The Left's New Villain: Fat People

[red states rule]

Well, the number of smokers have been cut yet the healthcare costs have not decreased - so now the left turns its attention to fat people

Now libs talk about "preventive lifestyles"



Taxing the fat in your food
New study argues that a tax on fattening foods could help pay for health reform and curb obesity -- and lower health costs. Others aren't so sure.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Health care costs keep growing fatter in part because Americans are, too.

More than 25% of the increase in medical costs between 1987 and 2001 is attributable to obesity and obesity-related conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, according to a new report from the non-partisan Urban Institute.

Come 2015, it is estimated that 40% of American adults will be obese, which is more than double the rate 40 years ago.

And today, close to 20% of children are obese, up from 4% four decades ago.

"What does that mean for health care costs years from now?" said Paul Fronstin, director of the health research program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

All told, 9% of health spending last year -- or more than $200 billion -- was spent on obesity-related costs, according to Urban Institute. Half of that bill was footed by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid.

Taking their cue from steep taxes on tobacco, which have helped reduce smoking rates, the health policy experts who wrote the report argue that a tax on fattening foods could not only raise a lot of revenue to pay for health reform but could also help curb obesity and thereby slow the growth in health care costs over time.

"Aggressive policy remedies like those used with tobacco deserve serious consideration, in view of the terrible and rising toll that obesity is taking on the United States," the authors write.

Depending on how it's set up, the authors estimate that a 10% federal tax of fattening foods could raise up to $530 billion over 10 years. That would be more than half the estimated cost of reform.

Of course, low-income Americans would be disproportionately affected by such a tax, both because they spend a higher percentage of their disposable income on groceries and because they tend to have a higher incidence of obesity-related conditions, at least some of which are attributable to diet.

To relieve that burden, the authors suggest $180 billion of the revenue raised be used to subsidize low-income families' purchase of fruits and vegetables and to otherwise make healthier foods available to them.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/28/news/economy/health_care_reform_obesity/index.htm

[CSM]

Interesting. Pretty soon there will be an "ugly" tax too.

[red states rule]

Interesting. Pretty soon there will be an "ugly" tax too.

Libs like Pelosi, and Barbara Mikulski do not pay taxes - only the unwqshed masses do

[stephanie]

I predicted this years ago when they went after smokers..

[red states rule]

I predicted this years ago when they went after smokers..

Is there any aspect of our lives liberals do NOT want to tax, regulate, and control?

[stephanie]

Is there any aspect of our lives liberals do NOT want to tax, regulate, and control?

you know my favorite saying...

scratch a liberal, find a fascist..

[red states rule]

you know my favorite saying...

scratch a liberal, find a fascist..

Tax, tax, tax, that's the solution. Isn't it funny how the US was founded by people fleeing high taxes - and know the left is doing it all over again?

[emmett]

Tax, tax, tax, that's the solution. Isn't it funny how the US was founded by people fleeing high taxes - and know the left is doing it all over again?

Your Anti-American sentiments are well noted people. All of you whine and bitch constantly. Fall in line and be a "team" player. Don't you want to be a part of the future of America? Learing to shut your mouth and stand in line would be time better spent I would think. Otherwise you are going to be miserable when required to do so and believe me.......you ARE going to be required to do so.

[gabosaurus]

I agree totally. Let's cut taxes. Which will lead to immense layoffs.
Let's start with the military. We can cut our weapons spending and active duty forces by 30 percent. That should help.

[CSM]

Lets cut all the entitlement programs and "special" social programs...that should save billions if not trillions!

[GetAClue]

I agree totally. Let's cut taxes. Which will lead to immense layoffs.
Let's start with the military. We can cut our weapons spending and active duty forces by 30 percent. That should help.
I would rather cut entitlement programs first. At least the military personnel actually WORK for their pay. And the military has a purpose. In other words, we are getting something for our tax dollars, security. What do we get for entitlements? More poor people. It’s a terrible investment.

[gabosaurus]

Let's cut both of them. Across the board. Thirty percent or more.

[GetAClue]

Let's cut both of them. Across the board. Thirty percent or more.
Personally, I would love to see a president tell each of his cabinet secretaries they need to cut 10% out of their budgets each year until further notice. Won't happen, but it would be nice.

[CSM]

Let's cut both of them. Across the board. Thirty percent or more.

Yep. I'm all for that. Then lets reduce the size of government in its entirety ... a few less "czars", pay cuts for government employees and especially for Congress as well as travel allowances etc. It will be a great day for this nation when any elected official has to hold a bake sale to get money to travel to some foreign country (including Canada and Mexico!).

[Trigg]

Yep. I'm all for that. Then lets reduce the size of government in its entirety ... a few less "czars", pay cuts for government employees and especially for Congress as well as travel allowances etc. It will be a great day for this nation when any elected official has to hold a bake sale to get money to travel to some foreign country (including Canada and Mexico!).

Excellent idea!!!!!!!

