After days of attacking Burger King for supposedly attempting to skip out on U.S taxes by moving its headquarters to Canada and merging with Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons, the liberal left are now claiming that the merger will be “disastrous” for rainforests.
All week, liberals like Chris Matthews attacked fast food giant Burger King because it may move its headquarters to Canada after buying out the Canada-based Tim Hortons donut chain. The left claimed that the reason Burger King was making the move was to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
Matthews, for instance, spat out that he wanted an “American burger,” so he would have to reconsider eating at Burger King if the chain moved its headquarters northward. But there are several problems with this line of attack.
First, BK is not really saving much on taxes with the deal.
Second, Burger King is an international company and is owned by a Brazilian investment firm. Therefore, Mr. Matthews should note that it actually is not strictly an “American” burger.
Last, a fact that will likely be uncomfortable for the left, Obama’s ally and investor Warren Buffet is up to his neck in the deal.
All that aside, since the whole tax dodge claim is falling apart, now the left are attempting the mother-earth tact, asserting that the upcoming merger between the two fast food chains will destroy the rainforests of the world. For example, in a piece posted at The Huffington Post on August 28, HuffPo business writer Alexander C. Kaufman claimed that the “Burger King Deal with Tim Hortons May Be Disastrous for Rainforests.”
“Both companies have come under fire from environmental groups for their heavy use of questionably sourced palm oil,” Kaufman claimed, adding:
Skyrocketing demand for the oil, produced from red palm trees, has pushed plantation owners in Malaysia and Indonesia to cut down large swaths of rainforest. Now, advocates fear that Burger King’s plan to build the fastest-growing fast food empire in the world will lead to a marked uptick in the destruction.
Both companies use palm oils in the production of their foods, and Kaufman said that “palm oil sales jumped 485 percent in the U.S. alone in the last decade, and the boom has accelerated the destruction of rainforests in these two nations.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.