McDonald’s toys with San Francisco

People have come to expect a certain zaniness issuing forth from the City by the Bay. Surely most of them are not surprised by the latest volley in San Francisco’s War of the Happy Meals.

This shot comes from McDonald’s. That, of course, is the leading fast-foodery among the targets of a city ordinance that, in the name of nutrition, banned toy giveaways as part of meals marketed to kids.

Since it’s not supposed to toss in the toy as a free lure, McDonald’s on Thursday started charging an extra dime for everyone who wants the little tchotchke. (Burger King quickly followed suit.)

Shrewd move. Because as everyone knows, a parent who’s eager to quiet the Happy Meal seekers in the back seat won’t be deterred by another 10 cents. Knowing how many of these meals sell, all those dimes will add up to quite a pretty penny, so to speak.

Even multitasking women earn less

"You’ve come a long way, baby." Have we? Have we really?

Women of a certain age — coming of age professionally in the footsteps of Friedan and Steinem — recall fondly that marketing slogan, full of heady connotations of freedom, equality, empowerment.

Well. Now, some 40 years later, comes a new report in the American Sociological Review that working moms spend nine hours more per week multitasking than do their husbands, both at work and at home. Further, these moms are more likely than the guys to stress over multitasking.

Still further: New labor stats show an enduring earnings gap between women and men. In Hawaii, women doing comparable work earned 82.6 percent of men’s median weekly pay; nationally, that gender gap is 81.2 percent.

We’ve got a long way to go, baby.