Does everyone here realize that bambam has traveled out of the country MORE in his short 6 months in office than ANY OTHER PRESIDENt???

[stephanie]

I wish one of the countries would keep the little Marxist and take all of his thug crooked vile Democrat commie buddies with him..

they are a danger to us and our Country..

we have serious enemies within folks

[Trigg]

Studies show that minorities are more overweight than whites. They consume more junkfood and frequent fastfood joints at a higher percentage relative to their population size.


I wonder why this administration hates non-whites and poor people????????????

Arn't these people the same ones who bambam promised their would be NO NEW TAXES?????

[Kathianne]

Excellent idea!!!!!!!

Does everyone here realize that bambam has traveled out of the country MORE in his short 6 months in office than ANY OTHER PRESIDENt???

Obama is all of appearance over substance. He 'cares' about the economy? He let's Pelosi and Co. write the legislation. The environment? Cap and trade by House. Health Care? Now both houses, little input from executive branch.

So why the need for Czars? Well that will become clear with time, if not halted by the people.

I've seen and actually made comparisons between Obama and Carter, while the results may be similar, their styles couldn't be more different. Carter was a micromanager, Obama couldn't be bothered. Obama will spin and travel, but not get involved with the nitty gritty.

[Jeff]

I predicted this years ago when they went after smokers..

As did I, If I remember correctly I asked what if he taxes people driving black cars and I was Laughed at, oooo well it is only a matter of time and Obama will tax the air ya breath

[stephanie]

As did I, If I remember correctly I asked what if he taxes people driving black cars and I was Laughed at, oooo well it is only a matter of time and Obama will tax the air ya breath


already happening..
cap and tax sound familiar.

[Binky]

Tax, tax, tax, that's the solution. Isn't it funny how the US was founded by people fleeing high taxes - and know the left is doing it all over again?


Ironic, isn't it?

[red states rule]

I agree totally. Let's cut taxes. Which will lead to immense layoffs.
Let's start with the military. We can cut our weapons spending and active duty forces by 30 percent. That should help.

Gee Gabby, hwo about starting with some of the "stimulus" spending?


More Government Waste, Corruption, and Corporate Welfare, Thanks to the Obama Administration


Rapidly-rising Medicare spending already threatens “to crush the federal budget,” and much Medicare spending is wasteful, yet the Obama Administration claims it can somehow save money by creating Medicare-like programs to cover all Americans. In the New York Times, economics professor Tyler Cowan calls it “the new voodoo economics.” Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson concludes that Obama’s health-care plan “is naive, hypocritical or simply dishonest. Probably all three.”

Obama is firing an inspector general who exposed wrongdoing by one of his supporters, and previously uncovered millions of dollars in waste and fraud in the troubled AmeriCorps program, whose budget is being dramatically increased by the Obama Administration. Inspector General Gerald Walpin was fired after he uncovered misuse of Americorps money and then sought to prevent the wrongdoer from accessing federal “stimulus money.” The recently-passed stimulus package subsidizes waste and corruption (it also repealed welfare reform).

Congress is moving towards passing a “cash for clunkers” bill that would give people tax credits, but only if they own an old gas-guzzler that they are trading in for a new car. So if you bought a fuel-efficient car in the past, your tax dollars will be used for welfare for people who bought inefficient cars (who can qualify for a tax credit if their new cars get as little as 2 MPG more than their old clunker). The bill will increase the national debt (and thus future taxes) by billions of dollars. As Mike Budnick notes in the Wall Street Journal, “This type of legislation rewards people who have made poor decisions and penalizes only people who have already made good choices. Not the kind of incentive that we should propagate. Let the market work.”

Taxpayers are being ripped off to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars to enrich wealthy buyers of so-called “toxic assets.” Meanwhile, the Obama Administration’s $787 billion stimulus package is actually killing jobs and shrinking the economy.

Congress passed an FDA tobacco regulation bill, but not without adding insidious provisions that will reduce competition in the tobacco industry, and actually make it harder to introduce products that reduce the harms and health risks of tobacco, notes the Wall Street Journal. We earlier described the bill’s pitfalls and counterproductive provisions. Obama has said he will sign the bill into law.

Billions of tax dollars are being spent on bailing out carmakers, but the primary beneficiaries of this corporate welfare are not the car companies themselves, which could have survived without federal bailouts by simply abrogating their collective bargaining agreements and dealer-contracts in a standard bankruptcy-court reorganization, but the United Auto Workers Union, which spent millions electing Obama and is now calling the shots. Taxpayers and pension funds are being ripped off to enrich the UAW, which enjoys wages much higher than the average American.

A similar government bailout of the auto industry actually backfired in England in the 1970s, destroying its carmakers by leaving them with excessive wages, inefficiency, and political meddling in car design.

http://www.examiner.com/x-7812-DC-SCOTUS-Examiner~y2009m6d14-More-Government-Waste-Corruption-and-Corporate-Welfare-Thanks-to-the-Obama-Administration

[mundame]

Good thread topic.

