Bad News, Good News?

In "Are Americans Getting Healthier?" the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog notes an interesting turn of events:

Americans might be getting healthier, a development that — if true — could have economic causes and consequences.

Obesity may be on the decline.The percentage of Americans who are obese declined from 2010 to 2011, according to a Gallup report released this week. In every quarter of the past year, there were fewer obese Americans than in the same period of 2010, the polling firm said. All told, 26.1% of American adults were obese in 2011, compared with 26.6% in 2010.

The year-over-year decrease is “statistically significant,” said Gallup’s Elizabeth Mendes, calling the trend “a really positive sign.” She said Gallup is studying the quarterly survey data and hasn’t yet drawn any conclusions about why obesity may have waned in the past year. (In 2009, 26.5% of American adults were obese.)

Some have theories, however.

According to Jennifer Robinson, a professor in epidemiology and medicine at the University of Iowa‘s College of Public Health, “economics is driving this.” Dr. Robinson, who has studied weight in the U.S. over the past 50 years, said obesity rates were flat until about the mid-1970s. While the obesity rate among lower-income individuals was always greater than for higher earners, rates across the entire income spectrum rose between the 1970s and 2001, she said, with obesity “skyrocketing” among the top quartile of earners.

Dr. Robinson, who based her research on data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, pegs economics as the reason behind the increase among higher earners. A number of factors came into play, she said: longer commuting times, more sedentary lives, larger portion sizes in restaurants and the coffee-shop phenomenon of indulging in “1,000-calorie grande lattes and that kind of thing.”

Of course, circumstances have changed quite a bit since the bubble burst, and current economic conditions may well be be having the opposite effect. In fact, according to Dr. Robinson,

the recession and the slow recovery is “especially affecting...blue-collar male workers,” she said, “and I think a lot of discretionary food expenditures are declining.”

With that in mind, perhaps the following report should be taken as exceptionally good news?

"Further Rise in Poverty Seen with Slow Recovery" (Reuters)

Nearly 10 million more Americans have fallen into poverty since the 2007-2009 U.S. recession began, and the number is expected to increase due to the slow pace of the economic recovery, a study released on Wednesday by Indiana University showed.

Comments

[robert in london]

Another ten years of this economic 'recovery' and that raw boned, Migrant Mother 'look' should be all the rage among what is left of the middle and underclasses. Plus we'll all be buff and sinewy enough to build dams and fight that next world or interplanetary war. Move over Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, there's a new diet 'sheriff' coming to town.

[Try grocery shopping on food stamps for a family]

EBT Nation – Electronic Benefit Transfer. Since the recession ended in summer of 2009 we have added 14,000,000+ Americans to food stamp programs.

Over 46,220,000 Americans are receiving this assistance. How is it that we officially exited the recession in the summer of 2009 yet continue to expand the number of Americans on food stamps?

What we are largely seeing is a split in our economic prospects that is extremely pronounced.

http://www.mybudget360.com/ebt-nation-electronic-benefit-transfer-recession-over-14-million-americans-added-to-food-assistance-ebt/

[How about truthful news?]

Cenk Uygur rips New York Times over ‘truth vigilante’ column

The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur blasted New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane on Thursday for his column which questioned when reporters should challenge statements made by politicians.

“When should you challenge it? How about every freaking time! What do you think your job is? Do you think you’re a stenographer? Oh, Politician X said this, and Politician Y said that. Let’s all go have cocktails together!” Cenk said. “Of course you should challenge them on the facts.”

“Please have the courage to do actual journalism,” he added. “I don’t give a damn what the Republicans and Democrats say, tell us what the reality is.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/12/cenk-uygur-rips-new-york-times-over-truth-vigilante-column/

[Troy L]

Only half a percent less? This difference could simply be a margin of error in the polling. Besides, obesity comes from consuming processed food, especially sugars and refined starches. As such obesity has always been a disease of malnutrition, although this fact is often obfuscated by powerful interests. Even if there are greater numbers of "dieters" over the past year, it is scientifically proven that reduced calorie diets don't work in the long term. We'll probably see the numbers of obese people continue to increase even as Americans get poorer.

Yes, officially and according to conventional wisdom, calories in versus calories out is what causes obesity. But that's not what a century of research indicates. Read Gary Taubes' book _Good Calories, Bad Calories_.

["strip it and steal it" baby!]

Mitt Romney And Bain: Fair?

KB Toys is one example outlined in that video that is truthful. KB was larded up with debt and ultimately collapsed under the load. Yet Bain made a monstrous profit on what was, objectively, a failed transaction.

This sort of "strip it and steal it" model is entirely legal. But the question is not whether something is legal -- it is whether it's a model we ought to encourage and base our economy upon, and whether someone who has practiced this destruction of American jobs and the offshoring of capital should be elected President.

The answer, quite simply, is no.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=200506

[Bailey]

Mass third world immigration be it legal or illegal is another spoke in the poverty wheel that most MSM pundits will not discuss but contributes greatly to the problem/statistical numbers. Free everything is a pretty good lure if your suffering in your own narcocracy nation. Thanks NAFTA