Given the existance of The Big Mac Index, which seeks to compare global currencies and their respective buying power, this is actually fascinating.
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Interestingly, Taiwan has one of the lowest big Mac prices but that doesn't really correlate with their purchasing power
Honestly, even more fascinating. ...why???
Demand theory of value
Shortly after Donnie finds out...
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
The RADICAL LEFT wants you to eat bugs and kale. NOT ON MY WATCH! We are building a massive reserve of Big Mac Coins. High quality, high VALUE! I met with the Hamburglar—great guy, very misunderstood—and he agrees: the Mac Coin is going to the MOON! Crypto is fine, but you can’t eat a Bitcoin! A total disaster for SLEEPY JOE, but a HUGE WIN for your stomach! 🇺🇸🍔💰 🇺🇸#BigMacStandard #FastFoodFinancials
Far too coherent, this was definitely written by an intern not DJT himself. ;-)
Not NEARLY enough ALL CAPS
Lol, corrected!
But who wrote it if there's no sign-off of the author's initials??
I'm personally offended that I wasn't thanked for my attention to this matter
While a big mac has intrinsic value, the value of the coin is based on trusting McD honouring the agreement. Will they still accept the coins 10 years from now when they have forgotten they were issued? Will they be sued out of existence after their meat substitute mushroom burger left in the sun for too long comes alive an eats 9 customers and and a minivan?
The value of the dollar is based on trusting the US central bank and/or governmemt to be responsible enough.
While you should not blindly trust either McD or the government, the latter has a longer track record, even though they seem like they are going to eat a metaphorical minivan soon.
I dunno, I wouldn't take a bet on wether the US will outlive McDonald's or vice versa.
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BitCoin? 🤚🙂↔️
Big Mac Coin? ️☝🙂↕️️
Why do people assume gold has intrinsic value? I just saw today they were freaking out about how much gold is fluctuating, it is just as imaginary as the dollar.
Technically the Big Mac does provide some form of intrinsic value in the form of food for the homless. but for the average person it would actually give them more value to take the big mac away so it has sorta a negative value, negative intrinsic value, I think I just invented that.
This comment actually made me think and look it up. I never thought about this. Why is gold valuable?
Yeah you were basically right. Because societies decided it would be. I mean gold has some practical applications but nothing that would justify it's price.
First link I found says this:
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Gold's value is ultimately a social c- onstruction; its worth is sustained by ourcollective agreement about its importance and our belief in its future value.
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Gold's physical properties—its lustrous quality, relative scarcity, durability, and difficulty of extraction—reinforce and justify its perceived value.
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Unlike other precious metals, gold strikes a balance of being rare enough to be precious but abundant enough to serve as a practical medium of exchange.
So I guess rare enough yet abundand enough and durable enough.
Wild tbh
Planet money had great episode on this topic if you're interested https://www.npr.org/2024/05/15/1197959089/-price-of-gold-periodic-table-elements
That's a bit light on the "balance" many metals are precious and fairly rare, their physical characteristics like being poisonous, being visually indistinguishable from various cheap metals or malleable to the degree they will wear out as a coin are some issues.
Btw, we just transmuted our first gold just recently.
Yeah but was the process cheaper than buying it? Converting a million dollars of lanthenides and energy into a few thousand dollars of gold isn't a great trade off
Well, no. And I think it was just not a few atoms. But we did it.
But without gold how will we ever make high quality HDMI cables?
Even so, in a scenario where all the currencies fall apart, Gold and Silver are very probable to become the basis of wealth.
Nowadays, stuff like SiIicon and Copper are pretty high value (and similarly, Germanium), but they really depend a lot upon hard to measure purity which goes with high-technology.
So Gold and Silver, which are easier to determine with lower technology (unless someone uses high-technology to spoof them) and also easier to make into useful products, will tend to hold intrinsic value.
Value of iron and others, break down due to abundance, while steel depends upon technology and expertise.
