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A recent post about billionaires receiving free McDonald’s for life brought up hard feelings on social media, with many questioning why the ultra-wealthy get special perks while food waste and hunger remain massive issues.
The controversy began when an X user shared that Bill Gates holds one of McDonald’s Gold Cards, which grants the owner free meals for life. They also noted that Warren Buffett has one of the cards. The post gained over 8.6 millions views — and sparked heated debates around inequality.
One user responded with frustration: “They give billionaires free food for life but throw away good food that could feed the homeless ok bro.” The message garnered 42,000 reposts and 376,000 likes.
They give billionaires free food for life but throw away good food that could feed the homeless ok bro https://t.co/GgBYgFruoT
— ROBYNA 👽 (@socoolrobyna) June 27, 2025
The Gold Card represents a striking contradiction in how society treats wealth and waste. While billionaires enjoy lifetime dining privileges, restaurants discard millions of pounds of perfectly edible food annually; those in the United States alone waste 11.4 million tons of food per year.
Food waste can have serious environmental consequences. Food decomposing in landfills produces methane gas, a pollutant 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat. Meanwhile, producing food that gets tossed wastes enormous amounts of water, energy, and land resources — let alone human time and labor — that could be used to support sustainable food systems.
Over 47 million Americans experience food insecurity annually, including 1 in 5 children. Programs that redirect surplus food to those in need help to address both waste and hunger across the nation.
Social media users voiced their frustrations.
“I’ve never found one person who could give me a genuinely good reason as to why people who have amassed such a fortune deserve free food ever,” one said.
Another replied: “Of course they do. Giving a billionaire a Gold Card generates countless headlines for them, and by extension, millions of dollars worth of free advertisement.”
“Companies have to [throw] away food at the end of the day due to government health regulations,” someone else noted.
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While it’s true that some large corporations are doing more to reduce waste and support environmental health, real changes start with the choices we make every day. Reducing your own food waste and composting your scraps can help your home be part of the solution, and prioritizing businesses that align with your values brings attention to cleaner shopping options in your community.
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