Because they WILL go after fat people, then old people: it's the only way to hope to make Obamacare work. The model is smoking, and that did work --- very few people smoke now so lung cancer stats, etc., are reduced. Overweight does cause a lot of health issues, and this costs the government if the government rules health care, so of course it's going to get "the treatment" ---------- progressively more and more intrusive laws, exactly like smoking, against what and how much people eat.

People get used to these laws so they pass more and more and more. It takes decades (anti-smoking started 40 years ago) so expect to be eating mostly small salads in the future -- by law.

In the meantime old people will be encouraged not to want life-preserving medical treatments, then forbidden them. Well, except for politicians, of course.

[red states rule]

Good thread topic.

Because they WILL go after fat people, then old people: it's the only way to hope to make Obamacare work. The model is smoking, and that did work --- very few people smoke now so lung cancer stats, etc., are reduced. Overweight does cause a lot of health issues, and this costs the government if the government rules health care, so of course it's going to get "the treatment" ---------- progressively more and more intrusive laws, exactly like smoking, against what and how much people eat.

People get used to these laws so they pass more and more and more. It takes decades (anti-smoking started 40 years ago) so expect to be eating mostly small salads in the future -- by law.

In the meantime old people will be encouraged not to want life-preserving medical treatments, then forbidden them. Well, except for politicians, of course.

Hillarycare was much the same - Obama is simply bringing it back

I do hope all those people who voted for Obama and the Dems are enjoying the ride on the Hope and Change Express

[namvet]

1NvgLkuEtkA

dey next !!!! :dance:

[MtnBiker]

Does this mean that Micheal Moore can do a film about the distress that fat people must endure to support a socialist healthcare system? The tax on his fat ass alone, could pay for a small town.

[namvet]

they'll have to use a chain saw to cut the fat off him. just like a pig.

[avatar4321]

Fat people huh? Well some people are proud of being overweight. Case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqz1ojIQTBk

[Binky]

As did I, If I remember correctly I asked what if he taxes people driving black cars and I was Laughed at, oooo well it is only a matter of time and Obama will tax the air ya breath


In this greedy world, it sure wouldn't surprise me a bit. They've already sold their souls....now they're doing all they can to sell us and the country down the river to the highest bidder. It's all a game to the politicians. The one bringing in the most tax monies with his/her ideas, wins. We, the people, lose. :lame2:

[Noir]

Well some people are proud of being overweight. Case in point:

Some people are proud of being drug adicts, or murders, or rapists ect. So pride isn't really a factor. (justa note: wasn't able to watch the YT video so I may be missing a joke in your post, sorry if so)

As for the whole tax thing, it's a pretty bad idea, but it's also really a fact that obese folk will cost more to keep healthy. But they way to change it is via public perception not tax. People need to be told that's it's wrong to be fat, in the same way that it's wrong to be long term unemployed, or to take drugs ect ect. As the most of it boils down to a lifestyle choice. But that campain will never get past the conecpt stage. So the only other answer is taxes.

[stephanie]

Hey Noir, long time no see..

people aren't cattle that need to be lead around by a ring in their nose..

I'm sure the majority of overweight people have a clue as to what is making them that way..
It's their choice to either stay that way, or do something about it..but just like the smoking tax, it hasn't made in dent in smoking, it has just hurt the people who can least afford and who is going to continue to smoke anyway, and created a huge black market for illegal activity.. and all the TAX is for A GOVENMENT to rip off a certain group of people for more money...How fair is that..

[Noir]

Indeed, tis good to be back.

I'm not saying lead them around, just targeted campains against being fat. It worked over here with smoking. (adverts like looking inside a smokers lungs, and other organ damage)

I know the tax isn't fair, and I don't agree with it. But I would agree with a campain to highlight the health risks and the burden that the obese are putting on the rest of society.

[Gaffer]

Indeed, tis good to be back.

I'm not saying lead them around, just targeted campains against being fat. It worked over here with smoking. (adverts like looking inside a smokers lungs, and other organ damage)

I know the tax isn't fair, and I don't agree with it. But I would agree with a campain to highlight the health risks and the burden that the obese are putting on the rest of society.

Over here it has nothing to do with educating people or keeping people healthy. It's purely about how can they get more money out of people at every turn. The so called high ideals of making people healthier are nothing but a smoke screen.

[mundame]

I'm sure the majority of overweight people have a clue as to what is making them that way..



Could be food.

Just a guess.

[namvet]

certain medications as well. also its hereditary in many. and i think their are some fatass politicans to

[stephanie]

certain medications as well. also its hereditary in many. and i think their are some fatass politicans to

there's not a lot of them that look friggen healthy..

Dingy Harry Reid looks like the walking dead..:laugh2:

[namvet]

there's not a lot of them that look friggen healthy..

Dingy Harry Reid looks like the walking dead..:laugh2:

fatten up or pay up :laugh2:

[red states rule]

http://www.strangepolitics.com/images/content/153994.jpg