Schwartz, offers some credible business reasons for the combine, what he doesn’t want BK’s American customer’s to know is that the clincher in the deal is that it provides a huge tax dodge for his corporation. In US tax law, something called an “inversion” (actually, a perversion of law) is a loophole allowing an American corporation that merges with a foreign one to reincorporate in the foreign country – and dodge its tax responsibilities to our nation.

Schwartz intends to do just that, renouncing Burger King’s US citizenship so it can get a lower tax rate as a Canadian citizen. Schwartz & Company would still be headquartered in Miami, Burger King would still haul in billions of dollars in sales from its US outlets, and top executives would still enjoy all the benefits that the USA affords them – but without putting a corporate dime into our national treasury.

Why should we buy this whopper? There are plenty of burger stands – why put your dollars in the one that says it doesn’t want to be a US citizen? If Burger King won’t support America, American’s shouldn’t support it.

“Dealing for Doughnuts,” The New York Times, August 26, 2014.

“Whopper of a move: Burger King to Canada?” Austin American Statesman, August 26, 2014.

“Burger King pulls trigger on huge scheme: Will ditch USA after giant corporate merger,” www.salon.com, August 26, 2014.

The Lowdown has moved!

We’ve started a Substack newsletter for all of our content. You’ll still find our older, archived materials here at hightowerlowdown.org, but the latest (and greatest?) observations from Jim Hightower are only now available at our new Substack website: jimhightower.substack.com.

Check out jimhightower.substack.com »

Send this to a friend