Bloomberg vs the Big Gulp

Mayor Bloomberg despaired of obesity:
"What's fattening up NYC," said he,
"Is the public presumption
That soda consumption
Is better in servings of three," said he.

In a city known for swelled skylines and clogged vehicular arteries, Mayor Michael Bloomberg aims to slim waist lines and clear cardiac arteries. The mayor announced that New York would soon ban extra-large servings of sweet soft drinks in public places, having found that their consumption is linked to the city's growing obesity problem. Brushing aside criticism of the "nanny city", Mayor Bloomberg declared that New York City would not "wring its hands" over the obesity epidemic, but rather "do something."

More Dollars to Gold(en Arches)

Said McDonald's competitors recently:
"While the rest of us lag, they do decently;
We must capture, like they,
An original way
Of promoting the spread of obesity."

In times of dollar distress, investors take to gold. The same holds true for the golden arches of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) which, practically alone in the fast food industry, continues to grow same-store sales at a healthy (if that's the word for it) pace. Perhaps, as Kelly Evans writes in the Wall Street Journal's Ahead of the Tape column, it's due to the traffic drawn to those fruity smoothies and sweet iced coffee drinks. Or maybe those golden fries really are a store of (caloric) value.