Gun-Control Today; Fat-Control Tomorrow?

[matt53]

put an end to the corn and soy subsidies. that simple.

in case y'all missed it...

 

[matt53]

Eat whatever you please, but at least do your body the favor of staying active, go to the gym...do cardio and exercise your heart...I'm not the fittest of dudes, but I make sure I go to te gym at the least 3 times a week, the only fast food joint I frequent is Subways and if I do walk into mcDonalds I walk out with a grilled chicken salad and small fries at the most...was at the hospital and was impressed with what my resting Heart rate was...a nice 40bpm keep that heart strong.

We as Americans lead a very fast paced life...a lot of people don't have a choice but to consume fast food...we get a short 30 minute break at work, work 12+ hours, fast food is accessible and cheap, some people just don't have the time to cook up a meal at home unless on days off...it's a bit unfair to compare us to Europe, being that they have a pretty different work ethic....I know in South America (Colombia) most commercial workers close up shop at noon to go home and have a meal...

Bro, i've never come at you and your nonsense before but there is no way your resting heart rate is 40 beats per minute when Lance Armstrong was able to peak at 34. Go to the gym 3 days a week and eat at Mac D's will get you to elite athlete levels? F outta here.

 

[ksteezy]

Bro, i've never come at you and your nonsense before but there is no way your resting heart rate is 40 beats per minute when Lance Armstrong was able to peak at 34. Go to the gym 3 days a week and eat at Mac D's will get you to elite athlete levels? F outta here.

I was surprised to, luckily I work in a hospital, so I'll try to find a pulse ox and take a picture, at its lowest it was 40BPM, average around 48BPM...why would I lie?

 

[Comparison Ford]

Is this about stopping people from dying preventable painful deaths ( b/c years of coronary heart disease is painful) or is this about short term politics?

As the article also mentioned, heart disease is also costing the nation a **** load of money which can be better spent. Heart disease is completely preventable. It is a by product of diet. 

You want the government to prevent unnecessary deaths? Fine. Let them do it across the board. Not just where it only infringes on the rights of certain groups of people. 

Pretending that this is about preventing unnecessary deaths when it is really about politics is disingenuous. 

You don't give a **** about kids or school or whatever else. This is about, "whites conservatives  love guns and white conservatives are horrible , so let's stick it to them!" 

It's not as much about stopping preventable painful deaths as it is stopping preventable painful deaths at the hands of others.  Death from coronary heart disease is self-inflicted, and the government can't (and shouldn't try to) save us from ourselves.  I'm not exactly anti-gun, but the way you've framed the argument is flawed.

 

[rashi]

40BPM? Unless you do 26.2 or Ironman's consistently, there is no reason why your heart rate is that low. Normal resting heart rate is between 60-80, endurance athletes are normally 45-60.

 

[andycrazn]

zerohedge do what we've always done. if the data or measurement is producing undesirable results. CHANGE IT! lets increase the requirements for a person to be obese and BAM problem solved. word to kicking everyone off of unemployment to create 0% unemployment.

 

[gatzbygordon]

the only thing i'd want the government to do on the fat issue is to ensure kids are getting PE in school and are being fed somewhat healthy stuff..

past 18 you should know that eating garbage is going to kill you, and noone especially our government should be babysitting you making sure you are not IV'ing bacon grease..

alot of this is all paranoia too, not pertaining specifically to the article or anything mentioned in this thread, but those types that think obama is coming for their bibles and guns..

now their cheesburgers and soda..

but yeah bloomberg is an idiot.

 

[gatzbygordon]

 word to kicking everyone off of unemployment to create 0% unemployment.

hell yeah

you know all those people are unemployed because they want to...

make those people do without food and shelter and take away the only thing keeping them from being homeless and feeding their families.

im being sarcastic 

 

[ksteezy]

40BPM? Unless you do 26.2 or Ironman's consistently, there is no reason why your heart rate is that low. Normal resting heart rate is between 60-80, endurance athletes are normally 45-60.

Bruhs, I'm no athlete...I do cardio on the regular, but nothing serious...like I said it was surprising to me too when I saw that...

