There’s part of the issue, in that we equate “small business owner” and “fast food franchisee” as the same thing. Franchisee’s are essentially investors, this happened to be a good investment at one time because our corporate tax structure made it so. They didn’t create a business, they bought an assembly line.

I don’t think most Americans want to continue to subsidize investors (which we do for those who invest in companies like this and then pay wages that necessitate the workers then use some form of government assistance to bridge the living gap) just so they don’t have to pay their employees enough to buy groceries every week. If these investors then start deciding that this is no longer a smart buy because they can’t actually function and pay their employees a livable wage at the same time, the McDonald’s organization will have to restructure their organization to make it work.