Day: July 7, 2009

What Causes Obesity?

Gee…now there is a loaded question…..some say it is a gland problem…..most of the time it is….the mouth gland….others blame a variety of causes from fast food to laziness.  But what does really cause Americans to be obese?

There has been study after study on why people are fat.  State after state has tried to find a solution…..tried and failed…why is there no good way to reverse the trend toward a fatter America?  One answer is that most state legislatures and governors are looking for a quick fix.  That way they look good and it helps their re-election resume.

A recent study has found that Mississippi was the fattest state with 32.5% obese adults. Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina rounded the top five. Colorado was least fat and the only state with fewer than 20% obese adults.  Of the top ten fattest states, 8 are in the South.  Is that a trend?

If one is looking for a connection in these stats try poverty.  If one checks the stats on poverty they will find that the most of the same states listed in the top ten obesity study are the same that are listed in the poorest states.  Ya think there is a connection?

How about education?  Does that play a part in the obesity debate?  Well, 5 of the fattest states are in the lowest 10 of the education scale.  So 50% of the fattest states are also the dumbest.  I would say that is a good indication.

What to do?…..what to do?

Poverty causes people to eat in an unhealthy way to stretch the family food budget.  Why?  Unhealthy foods are the cheaper.  My idea is that states should make healthier food more appealing to the poor.  If the food budget goes further with healthier food then the people will eat healthier.

For instance, food stamps…..make healthier foods more appealing by making them 50% less than say the fatty of foods.  Or if say, apples are 3 for a $1, then if bought with food stamps then 6 could be bought for that same $1.

The people must be educated on the effects of an unhealthy diet…at best now, in the South there is little taught they seem to be worried more about who is having sex and not what they are eating.  Improving the people’s knowledge and eating habits will NOT be a quick fix, it will take time and education, something most poor Southern states do not want to tackle, because it will take money and they have little thanks to the massive corporate give aways they offer business.  They do NOT have the money to help the citizens of the state.

Obesity is curable–but there is no will to do so.  The best my state has done is offer a bill to help people pay for stomach stapling–The problem with this idea is that it would fall under the state Medicaid program….unfortunately that program is damn near bankrupt, so why would nayone want to add more problems to a failing program?  An educational program and food stamp reform would be cheaper in the long run–but the politicians want a quick fix and unfortunately there is NO quick fix.

Misinformation Abounds

While reading and researching for some future posts I found this article written by Benjamin H. Friedman on The CATO @ Liberty website.

The Heritage Foundation has a chart up on its blog, showing defense spending as a percentage of gross domestic product and declaring that “Obama plan cuts defense spending to pre-9/11 levels.”This is a standard rhetorical device for defense hawks (see the Wall Street Journal editorial page, Mitt Romney and lots of others) so it’s worth pointing out that it’s misleading. The unfortunate truth is that Obama is increasing non-war defense spending this year and seems likely to increase it at least by inflation in the near future.

It’s true that defense spending will probably decline as a percentage of GDP, assuming the economy recovers. But that’s because GDP grows. Ours is more than six times bigger than it was in 1950.  Meanwhile, we spend more on defense in real, inflation adjusted terms, than we did then, at the height of the Cold War. The denoninator has grown faster than the numerator.

tor.By saying that defense spending needs to grow with GDP to be “level,” you are arguing for an annual increase in defense spending without saying so directly. That’s the point, of course.

To be straight with readers, charts that show defense spending as a percentage of GDP should either show GDP growth over time or include a line that shows defense spending in real terms. Otherwise they fail to demonstrate that the decline in defense spending as a percentage of GDP is a consequence of growing GDP, not lower spending.

The assumption in analysis like Heritage’s is that defense spending should be a function of economic growth, not enemies and strategies for defending against them.  It’s easy to point out that this is strategically and fiscally foolish. And it’s worth noting, as I have on many occasions, that we face a benign threat environment and can cut defense spending massively as a result.

But there is something weirder going on here that warrants mention.  Arguing that wealth creation should drive defense spending is to attempt to divorce the military from its strategic rationale. That’s an implicit acknowledgment that defense spending is not for safety.  High military spending in this worldview is either an end in itself or a partisan or cultural tool.

I have been trying to point out that to gain political advantage, both sides of the political aisle will use misinformation…lies is a better word, but not preferred.  This is not something new, but a continuing saga of ruthless BS to gain political advantage.

DO NOT trust politicians to tell the truth….find the truth and then make your decision.