Obese People Make for Excellent Consumers

First of all, I should state that this is something I have only recently thought of and am not sure whether anyone else before me has come to the same conclusion. I did a search and found things that were only snippets of what I hope to present. Currently, I am still hammering out details and searching for further evidence to back up my theory; ergo, take it easy on me.

Lets begin...

As is common knowledge, the United States has the highest level of obesity in the world. This is at 30% (A modest, possibly out of touch, estimation as I have seen other numbers in the 40%s). www.nationmaster.com...

Sure, many can claim that Americans just do not eat in a manner that is considered "healthy". That argument would be fairly valid and most would not disagree with that. Culture can create terrible habits, this is nothing new, but could that really be the culprit for such a LARGE amount of people? Others would claim genetics, however since we Americans are anything but a homogenous people, this would be a ludicrous assumption considering the amount of obese people in the U.S. What does this mean? That maybe there is more to this.

We eat unhealthy, but do we have a choice? GMO foods have proven to be linked to obesity, diabetes, etc.
)www.foodmatters.tv...'s%20not%20pretty). GMO foods are also notorious for being devoid of the key vitamins and nutrients that humans need to be healthy.

Sodas are bad for your health, but they are even worse than we think and have high levels of sodium for no reason at all. I.E it provides no contribution to the taste or quality of the product.

What about our children? Surely, the formula is safe? Wrong. There are unnecessarily high levels of sugar in the major name brands of formula. nbclatino.tumblr.com...

Now that we have some ideas of what impacts our diet, let's get to the motive. Why would anyone want their country to have high obesity rates? To make money, of course! The lack of nutrients in GMO foods makes the body crave more food to meet the number of vitamins and nutrients its needs. Carbs and calories= weight gain. If we need more food, we have to buy it. If we buy more food, they make more money. This seems simple.
More sodium in sodas means thirstier people, thirstier people buy more soda. They add sugar and corn syrup to the formula early on. Contributing to juvenile diabetes and overweight children, blossoming into overweight adults. Obese people with big appetites, buy more and more food.

What about other industries? Gaining weight? Going to need more clothing. High levels of weight means wear and tear on vehicles. Diabetes, heart problems, etc. means lots of customers for the medical industry. Fad diets, exercise companies, and "healthy" "organic" food companies make more money off of people trying to get back into shape. Think of an industry and you can surely think of how obesity would lead to consumers purchasing more product. Pseudoscarcity and inflated wants and needs.

I am low on time. I wish this was more articulate and I may, at some point, get around to making it so; however, for now here is a rough draft of my ideas.

Good point. We are also good for Social Security and Medicare cost cutting.

When I lived in Europe I wondered why they seemed to encourage smoking and more than moderate drinking. I soon realized it was a cost saving measure for their retirement system.

Dying is the most expensive thing humans do for sure, but it costs the socialist system less if you die earlier rather than later. Let's say you die at 67 from diabetes, heart disease, etc., sure it costs a lot. But if you live to 90 and die the costs are about the same if not more from inflation. In the meantime if yo die at 67 you only cost the government 2 years of social security and medicare along with a whopping death bill.
If you die of old age at 90 you cost a hell of a lot more, 23 more years of social security and medicare, probably a few years of nursing home, and a whopping death bill.

So who is better for the economic health of society, skinny people with pinched faces and sour attitudes from abstaining from everything who live to 90 or obese happy people who buy a lot and die early and happy?

I wonder why healthy living is an obsession to the point of a religion who must call the overweight names when in reality, the obese are really costing society less and if you check out the studies are much nicer people to be around in general.

You can not convince me that living healthy costs society less, it really does not in the long run. In the long run to live, laugh, love, eat, drink and be merry leads to happier people and lower costs for society.

reply to post by issaiah1332

As is common knowledge, the United States has the highest level of obesity in the world. This is at 30% (A modest, possibly out of touch, estimation as I have seen other numbers in the 40%s). www.nationmaster.com...

I just saw a commercial for something, and it said 69%
I don't even know what the commercial was advertising, I was so floored by that number!

That has to be wrong, it must include those that are just a bit overweight. As I google this, I'm coming up with closer to 36% to 40%

I does make one wonder though, the lifestyle that's been encouraged is one of consumption, and the more everyone consumes, buys, and buys again, the better for the economy, the way the US is set up.

Obesity rates tend to rise as unemployment does. People look for cheaper alternatives in economic times like these, and those alternatives tend to be far less healthy.

I dont see it as indicative of who is in office, but the financial climate of the time.