Hey Snowflakes

I read somewhere where the adult obesity rate in the US is like 38% and in children 17%. Those numbers were 30 and 14 in 2000. All the relevant fat boy and girl diseases go along with it. We all know what they are.

As a nation, we are clearly going soft.

Here's another example from a different view but in the same vein. I was at my parents house the past few days because my Mom (80) was in the hospital for some serious vertigo issues. She is fine now and our last day there we took a drive around the country near the home place. As we drove past the foot of Sugarloaf mountain, my Mom asked me how old I was when I first walked to the top. I was 12 when I climbed it with my Uncle Gerald. He was 14. It ain't a huge mountain but its a mountain and was quite a challenge. I'll never forget the thrill of finding the geodetic survey marker on the top.

How many 12 and 14 years would be able to do that today on their own. My 80 year old Mom by the way found out about that hike day before yesterday. So I didn't ask for permission. But how many would be allowed? I don't think any of my four kids could have done it. They could have if they had walked and biked as far as I had at 12, but then again that's part of it.

But its another example of the generational changes that have happened to Americans. And IMO not in a good way.

I am a believer in global warming and I think we are causing it. But I truly truly wished that as many people were alarmed by the disintegration of, hell I don't know what to call it, global fattening maybe. I wish they would care about this problem like they do about the climate.

Read Herodotus' account of the Greeks kicking the Persian's ass all over Asia minor. They got soft too.

BKB

Barry...you just need a big hug!...err um i mean...bong hit

I hear you BKB, I hear you.

I will allow that these statistics are ~somewhat~ skewed by the measurement criteria. I am in pretty good shape and have been most of my life. But for most of my life I've been classified as obese. The BMI just isn't suited for people who work out a lot. I am also humble enough to admit that in all honesty there are very bad health consequences to being heavy whether you are fit or not. Just because I run and lift does not mean that I am not going to pay the price for coming in at 245 or even more sometimes.

But to your point I agree that it is a terrible predicament. How to get a free people into shape with so many obstacles in their way. Among which is a junk food industry that have teams of psychologists and scientists figuring out how to make their products as addictive as possible. A fat tax? One where the long term costs of being very obese are actually factored into the cost of the product? Very hard but doable. Except that conservatives have made the shift from being low tax to being unbothered with externalities. They would never go along with it. And you can bet that if the true cost of a Twinkie or a KFC extra crispy bucket were factored into the equation the fast food industry would be hard pressed to survive at all.

It's a tough nut for sure.

Another, perhaps not unrelated factor is at work here as well. I've noticed it in other rural areas I've lived and it is very noticeable here in southern WV. There are mountains and peaks and rivers and everything under the sun that needs exploring but there is very little to no access. Very little in the way of trails and parks and areas open to public activity. And there isn't a gym or workout facility within 25 miles. It makes it tough. Old people walk along one lane roads to get exercise only to harassed by mean dog after mean dog. ~sigh~

Will

You make a good point about how to address it. We already allow life insurance companies to penalize smokers by charging them more for life insurance. Should health insurers be allowed to do the same? If we do, shouldn't we allow them to penalize people who are overweight? How about gravy eaters? How far could it go?

As certainly as we don't want government telling us what we should eat (witness the pushback to Michelle Obama's efforts to improve nutrition in school lunches), isn't it just as bad to have government tell insurance companies they have to insure fatties at the same rate as those who fit the fitness profile? What happens when companies require fitness standards for employment? They pay more for our obesity too.

A nanny state works in a lot of different ways.

BKb

I don't know if it is allowed but my last few employers already charge extra for health insurance for tobacco users. Well I'm pretty sure it's allowed since my current one is a state government. :)

Nanny state or not I have always been comfortable with putting taxes as close to the usage, or cause as possible. As long as we ensure that by and large it is used to correct a problem or alleviate an exteranalized cost. It's only fair I'd say. If you're making or selling something that pushes costs out to society at large we should figure out what that cost is and put a tax on it to reimburse society. The gasoline tax is a good example. I have zero problem with putting a special tax on gas in order to upkeep roads and whatnot. You just have to keep the politicians on a short leash to keep it from becoming a cash cow.