 

[andycrazn]

hell yeah

you know all those people are unemployed because they want to...

make those people do without food and shelter and take away the only thing keeping them from being homeless and feeding their families.


im being sarcastic 

well its only rational to take unemployment which is 400 a week in NY. if you work a full time min wage job that comes to around 300. so would i rather be getting a paid vacation or work my butt off that will get taxed before i get to cash the check in. the only jobs that are growing now are service sector jobs which is very low paying........

is it right to do that? these stupid safety nets in place has its law of diminished returns and we are at the very end of the curve in almost every government program.

 

[andycrazn]

The following are 75 economic numbers from 2012 that are almost too crazy to believe...

#1 In December 2008, 31.6 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, a new all-time record of 47.7 million Americans are on food stamps. That number has increased by more than 50 percent over the past four years, and yet the mainstream media still has the gall to insist that “things are getting better”.

#2 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.

#3 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

#4 According to one recent survey, 55 percent of all Americans have received money from a safety net program run by the federal government at some point in their lives.

#5 For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

#6 Median household income in the U.S. has fallen for four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.

#7 Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

#8 The percentage of working age Americans with a job has been under 59 percent for 39 months in a row.

#9 In September 2009, during the depths of the last economic crisis, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In November 2012, 58.7 percent of all working age Americans were employed. It is more then 3 years later, and we are in the exact same place.

#10 When you total up all working age Americans that do not have a job in America today, it comes to more than 100 million.

#11 According to one recent survey, 55 percent of all small business owners in America “say they would not start a business today given what they know now and in the current environment.”

#12 The number of jobs at new small businesses continues to decline. According to economist Tim Kane, the following is how the decline in the number of startup jobs per 1000 Americans breaks down by presidential administration…

Bush Sr.: 11.3

Clinton: 11.2

Bush Jr.: 10.8

Obama: 7.8

#13 The U.S. share of global GDP has fallen from 31.8 percent in 2001 to 21.6 percent in 2011.

#14 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.

#15 There are four major U.S. banks that each have more than 40 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives.

#16 In 2000, there were more than 17 million Americans working in manufacturing, but now there are less than 12 million.

#17 According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971. Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are.

#18 The Pew Research Center has also found that 85 percent of all middle class Americans say that it is harder to maintain a middle class standard of living today than it was 10 years ago.

#19 62 percent of all middle class Americans say that they have had to reduce household spending over the past year.

#20 Right now, approximately 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.

#21 Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be either “low income” or impoverished.

#22 According to one survey, 77 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time.

#23 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percentof all men in the United States have jobs.

#24 The average amount of time that an unemployed worker stays out of work in the United States is 40 weeks.

#25 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.

#26 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an all-time record 49 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives financial assistance from the federal government. Back in 1983, that number was less than 30 percent.

#27 Right now, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. And that does not even count Social Security or Medicare. Overall, there are almost 80 different “means-tested welfare programs” that the federal government is currently running.

#28 When you account for all government transfer payments and all forms of government employment, more than half of all Americans are now at least partially financially dependent on the government.

#29 Barack Obama has been president for less than four years, and during that time the number of Americans “not in the labor force” has increased by nearly 8.5 million. Something seems really “off” about that number, because during the entire decade of the 1980s the number of Americans “not in the labor force” only rose by about 2.5 million.

#30 Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

#31 According to USA Today, many Americans have actually seen their water bills triple over the past 12 years.

#32 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.

#33 Right now, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents.

#34 As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.

#35 At this point, only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States are good jobs.

#36 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.

#37 Recently it was announced that total student loan debt in the United States has passed the one trillion dollar mark.

#38 If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

#39 One survey of business executives has ranked California as the worst state in America to do business for 8 years in a row.

#40 In the city of Detroit today, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty, and close to 50 percent of all adults are functionally illiterate.

#41 It is being projected that half of all American children will be on food stamps at least once before they turn 18 years of age.

#42 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.

#43 If you can believe it, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed last year.

#44 The U.S. economy continues to trade good paying jobs for low paying jobs. 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.

#45 Our trade deficit with China in 2011 was $295.5 billion. That was the largest trade deficit that one country has had with another country in the history of the planet.

#46 The United States has lost an average of approximately 50,000 manufacturing jobs a month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

#47 According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

#48 The U.S. tax code is now more than 3.8 million words long. If you took all of William Shakespeare’s works and collected them together, the entire collection would only be about 900,000 words long.

