Thank the free fucking market

[rwh11385]

It's much, much higher than it's ever been. In fact the rate is growing exponentially and no one really knows why. The scientific consensus is that it's something in our environment that is becoming more prevalent and/or concentrated but no one knows what yet. Something in our food? or the air? The extremely rapid growth rate rules out genetics but no research has yet been able to pin down a cause, and there is a lot of mis-information out there such as the vaccine scandal and such. I had an ex-gf who said it was caused by Purel hand sanitizer because that stuff "makes your BAC spike when you use it because it's absorbed through your skin"... yeah, like Purel makes you drunk

Still, it's scary to think your kid has that big of a chance of being born with an extremely debilitating disease :(

*the reported or diagnosed cases are a higher % of the population than earlier DIAGNOSED cases per capita*

http://idea.library.drexel.edu/bitstream/1860/2632/1/2006175339.pdf

4. More children are being diagnosed with ASDs today than in the past. Some of the prevalence increase is undoubtedly attributable to changing diagnostic tendency; however, there are insufficient data to determine whether this can explain the entire increasing trend.

6. A link between environmental exposures and ASDs is plausible, but little evidence exists supporting associations between specific environmental exposures and autism.

It cannot even be said for a fact that the disease is more common today than it was before for certain. Any speculation about environment or influences is just that - speculation.

Along wth ck_taft325is comment, the statistic is meaningless - and people who suck at statistics should avoid trying to using them.

[dirtysix]

Wow...this thread went nuts.

To those who argue that we should tax the overweight - I'd like to make a counterpoint. In terms of food availability, the odds are stacked against the poor. Drive over across the train tracks and you'll find every type of fast food, low quality resturants and crap grocery stores like wal-mart that sell inexpensive, high-margin low-quality foods. The reason is food subsidies. So by taxing the overweight you're basically creating a circular reference where their taxed monies continue to pay for the cheap crops that our govt subsidizes. My healthcare solution is this: let the free market determine food prices rather than driving them down with incentives. Right now I can go buy a flame broiled burger with bacon and cheese for less than an organic orange. How the hell do you expect the poor to be thin? .

Real world experience suggests this does not work.

In other words, you're dreaming.

[Turf1600]

Real world experience suggests this does not work.

In other words, you're dreaming.

Care to offer an example?

[dirtysix]

We have no subsidies or tarrifs on agriculture and yet shit food is still cheap and good food is still expensive.
Eg McDs is cheap and crap yet Burger fuel is expensive and excellent.

It has always been so...

[Turf1600]

We have no subsidies or tarrifs on agriculture and yet shit food is still cheap and good food is still expensive.
Eg McDs is cheap and crap yet Burger fuel is expensive and excellent.

It has always been so...

How much of that food is imported?

[rwh11385]

We have no subsidies or tarrifs on agriculture and yet shit food is still cheap and good food is still expensive.
Eg McDs is cheap and crap yet Burger fuel is expensive and excellent.

It has always been so...

a) Your English ability is pathetic.
b) Actually yes, because US ag has subsidies for feed corn and soybean... which makes worldwide meat cheaper than it would be otherwise.
c) Good food is expensive because stuff like vegetables and fruits are labor-intensive.

[e30e]

Fruit and veggies are still heavily subsidized, especially the financing that goes into growing those crops. What makes them expensive is the transportation and the contract aka futures prices on what they will sell for. It makes no sense that Yuma, Az is the lettuce capital of the world for winter lettuce and your sitting in New York eating it or that someone in Washington state is eating Florida oranges.

Food prices are part the Free Market with Gov't intervention, Farmers decided a long time ago that let Yuma grow winter veggies and let Florida excel in oranges. Those farmers not there, excelled in something else.

[Turf1600]

I smell big business......

Like I said, the odds are stacked against the poor. A fat tax isn't fair.

[dirtysix]

a) Your English ability is pathetic.
b) Actually yes, because US ag has subsidies for feed corn and soybean... which makes worldwide meat cheaper than it would be otherwise.
c) Good food is expensive because stuff like vegetables and fruits are labor-intensive.

a) go fuck yourself
b) bullshit.
c) you dont think a cow needs to be taken care of?

