Thursday, March 29, 2012

Government Mandates: Let the Hunger Games Begin

 After my daughter, Kathleen read The Hunger Games trilogies, she enlightened me. She told me about the new movie "The Hunger Games" from which the books are based.  I only previewed the movie and thought it's not too far away from the future when you think about it. The government controlling our food source. Below is only a microscopic view of the workings of our government to undermine us. A bird's eye view.
"Farm and food...government, taxpayer's"..subsidies. Farm policies that increase commodity prices harm the lower-income families that food subsidy programs are supposed to help. For example, federal dairy policies raise the price of milk, which works against the goals of the school lunch and food stamp programs..."
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/agriculture/food-subsidies    Government Subsidized Junk Food –
We are in the middle of national health crisis due to soaring obesity rates. Ironically, while Michelle Obama is campaigning to reduce childhood obesity, the U.S. government is subsidizing enormous amounts of junk food, much of which is consumed by our children.
A recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Group (U.S. PIRG) titled, 

"Apples to Twinkies: Comparing 
Federal Subsidies of Fresh Produce and Junk Food," found that between 1995 and 2010, the U.S. has spent more than $260 billion on agricultural subsidies.      
                 Of this total, nearly 
$17 billion was spent on four common food additives -- corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch and soy oils; all known to contribute to weight gain.
                        In contrast, only 
$262 million was spent on apples, the only fruit or vegetable with any measurable subsidy.
The Twinkie comparison  comes into play as researchers found that of the               37 ingredients in a Twinkie, 
                 14 of them are made with federal subsidies. 
 U.S. PIRG says that 
taxpayer contributions made to these subsidies amounts to 19 Twinkies per taxpayer every year.
All of this is happening while one in five children ages 6-11 are currently obese and projections are that half of all Americans will be classified as obese by 2030 with many more diagnoses of diabetes between now and then. 
                Why Americans Can't Afford to Eat Healthy
These junk-food subsidies make it much cheaper to buy a burger, fries and soda from a fast-food restaurant than it is to buy grass-fed beef and veggies. It's not that these foods necessarily cost more to grow or produce but is that the prices for the junk foods are being artificially reduced by the government.
As David Sirota wrote on Salon.com:" … lawmakers whose campaigns are underwritten by agribusinesses have used billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize those agribusinesses' specific commodities (corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.) that are the key ingredients of unhealthy food. .
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