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The Skinny on Fat

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Many Americans are overweight or even obese. I’m one of them.

You probably are, too. After all, the media keeps ominously hyping that nearly two-thirds of us fit these categories. Of course, being “overweight” and being “obese” are not exactly identical.

A plurality of 37 percent of us are overweight. Only 27 percent are obese. Said another way, 73 out of a hundred Americans are not obese.

Problem solved?

Not exactly. Obesity is still a very real health and well-being problem for a great many folks.

Plus, obesity provides politicians with a new reason to take and spend more tax money. The city council in Washington, DC, wants to spend $23 million additional dollars over the next four years to fight obesity. The program will be financed through a proposed one-cent per ounce soft drink tax. Funny, though, the soda tax will bring in $16 million a year, more than the $10 million needed for fighting the fat.

In the spirit of slimming down, you might think the city could have found something to cut to afford the new program. But politicians aren’t prepared to take their own advice.

I need to lose some weight. I figure I’ll exercise more, and stop allowing myself so many calories. The cost to me? Nothing. Heck, I’ll save money.

The cost to you? Not one thin dime.

Care to join me? Let’s call it the Starve-a-Politician Diet.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

13 replies on “The Skinny on Fat”

Why are soft drinks still covered under the food stamp program (which now has another name)? No nutritional value, only empty calories sometimes with caffeine.

In answer to mr. Rowe, and those who want to erliminate soft drinks from schools.

Not sure if this si the answer, but it might be a partial one.

Many religions (and many doctors, not for religious reasons) do NOT approve of milk or milk products with meat products.

Going back to the good days when Ike was President, his doctors told him NO MILK OR DAITY PRODUCTS with meat.

Not sure if the entire reason, but that might be one; also why schools should not ban soft drinks. (Incidentally, I drink them, and am underweight, and past 55).

If the government keeps going the way that it is, yhen we are all going to get a lot slimmer… No money-no food!!!

Good luck with the weight loss program. I’ve done it and, while it’s not complicated, neither is it easy. Putting our federal government on a diet is also not complicated – stick to the Constitution; but it’s a whole lot harder now that politics has degenerated into a contest of who can promise to steal the most money from the rest of the country and bring it home to his state or district – a less than zero sum game.

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