It’s the world’s largest fast feeder by sales. Global same-store sales rose 5.6% last year over 2010 — its eighth consecutive year of positive same-store sales. It’s rated the world’s No. 6 brand by Interbrand, with a value of $35.6 billion.

It’s the 26th-largest advertiser in the country, with a budget of nearly $888 million for U.S. measured media, according to Kantar Media. Indeed, the GoldenArches are a global beacon of success, and the company’s 33,000-plus locations in 119 countries serve 68 million people a day.

But something strange is happening on McDonald’s soaring arches: Its brand perception isn’t keeping pace with sales. According to people close to the company, its internal tracking system finds that McDonald’s consistently ranks near the bottom in quality perception when compared with rivals.

Members of the American Mustache Institute traipsed up to Capitol Hill Monday — while lawmakers were out of town for President’s Day — to seek a tax break for men with facial hair, who (AMI-authored studies show) are 38 percent better-looking than the rest of America.

But demonstrating that the organization is not biased, AMI Chairman Aaron Perlut, who claims to personally spend “somewhere between $1,000 to $1,500″ annually on grooming products, said anyone with hair care costs would be eligible for the $250 annual tax refund.

But Rick Silva, the head of Checkers & Rally’s drive-in hamburger restaurants, was so horrified at the abusive tone of one of his managers in Homestead, Florida, that he broke character and revealed himself in the middle of the episode.

And then he shut down the restaurant for the night, stunning the employees and shocking the manager, known only in show as ‘Stevens.’

During a discussion with CNN’s Piers Morgan about tax rates, Christie made it known that he’s just about had it with Buffett, the world-famous investor who lent his name to a proposed tax hike on the rich.

“He should just write a check and shut up,” Christie said. “I’m tired of hearing about it. If he wants to give the government more money, he’s got the ability to write a check — go ahead and write it.”

Earlier in the interview, responding to a question on class warfare in the political system, Christie, who has developed a reputation for not mincing words, said he didn’t want to discuss Buffett.

Mr. Obama also would establish a minimum tax on multinational corporations’ foreign earnings, the official said, to discourage “accounting games to shift profits abroad” or actual relocation of production overseas.

With the framework for changes that the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, will outline on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will enter an election-year debate with Republicans in Congress and in the presidential race who seek even lower taxes for businesses. But an overhaul of the corporate code is unlikely this year, given that political backdrop and the complexity of an undertaking that would generate a lobbying frenzy as businesses vie to defend old tax breaks or win new ones.

“We may not be able to return to profitability for the long term,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe.

Some in Congress blame overly generous union contracts while the unions and others say a burdensome mandate to pre-fund the pension system is badly distorting the overall numbers.

Listen here to learn the financial facts and the debate over what’s truly responsible for them.

The polling company said this suggests that it is “premature” to assume the economy will not feature prominently in the 2012 election season.

Gallup figures typically provide an indication of what the government will report at the end of the month.

“The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February,” Gallup said in its mid-month unemployment survey, released on February 17. “The mid-month reading normally reflects what the U.S. government reports for the entire month, and is up from 8.3% in mid-January.”

“In terms of Keystone, as you all know, the history here is pretty clear. And the fact is because Republicans decided to play political with Keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they insisted on a time frame in which it was impossible to completely approve the pipeline,” Carney said when asked about the pipeline by ABC News’ Jake Tapper.

Later in the briefing, Carney says it is the Republicans’ fault.

Jake Tapper: “How can you say that you have an all the above on approach if the President turned down the Keystone pipeline? And you blame the Republicans for making it political.”

The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld caused a storm earlier this month by branding the singer “a little too fat”, but it appears that retailers are now embracing consumers with fuller figures.

One of the UK’s largest shop mannequin companies has reported a surge in orders for clothes dummies sized 12 and above.

Over the last year Displaysense, which suppliers some of the UK’s biggest clothing chains with mannequins, has seen a 16 per cent increase in sales of “plus-size” window dummies.

While the entire process of seeking a mortgage modification is complicated and time-consuming, few elements are as maddening as the inability to get through to a representative at the bank, or being asked for the same documents again and again.

So the promise of a single point of contact has emerged as a crucial element in the much-ballyhooed $26 billion settlement reached earlier this month involving state attorneys general, the federal government and the five biggest mortgage servicers. These rules will apply nationwide and come with commitments of strong enforcement by federal and state authorities, but they carry a familiar ring for those experienced in the foreclosure process.