A lifetime of poor diet and inactivity, and YOU are paying for it

[danielson]

Talk about mixing apples and oranges!

Which countries are you referring to? Oil-rich Norway? Talk about anomalous!!

And Sweden? Sweden has not produced ANY net jobs since 1950. Of Sweden's top 30 companies, none were founded after 1930. Contrast that with the economic growth of the US since 1950: 60M net jobs!

This comparison is such a non-starter....

ok so they havent produced jobs

they have started numerous social programs to target obesity however. People with diabetic complications will continue to be treated by healthcare as otherwise they would die. The general public is unwilling to let that happen (death) and due to the free commercial leash given in your country and mine, sweets and high calorie food is served in high school cafeteria's everywhere.

Yes, in an ideal world their moms and pops should be telling them to eat right. but most likely there parents wont, and they are not mature enough to knwo that if they get trapped in an obesity lifestyle they will suffer!

the difference between the article nordy posted and what we do is they realised they are going to have a diabetes epidemic and they got a lid on it. this will SAVE money, yes it is government saying we have to spend money to save money but for centuries we have treated the symptoms of disease in an attempt to remove them from the public but have neglected to change the underlying causes.

You can if you want, revert to a purely capatalist society with no reign on what is peddled to kids, and no mass social programs,

you will get those who are sensible living well and provideing for their family, but you will also get massive social degeneration, a breakdown of social structure and as a result massive sequalae of deprivation (crime, drugs, teen pregnancy)...they will eventually have to be contained within walls to stop them robbing and pillaging others...far-fetched but entirely bprobable and predicted by many analysts as the rich-poor divide worsens

, by helping them we aren;t only helping them but society and the environment as a whole. this appears to be a fundamental difference between europe and the us...and the way i think and you do. maybe (i hope not) when i'm earning $$$ i'll change but im guessing like you said its apples and oranges

 

[Lao Tzu]

HAHAHA

 

[BonerBoy]

HAHAHA

lol,
"For example, we know that obesity tends to run in families," Kim said. "But we have yet to pinpoint exactly what it is that causes, say, the Smith family to splash about their backyard pool blissfully unaffected while, just over the fence, the Jones family languishes 30 percent overweight on their barbecue deck."

 

[Pamela]

These obese people are going to use this as a crutch.

If they would just get off their butts and walk and do something to boost their metabolism. And not eat all this junk food.
I've seen people on Welfare come through grocery lines with a cart full of food and most of it was "Junk Food."
They bring this on themselves and were going to end up paying for it.

 

[casualbb]

On an individual basis it is an individual issue. But obesity is just like minority school underachievement. On a systemic level, it must be treated as a systemic problem. Rising obesity rates reflect america having an environment increasingly encouraging of obesity. Either we can say "screw them, let them eat themselves to death," or deign to look broadly at the problem and try and create an environment better encouraging of healthy eating.

 

[MAX 300]

Why not use fat people as game for sports hunting?

Instead of using endangered and beautiful animals for game, let's use abundant and ugly fat people. Every year we could have a fat people culling where we would hunt down and kill all people suffering from obesity.

That would give them some incentive to loose weight, too!

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

ok so they havent produced jobs

they have started numerous social programs to target obesity however. People with diabetic complications will continue to be treated by healthcare as otherwise they would die. The general public is unwilling to let that happen (death) and due to the free commercial leash given in your country and mine, sweets and high calorie food is served in high school cafeteria's everywhere.

"They haven't produced jobs" sure does sound a lot nicer than "their economy and standard of living has stagnated as socialist after socialist has gutted the economic heart of the country".

It is a failed attempt at Utopia, just like all the others. A disaster. But oh, look, they got 1 or 2 things right! They must be great. So what is the country produces no net wealth for 60 years?

Can you imagine what would happen to the US and world economies if America porduced no net jobs for 60 years? Only because Sweden is irrelevant to the world can it be such an abect economic failure.

Yes, in an ideal world their moms and pops should be telling them to eat right. but most likely there parents wont, and they are not mature enough to knwo that if they get trapped in an obesity lifestyle they will suffer!

You either own your body or you do not. I prefer to own it, not to be property of the state, which is what you are espousing.

the difference between the article nordy posted and what we do is they realised they are going to have a diabetes epidemic and they got a lid on it. this will SAVE money, yes it is government saying we have to spend money to save money but for centuries we have treated the symptoms of disease in an attempt to remove them from the public but have neglected to change the underlying causes.

Government is not an investment bank. it should not be making these kinds of decisions. it should be protecting rights....only. You are intimating that the state has rights, when it does not. Individuals have rights only.

All the cost of obesity goes away if the government gets out of the health care biz. And, guess what? prices go down.

You can if you want, revert to a purely capatalist society with no reign on what is peddled to kids, and no mass social programs,

How about: we own our own bodies, and property rights are enforced? I will settle for that. is that too much to ask?

you will get those who are sensible living well and provideing for their family, but you will also get massive social degeneration, a breakdown of social structure and as a result massive sequalae of deprivation (crime, drugs, teen pregnancy)...they will eventually have to be contained within walls to stop them robbing and pillaging others...far-fetched but entirely bprobable and predicted by many analysts as the rich-poor divide worsens

Sounds like modern day America.

The walls you describe are jails, and we have more people in them than every other countryt in the world. Wake up bro. it is already here, and government intervention into people's everyday lives is the reason.

This is not an economic thread, but it is labor laws that keep poor people poor, not capitalism. it is unions that drive everyone;s wages down, except the few inside it. Poverty is by its very defintion the absence of welath and therefore the enemy of the free market

The free market seeks to create wealth, so by defintion it destroys poverty.

This is capitalism 101. why is this not taught in schools????? OH, I know. Teahcers are a special interest group,and here in the US, a powerful union.

, by helping them we aren;t only helping them but society and the environment as a whole. this appears to be a fundamental difference between europe and the us...and the way i think and you do. maybe (i hope not) when i'm earning $$$ i'll change but im guessing like you said its apples and oranges

Society is "everyone but me". Why would I want to be chained to that? I just want the chance to look out for me. Just me. I won't tell you what to do, and you don't tell me what to do. Seems fair, yes?

 

[hooch]

The whole thing is a Bush Admin gift to the healthcare industry. Medicare was recently revamped so that companies in healthcare will reap billions while seniors "supposedly" get to save a couple hundred bucks a year on prescription drugs. Don't worry...in the coming years you'll see a slew of drug company adverstisments on TV promoting drugs that address obesity. All paid for by medicare....

Vote Bush out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Forge]

HAHAHA

Oh man, that link is hilarious!

While others might have been discouraged by failure, Kim has intensified his efforts.

"I'm in the lab day and night," Kim said. "The other researchers will say 'Come have dinner with us,' but I'm so busy that I have to just grab some yogurt from the vending machine. I'm just too busy running over to the research facility on the west side of campus or carrying samples to the lab up on the fourth floor. I've lost 20 pounds since starting this project in January."

Even though he expressed concern about his recent weight loss, Kim said he will continue his work unabated.

"I can't worry about me right now; finding a cure for obesity is far too important," Kim said. "And, honestly, I feel better than I've felt in years. My work, although difficult, is energizing. I can't turn my back on my research while, all around me, Americans are dropping like enormous flies."

 

[Lao Tzu]

This is the best part

"I came down with obesity two years after I got married," 41-year-old Oklahoma City resident Fran Torley said. "I know it was hard for my husband to watch me suffer from this disease. When he caught obesity a year later, he got so depressed, he couldn't do anything but sit on the couch. Some days, we sit and watch television from dawn till dusk, hoping for news of a breakthrough."