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On Fridays, at HX Daily, we share ideas about wisdom and philosophy that can be applied to life and investing.

We mostly write about companies and their stocks and shy away from politics. Don’t worry!

We’ll continue to do so today.

Sometimes, however, the actions of politicians provide us with ideas to share with you.

This week, Donald Trump visited a McDonald's franchise in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. While there, he worked at the fry station and served a few customers in the drive-through.

Depending on the news source, Trump's visit to McDonald's related to his belief that Kamala Harris had never worked at the restaurant. She has said she worked at the fast-food chain while in college.

Let’s forget the politics. This situation reminded us at HX Research that we love the concept of McDonald’s.

Now, don’t start worrying about your cholesterol. Did you know that McDonald’s food is healthier than most people think?

The McDouble provides 390 calories and 23 grams of protein between meat and cheese.

One hamburger delivers roughly half a day's nutrients for just over one dollar. This is some of the cheapest and most efficient nutrition on the planet.

McDonald’s provides affordable nutrition to over 25 million Americans each day—that's around 7.5 percent of the U.S. population! 

Just don't eat there seven days a week, and you’ll be fine…

Joking aside, what we love about McDonald’s is that it’s a shining example of American opportunity and success.

Richard and Maurice McDonald founded McDonald’s in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Today, it is the largest and most successful fast-food brand on earth.

Here's a picture of the very first restaurant.

Since its start, McDonald's has provided countless young Americans with their first jobs. Many employees have become franchise owners. Need a job as a senior citizen? McDonald’s has your back…

McDonald's exemplifies the belief that you can achieve the American dream of independence and financial success with hard work.

What do Jay Leno, Jeff Bezos, Pink, Carl Lewis, and Andrew Card (former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush) all have in common?

These are very different people.

They all got their first jobs at McDonald’s. If that’s not America, we don’t know what is…

If America is defined by kicking ass and being the land of opportunity, is there anything MORE American than McDonald’s?

Don’t believe us? Here are some AMAZING statistics about the brand:

• There are 13,500 McDonald's restaurants in America. Globally, it's over 40,000.

• Over 700,000 people work at McDonald's restaurants in the US, and the company has over 2 million restaurant employees worldwide.

• McDonald’s corporate, based in Chicago, IL, employs over 150,000 people.

• According to McDonald's, 1 in 8 Americans has worked for them! They even created a website about it: https://mcdonalds1in8.com/.

• Globally, McDonald’s serves over 69 million people daily.

• McDonald’s operates in 118 countries and territories.

• McDonald’s earned $23.18 billion in global revenue in 2022.

These are mind-blowing stats! They'd never leave our starting lineup if McDonald's were a fantasy football player.

You may be asking how this affects me as an investor. Why are we writing about McDonald's anyway?

As we mentioned before, we like McDonald's for its food (delicious), but we love what it represents about America: OPPORTUNITY and SUCCESS.

We simply wanted to stick up for the brand as it often catches a bad rap.

After the news coverage this week, many pundits complained that:

• McDonald's pays poor wages (false)

• McDonald’s provides dead-end jobs (false)

• McDonald’s serves unhealthy food (mostly false)

We’d ask those McHaters to speak to a teenager who just got their first job.

Or talk to a millionaire franchise owner.

Or speak to McDonald’s CEO Christopher Kempczinski, who earned a $19.2 million salary in 2023.

We bet they’d tell a different story. The statistics we provided certainly do.

To conclude, here at HX Research, we’ll continue to remind you to tune out the NOISE from the media and market pundits.

If you want to learn about a company, a stock, or anything, DO THE WORK…

This is a solid perspective for both the markets and life in general!