In Defense of McDonald's

"It is good to report that a landscape disfiguring McDonald's not long ago went belly up at a major intersection," Joseph Epstein writes in this morning's Wall Street Journal. His essay praises independently owned odd shops in contrast to those that are "corporate owned." It's a strange argument to be making in the corporate-owned Wall Street Journal. One wonders what exactly is so "good" about the McDonald's going out of business. Is Mr. Epstein glad that the workers at the McDonald's lost their jobs? Or is he happy that the franchisee lost his investment? Many of the "corporate owned" stores he denounces were at one time in the past independently owned but grew to become successful and turned to public markets to finance their growth. All in all, it is an odd thing -- an indicator of the present mood -- for the editorial page known as the voice of capitalism to be cheering the demise of a business.