tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705460.post116326743718240680..comments2024-01-21T00:21:39.004-06:00Comments on Three Wise Men: Diabetes a serious problem for American IndiansAlexander Wolfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03041808057755360625noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705460.post-1163437091818057502006-11-13T10:58:00.000-06:002006-11-13T10:58:00.000-06:00Great points on the update. I'm sure a conservativ...Great points on the update. <BR/><BR/>I'm sure a conservative visiting our blog would go "well of course you think society ought to do something about people eating bad; your liberals and think more government is the answer to everything." To that I say, yeah...so? <BR/><BR/>Seriously though...a relentless parade of diet fads does not seem to be working in curbing obesity. Again, the problem is that the worst food is also the cheapest, therefore the poor among us are the most likely to eat it, and unfortunately for the rest of us, the poor are the least likely to be able to afford their own medical care. So, how does it not make sense to try to prevent health care expenses that the rest of us will pay via our state and federal taxes as best we can? It's not at all possible to remake society so that people only eat healthy food; people, being what they are, will eat what they want when they want to, even if they know better. But as government provides incentives to corporations, so too can it provide incentives to it's citizens. We can discourage them from eating bad food by making it more expensive, or a little harder to get, or by public service announcements that make people aware of how bad the food is. We can encourage them to eat better food by making better food cheaper, easier to get, and by making people aware of the positive health consequences. Nobody here or anywhere else is mandating that government shut down McDonalds and build a Whole Foods on every street corner, but there's much we can do that would not be that expensive now that may save us billions later in health care expenses, and quite simply, in lost lives. Why not do it?Alexander Wolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03041808057755360625noreply@blogger.com