Also because gold and silver are what people will mentally default to. Even if you develop a quick, easy, and free test to determine the purity of cobalt or neodymium and demonstrate how they're more functionally valuable, people will still default to trading au and ag to buy the amount of those metals they need. Copper would be next.
So why gold? Because everyone knows that enough people will trade for it, in the same way you know your landlord, grocer, and bar will all take your country's currency, and that's why you accept it in exchange for your labor
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The word "fluctuating" implies the price of gold has been going up and down. That is not what has happened since the Commander-In-Thief took office.
Market price of one ounce of gold over the last five years:
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Since McDonalds doesn't keep a Big Mac in a vault for every coin they issue, but rather make one whenever a coin is spent, it's the exact same principle as other currency. And like other currency, its value derives from everyone's trust in McDonalds' ability to keep making Big Macs in the future.
It's not the same principle because it's always one Big Mac. All the dollar stores are one dollar and up stores now.
Yeah, but a Big Mac today isn't the same it used to be, either.
They still use 1/10 pound patties, but they weigh them uncooked, and meat today has more water in it that's lost during cooking.
(This is why the general view that Big Macs got smaller and McDonalds' claim they still use the same size patties are both true, by the way.)
It’s not the same principle because it’s always one Big Mac.
Big Macs used to sell for $.50 and now they sell for $8. So one could argue the coins are actually a hedge against inflation.
Incidentally, US Forever Stamps serve a similar purpose.
That coin is clever because some people would rather keep the coin and the coin probably costs less to make than the Big Mac.
Yeah my first thought was "dang that's neat how do I get the coin?" and I don't even like Big Macs.
Edit: they're available on eBay for $10 or less, some below $5.
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our money has no value anymore since it was taken off the gold standard
Our money has value because it can be redeemed to pay down US-based debts, particularly tax debts. This is - and has always been - the real value of any currency. Go ask David Graeber for the details. But the TL;DR; is that we use coinage as a form of extortion. "You need to give us stuff to get coins which you can then pay us to avoid the threat of state violence." Roman soldiers working overseas were paid in coins, while they were charged with collecting these coins as a tax, in order to integrate conquered economies into the Roman Empire. You had to provide goods/services to the soldiers so they could take them off you every taxation period.
Literally, money is a protection racket.
Also, who the fuck wants to eat a Big Mac? That shit's disgusting.
The dollar is backed by being able to exchange it for not going to prison for tax dodging
Sounds like we are one step away from Mcdonald crypto coin backed by the big mac
It would be, if enshitification didn't exist. Who knows if McDo decides one day to reduce meat or other expensive ingredients? Or substitute ingredients?
It's like Schrodinger's Currency.
It's either full value or zero value.
You either get a big Mac or McDonald's decides they are no longer accepting coins, or rather no longer accepting them from you.
I guess in a way - that is all currency 🤔
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until they just decide the promotion is over and they don't have to accept them anymore
Except that Big Mac is the worst beef burger McD has.
So to me the value is negative. I will pay to not eat it.
You don't have to eat it, just like you didn't have to exchange your money for gold.
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You can pay me for you not to eat it. Thats fine
if they plastic it's only a matter of time before someone starts counterfeiting.
It wouldn't even need to be all that good. It's being exchanged by a minimum wage teenage employee, whom I PROMISE YOU does not give a shit.
I've seen people spend that hollywood prop money at mcdonalds. The kind that says "this is not valid currency" printed in decent size text.
So the counterfit doesn't need to be exact.
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How old is this post? USD was fully off the gold standard by 1971.
Come to think about it, mass buying food vouchers wherever possible during times of extreme currency instability is probably not a novel idea.
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Big Macs are gross though.
You don't have to like them. You just need to believe that there is someone that believes there's someone that likes them. Simple.
The McDonald's corporation is probably more stable than the US treasury at this point in time.
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