#49 According to the IMF, the global elite are holding a total of 18 trillion dollars in offshore banking havens such as the Cayman Islands.

#50 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.

#51 2012 was the third year in a row that the yield for corn has declined in the United States.

#52 Experts are telling us that global food reserves have reached their lowest level in almost 40 years.

#53 One recent survey discovered that 40 percent of all Americans have $500 or less in savings.

#54 If you can believe it, one recent survey found that 28 percent of all Americans do not have a single penny saved for emergencies.

#55 Medical costs related to obesity in the United States are estimated to be approximately $147 billion a year.

#56 Corporate profits as a percentage of GDP are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, wages as a percentage of GDP are near an all-time low.

#57 Today, the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined.

#58 The wealthiest 400 families in the United States have about as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of all Americans combined.

#59 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percentof all Americans combined.

#60 At this point, the poorest 50 percent of all Americans collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.

#61 Nearly 500,000 federal employees now make at least $100,000 a year.

#62 In 2006, only 12 percent of all federal workers made $100,000 or more per year. Now, approximately 22 percent of all federal workers do.

#63 If you can believe it, there are 77,000 federal workers that make more than the governors of their own states do.

#64 Nearly 15,000 retired federal workers are collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually. The list includes such names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, **** Gephardt and **** Cheney.

#65 U.S. taxpayers spend more than 20 times as much on the Obamas as British taxpayers spend on the royal family.

#66 Family homelessness in the Washington D.C. region (one of the wealthiest regions in the entire country) has risen 23 percent since the last recession began.

#67 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.

#68 During fiscal year 2012, 62 percent of the federal budget was spent on entitlements.

#69 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, approximately one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.

#70 It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#71 Medicare is also growing by leaps and bounds. As I wrote about recently, it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.

#72 Thanks to our foolish politicians (including Obama), Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.

#73 Amazingly, the U.S. national debt is now up to 16.3 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.

#74 During the first four years of the Obama administration, the U.S. government accumulated about as much debt as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office.

#75 Today, the U.S. national debt is more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was originally created back in 1913.

 

[dathbgboy]

Most pll eat bc they have problems that are deeper than them being fat or greedy. Also, ppl eat due to stress, and depression, and etc. Furthermore, the foods that many can afford is cheaper than what they can't.

MAJOR FACTOR: ppl are not educated or don't care about health. Ignorance is a main cause of health issues in the world, and not just the US. I was not aware of the process of carbs into the system until I did research trying to eat better.

 

[kix4kix]

I met this guy from the military last week, and within 5 minutes he cocked a gun, and told me how he had hydra rounds.....minutes later, he was waving it around while snorting Percocet. Lets just say gun control is a Little higher on my list than letting Rick Ross go to Wendy's.

 

[boris]

I suppose I'm lucky that I don't gain weight easily, but I've always been an active person. I like to play sports for exercise. 

Eating at McDonald's is hardly close to cheap these days. I could easily go find a healthier meal for roughly the same price if I'm not willing to cook at home. 

 

[essential1]

There's no money in good health.

Expand upon this statement.

No.

He's right. But I love how he just said no

 

[dajoka004]

He's right. But I love how he just said no

He's actually wrong. But hey, one more idiot for me to ignore here.

 

[essential1]

He's right. But I love how he just said no

He's actually wrong. But hey, one more idiot for me to ignore here.

He's talking about big pharma.. Or at least that is how I read it.. It's like with any illness.. There is no money in the cure. There is money in the medication....

Hence there is money for companies that sell cholesterol, high blood pressure, and all the ailments associated with being overweight than there is if everyone was the picture of help.

Simple concept for someone to understand... But hey, one more person who doesn't do critical thinking.

 

[dajoka004]

He's talking about big pharma.. Or at least that is how I read it.. It's like with any illness.. There is no money in the cure. There is money in the medication....
Hence there is money for companies that sell cholesterol, high blood pressure, and all the ailments associated with being overweight than there is if everyone was the picture of help.
Simple concept for someone to understand... But hey, one more person who doesn't do critical thinking.