As far as our current weight problem? I don't think humans were designed by evolution to sit at a computer screen and watch digital screens all day. Nor were we made to sit around watching TV for days on end. I think there is a psychological factor at work here. We have taken people who had only a couple generations ago had to adjust to moving from farm life to assembly line life and we have intentionally put a lot of them out to pasture by moving their means of livelihood overseas. I'm not sure we can do anything more important to correct some of these problems than making it a point to bring jobs back home and put a lot of these people back to work. I think it is going to be impossible to get people to live healthy productive lives if they are out of work and out of hope.

Will

If we're okay with a road tax on gasoline, why wouldn't we be comfortable with a climate tax?

Slippery slope for reals.

BKB

My girls could do it. No question; but they're an exception these days. I like the idea of a fat tax and I don't ever like any idea of any tax, usually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LJ3

My girls could do it. No question; but they're an exception these days. I like the idea of a fat tax and I don't ever like any idea of any tax, usually.

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Better make it a HEAVY tax (no pun intended). Like more than tobacco.

Smoker tax is already being paid when you buy smokes. Not sure how the heavy tax could be levied accurately.

Sin taxes are big here in the bible belt. You can seemingly tax liquor, tobacco, and now weed (13% before local sales tax in Co) as much as you want and say its for everyone's own good and they line up to vote for it.

Here in Oklahoma, we have an effective 1% gross production tax on oil and gas. Nodaks is 11% or was last time I looked. We have a huge budget deficit and guess what is the only solution they are voting on in our special session? A huge cigarette tax. The reasoning is they are only doing what is good for us.

Most times in my life when someone said 'Its for your own good' it was at a prostate exam or something very similar.

BKB

seems about right. Prostate exams mirror politics these days.

Hehe.... I needed a good laugh this afternoon. :)

You will notice that the weed tax will start to see diminishing enthusiasm. Sort of like the talk of it being a "gateway drug" and all of that. You are just now starting to see the broader acceptance of it begin to permeate through the political psyche. And of course the fact that bog pharma is beginning to see their plans for mass production and distribution of it coming to fruition has nothing to do with it.

~snort~

I've never taken a toke. Ever. But even a blind man could see how this stuff was demonized right up until there was big money to be made from it. I been saying for decades that the only reason it was illegal was that you could grow it in your backyard. If the way opioids have skated after the hell they have unleashed on us doesn't wake a man up I don't know what would.

Will

My personal belief is I don’t really care if its useful or not. Its a personal choice and like seatbelts, I think its none of the state or federal government’s business if I use it or not. Now if they want to tell me I have to belt in a minor child or keep weed away from kids, I’m all for it. It seems to be an accepted fact that alcohol laws effectively manage minor’s use so I don’t know why it wouldn’t work for weed.

And I agree with you about big pharma wanting to get into it in a big way.

I wish the federal government would ban all opioids for pain management. With as many people that need something for pain, I’d bet am effective substitute would be found pretty quickly.

BkB

Totally agree Barry!....Wow...did I just say that?.....:D

Damn Posty. You awful grumpy for a baby boomer that believed in burning draft cards, bras, partying and generally make love not war shit...
are you saying there should be less government In Our lives?
Welcome to the Republican Party!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain

Damn Posty. You awful grumpy for a baby boomer that believed in burning draft cards, bras, partying and generally make love not war shit...
are you saying there should be less government In Our lives?
Welcome to the Republican Party!!!

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Hahaha!!! If he had his binoculars he’d have saw this whole republican switch coming a mile away!

He’s gonna be on the Trump train before he knows it

I never burned my draft card nor did I have any bone spurs.

BKB