terratogen wrote:
] The 25 years get cut right from the social security budget.
] Let smokers smoke, drunks drink, and drug addicts do their drugs. It's funny because it's true. Right on. Although I will point out that the government and the public also invests a lot of time, money, and resources in people when they're young, and society's return on that investment is sacrificed when we let those people die early. It's problematic to attempt generalizations. I think both ideas make sense, but in different circumstances. It's not just single mothers on welfare who are obese. When 25% of the US population is obese, and 60% of the population is overweight, we're talking about a significant number of highly productive individuals who are in large part collectively responsible for our national well-being. Your taxes are higher, and America is less competitive globally, because otherwise smart and productive people die early. Whether they die because of smoking, heart disease, obesity, or random gang violence is immaterial for the purposes of this argument, although I am focusing here specifically on obesity because it is a huge and growing problem, well on the way to becoming the leading cause of preventable death in the US. ] Not everyone wants to live forever. That's the religious ... Actually the fundamentalists often look forward to mortal death with great anticipation. Did you see the Rapture story on the Daily Show recently? Have you seen those "The Rising" books at the book store and at the top of the best seller lists? They can't wait! They're so excited they daydream about it, and those of them with deficient imaginations resort to reading books in order to conjure up the desired imagery. ] Try to tell them that they live wrong. It's this line of investigation that is wrongheaded ... it's not a moral question. Nothing I wrote was intended to give that impression. I was making an economic argument. It's a question of our very viability as a nation. RE: 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country | 
