5 ms·
Couldn´t agree more, but how do you convince millions of people to change their diet with the promise that it will reduce their health problems in 20-30 years,
by fasteo 12y ago
Couldn´t agree more, but how do you convince millions of people to change their diet with the promise that it will reduce their health problems in 20-30 years, saving their country billions of dollar a year in health care costs ?
- sgt101 12y agoTax unhealthy foods. In particular processed foods. So zero rate fresh vegetables and fruit, and fresh meat if you can manage that with the legal system (because it is processed). Then whack 25% on everything else. Now.. I shall make the comment to bring the downvotes! But I am tough so I shall do it. Bacon should be in the 25% tax bracket. -karma here I come...
- fasteo 12y agoupvote for the bacon. I am afraid that taxes would be a boomerang is this case. The industry will just lower production costs to offset the taxes. Lowering the costs meaning that crap food will be crapier and here we go again...
- thisjepisje 12y agoAt least make the tax health-dependent. As a non-overweight person I'd hate to have to pay a premium for any kind of food.
- taeric 12y agoOf course, if the hypothesis is correct, you are painting a bit of a false dichotomy. That is, if these diets are causing issues, you are paying those in longer term rising costs and loss of productivity anyway. Moving it to a monetary tax now could be far cheaper.
- adventured 12y agoWhat about bacon is a problem exactly? The latest research indicates sodium and fat are nowhere near as harmful as recently thought, and that high calorie + high carb diets are the biggest culprits by far. Which makes perfect sense. The obesity problem in America skyrocketed with the expansion not of fat and sodium and bacon consumption - bacon had been consumed in large quantities for decades prior to the obesity boom - but with the extreme increases in sugar consumption, carb consumption, and sedentary lifestyles. I'd argue bacon should be tax free, because it's far healthier than what most Americans are eating day to day. We should encourage its consumption, for it's low calorie, low carb, low sugar and high protein - which is exactly what we should be encouraging.
- mrfusion 12y agoAren't the nitrites in bacon still bad? Not sure why though on the atomic level?
- sgt101 12y agoI'm not an expert, but the thing is that Bacon is a preserved meat product and I believe that consumption of preserved meats is associated with high early mortality from a number of conditions including cancer. It's lovely (I love it) but it's apparently, on the latest research, not so good for you.
- sgt101 12y agoAlso, processed food tax will help pay for the health system!