[joshh]

I don't buy it (no pun intended). It's tough to stay on an all veggie diet. It's not that hard to maintain a balanced diet even with the cost of veggies, grains and rice (although prices are increasing right now).
Those that are buying the cheapest thing all the time are either very lazy or very poor. I'll give the poor a door out because I've been there and I know how hard it is to have a good diet with no money. But you have to be in the bottom bracket of poverty. Even welfare and food stamps give people a choice of foods. And I'd bet you'd find the lazy are the larger problem with having a choice of diet and choose the shit for nutrition most of the time. The body doesn't need very much food to remain healthy. The quality of food however does matter.
How many people are out buying that new SUV for 60k and pull into the drive through time in and time out with it. It comes down to priorities. Americans are not known for having any clue what priorities should be at the top.

Edit, being fat isn't just about food quality. It's about food quantity. Calories are calories. Those that are over weight aren't just eating poorly, they are also over eating. Shit, you can over eat on a great diet and be a fatty.

[tjts1]

It cannot even be said for a fact that the disease is more common today than it was before for certain. Any speculation about environment or influences is just that - speculation.

Exactly. Because nobody has ever done a scientific study on these subjects

[Turf1600]

I don't buy it (no pun intended). It's tough to stay on an all veggie diet. It's not that hard to maintain a balanced diet even with the cost of veggies, grains and rice (although prices are increasing right now).
Those that are buying the cheapest thing all the time are either very lazy or very poor. I'll give the poor a door out because I've been there and I know how hard it is to have a good diet with no money. But you have to be in the bottom bracket of poverty. Even welfare and food stamps give people a choice of foods. And I'd bet you'd find the lazy are the larger problem with having a choice of diet and choose the shit for nutrition most of the time. The body doesn't need very much food to remain healthy. The quality of food however does matter.
How many people are out buying that new SUV for 60k and pull into the drive through time in and time out with it. It comes down to priorities. Americans are not known for having any clue what priorities should be at the top.

Edit, being fat isn't just about food quality. It's about food quantity. Calories are calories. Those that are over weight aren't just eating poorly, they are also over eating. Shit, you can over eat on a great diet and be a fatty.

I think everyone agrees that personal responsibility is a problem. However, americans are marketed to more than any culture in the history of the world. We have a system in place that heavily encourages irresponsible behavior because it's profitable. Also, you mention the "very poor" - there are more sub 25k families in the US than any other income level. I'd classify that as very poor. I just looked it up - Houston has 1,228 fast food resturants. Most cities in the top 50 per capita have like 200.

*Awaiting the "25k isn't poor - a dollar a day blah blah blah" idiots.

[joshh]

I think everyone agrees that personal responsibility is a problem. However, americans are marketed to more than any culture in the history of the world. We have a system in place that heavily encourages irresponsible behavior because it's profitable. Also, you mention the "very poor" - there are more sub 25k families in the US than any other income level. I'd classify that as very poor. I just looked it up - Houston has 1,228 fast food resturants. Most cities in the top 50 per capita have like 200.

*Awaiting the "25k isn't poor - a dollar a day blah blah blah" idiots.

I wasn't saying your point is invalid. I agree with you. The very poor have a problem. The rest are just lazy or they choose to be fat, minus the very few with medical issues of course.
But even so, I'm still against a fat tax. Some of it is education and putting more money toward sports programs and field trips.

[Turf1600]

I wasn't saying your point is invalid. I agree with you. The very poor have a problem. The rest are just lazy or they choose to be fat, minus the very few with medical issues of course.
But even so, I'm still against a fat tax. Some of it is education and putting more money toward sports programs and field trips.

I don't care if you agree. I'm gonna argue with you.

[rwh11385]

c) you dont think a cow needs to be taken care of?

Not even on the same order of magnitude. Modern feedlot management has a ton of cows per personnel. It's not like each one is cared for, it's mass feeding and mass manure management.

Compare that to weed management and picking / handling of fruit.





USDA ERS has study of labor costs per total input cost between fruits and nuts vs. beef I believe...somewhere. But don't have time to find it now




Turf, if you want more info to use on income and diet stuff, dig through these: http://www.ers.usda.gov/catalog/Comp...sby=DATE&arc=c

I'm on vaca soon