Tell me that last sentence doesn't refer to me. I'm not an idiot. I knew what he was most likely getting at, but I was hoping to start a more in depth discussion about preventative health care and the money it generates all while not being completely taxing on the health care system and the tax payers supporting it. Instead he responded like a typical NT ***hole.

 

[weekz]

Mississippi is covered.

 

[chris nosnah]

We need a "Fat Tax" charge fat people more in taxes. **** is getting crazy i went into walmart and i was the only fit person

 

[Master Zik]

He's talking about big pharma.. Or at least that is how I read it.. It's like with any illness.. There is no money in the cure. There is money in the medication....
Hence there is money for companies that sell cholesterol, high blood pressure, and all the ailments associated with being overweight than there is if everyone was the picture of help.
Simple concept for someone to understand... But hey, one more person who doesn't do critical thinking.

Tell me that last sentence doesn't refer to me. I'm not an idiot. I knew what he was most likely getting at, but I was hoping to start a more in depth discussion about preventative health care and the money it generates all while not being completely taxing on the health care system and the tax payers supporting it. Instead he responded like a typical NT ***hole.

Sounds like you just wanted discussion. He's right unless you have #s that support an argument that says there's more money in good health than not. There isn't any population shortage so it's more ideal to have more ppl with poor health paying to be healthier and then eventually dying than having more healthy ppl living longer.

 

[Comparison Ford]

He's talking about big pharma.. Or at least that is how I read it.. It's like with any illness.. There is no money in the cure. There is money in the medication....
Hence there is money for companies that sell cholesterol, high blood pressure, and all the ailments associated with being overweight than there is if everyone was the picture of help.
Simple concept for someone to understand... But hey, one more person who doesn't do critical thinking.

The problem with that argument is that it makes it seem as if doctors simply prescribe medications for high cholesterol and hypertension and then send you on your merry way.  Doctors inform their patients of the lifestyle changes they'll need to make if they want to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol, it's just that a lot of people aren't privy to the idea of dieting, exercising, and overall healthy living.

 

[wawawowee]

He's talking about big pharma.. Or at least that is how I read it.. It's like with any illness.. There is no money in the cure. There is money in the medication....
Hence there is money for companies that sell cholesterol, high blood pressure, and all the ailments associated with being overweight than there is if everyone was the picture of help.
Simple concept for someone to understand... But hey, one more person who doesn't do critical thinking.

There's plenty of money in good health as evidenced by the likes of Whole Food's, Fairway Market, Trader Joe's, etc and the general explosion of organic, low fat, low sodium, etc. foods. 

The problem is that many Americans, especially those in the lower economic strata, take quantity over quality. This is not only true when it comes to food but also for consumer goods in general. This is a wider phenomenon. 

Most individuals would rather get more of **** product A then less of quality product B. 

The pharma drugs are only a response to the market.  They fill demand. They don't create it. 

 

[wawawowee]

The problem with that argument is that it makes it seem as if doctors simply prescribe medications for high cholesterol and hypertension and then send you on your merry way.  Doctors inform their patients of the lifestyle changes they'll need to make if they want to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol, it's just that a lot of people aren't privy to the idea of dieting, exercising, and overall healthy living.

Most people are privy as it's fairly intuitive.

What most people want though us to have their cake and eat it too. They want to eat whatever they want and they believe that the drugs they take will counteract the negative side effects of their poor diet. 

The way our medical system has been set up for the past 3 decades, many individuals have been able to get their cake and eat it too. The problem is that there is no free lunch in this world and that's evidenced by the torrid pace of medical spending since 1980. Its seen double digit compounded growth for over 30 years and  medical care has become unaffordable on a cash basis for patients. 

 

[Comparison Ford]

Most people are privy as it's fairly intuitive.

What most people want though us to have their cake and eat it too. They want to eat whatever they want and they believe that the drugs they take will counteract the negative side effects of their poor diet. 

The way our medical system has been set up for the past 3 decades, many individuals have been able to get their cake and eat it too. The problem is that there is no free lunch in this world and that's evidenced by the torrid pace of medical spending since 1980. Its seen double digit compounded growth for over 30 years and  medical care has become unaffordable on a cash basis for patients. 

That's pretty close to what I was saying.  You can't place all of the blame on big pharma and physicians when people refuse to give up unhealthy foods, smoking, etc. and refuse to exercise.