While the debate rages just what is causing the persistent weakness in McDonalds same store sales now stretching into its second year, there is no debate that whatever the reason may be, the once-iconic fast food chain is hurting. Because after staging a modest year end comeback and almost rising back to flat in December when it almost broke even, dropping "only" 0.1%, since then global sales have once again slowed down markedly, and have dropped by 1.8% and 1.7% in January and February respectively. And while the biggest weakness continues to be in the Asia-Pac and Middle East region, where sales tumbled 8.8% from a year ago, it was the US where the trouble is certainly visible, and after rising by 0.4% for both of the preceding two months, MCD same store US sales in February tumbled by 4.0%, far below the -0.7% expected. Whether the above is due to a shift in tastes, or the simplest explanation - that the US consumer can't even afford McDonalds is the right one - is applicable, stocks are not too excited and will rather wait until MCD announces a mega stock buyback before frontrunning the management's price indescriminate buying of its own shares, as has been the case with most other "successful" public equities in recent years.