Time to raise taxes on the rich.

Economic gluttony is a criminal act.

I would agree - except to say that it may not be economically viable for everyone to consistently spend an extra $8.50 on meat pizzas all the time, and in that case there would be an issue of access to healthier foods (as far as pizza is concerned, I suppose it's relative). I know people who say they would eat more organic foods if they were cheaper, which may or may not be bullshit, but we'll never really know.

It's easy enough and addicting enough to eat fats and carbs, and if people out there are willing to shell out their savings to eat that way, then there should be no need to subsidize those things. On the other hand, access to broccoli et. al. is a health issue, and something that more people should be able to consider without consulting their checkbooks.

In the end we can't force feed veggies to people, but at least we won't be forcing them to opt for the dollar menu because they are trying to make ends meet.


In reply to this comment by MINK:
Are you saying that if fat and carbs weren't subsidised, people would eat healthier?

Because somehow, i really really doubt that. I think people like eating shit. It's called temptation and gluttony, it's written about in many books thousands of years old.

I am vegetarian. If i go to a pizzeria, my friends happily spend 50% extra to get meat on their pizza. I am quite sure that if the meat pizzas were $10 and the vegetarian pizzas were $1.50 they would still buy the meat pizza.



In reply to this comment by blahpook:
>> ^MINK:
nah man, let's just ask the marketplace what it thinks and then do that.


The fact that an over-processed candy bar is cheaper compared to something relatively fresh from the ground - cauliflower for example - doesn't seem to make much sense when taking into consideration labor and processing and packaging, and Pollan's argument is that the best way to account for this difference is by looking at what the government subsidizes.

When the Farm Bill subsidizes resources mainly concerned in fat and carb production (corn, soy, wheat - and, indirectly, meat and milk), naturally, more farmers will move in that direction, flooding the market with more of these cheap goods, typically making them even more affordable. The end result is a fat America, sadly enough.

Affordability combined with the addictive qualities of a lot of these foods (sugars from corn, fats from soy) makes the market choice work in favor of the subsidies and the lobbyists who support them. Until that changes, there's always going to be more people at the Fatburger than the Farmer's Market.

Are you saying that if fat and carbs weren't subsidised, people would eat healthier?

Because somehow, i really really doubt that. I think people like eating shit. It's called temptation and gluttony, it's written about in many books thousands of years old.

I am vegetarian. If i go to a pizzeria, my friends happily spend 50% extra to get meat on their pizza. I am quite sure that if the meat pizzas were $10 and the vegetarian pizzas were $1.50 they would still buy the meat pizza.



In reply to this comment by blahpook:
>> ^MINK:
nah man, let's just ask the marketplace what it thinks and then do that.


The fact that an over-processed candy bar is cheaper compared to something relatively fresh from the ground - cauliflower for example - doesn't seem to make much sense when taking into consideration labor and processing and packaging, and Pollan's argument is that the best way to account for this difference is by looking at what the government subsidizes.

When the Farm Bill subsidizes resources mainly concerned in fat and carb production (corn, soy, wheat - and, indirectly, meat and milk), naturally, more farmers will move in that direction, flooding the market with more of these cheap goods, typically making them even more affordable. The end result is a fat America, sadly enough.

Affordability combined with the addictive qualities of a lot of these foods (sugars from corn, fats from soy) makes the market choice work in favor of the subsidies and the lobbyists who support them. Until that changes, there's always going to be more people at the Fatburger than the Farmer's Market.

>> ^dead_tofu:
hey, i dont see how being fat plays a role in this.....??? its kinda the same as refering to the color of peoples skin, isnt it?


gluttony is a choice, and a deadly sin. dark skin colour is not.

obesity costs the taxpayer. dark skin does not.

i am sure crazy "christian" tracy is going to give all her money to the poor and love her neighbour some time soon. Oh yeah. Real soon. Any minute now.

>> ^rosekat:
Ugly as sin.


Which sin?

Lust?
Gluttony?
Usury?

One pretty bad side-effect of the Sandvich is the the lulz potential. I've been on multiple servers, with a class limit in effect, where the heavies just sit in spawn all game eating Sandvich after Sandvich...remorselessly (and deliciously) taunting those who actually want to play Heavy with the sound of their own gluttony.

On another note, the Sandvich is the only one I've unlocked so far and it's very handy on those maps with very defined choke-points/areas of attrition; gives an overworked/under appreciated medic some breathing room to heal the others before the big push. Two heavies, one with Sasha and another with Natasha, and two medics, one with kritzkrieg and another with normal uber, can be quite devastating when pushing together. Kudos to Valve for making each major update smoother and more seamless, with more and more relevant achievements and less ridiculous ones, than the last. Not mention the ever-increasing frequency of them.

I cant belive no one said it yet. This Emulates the video game Kings quest four or five ? wichever he is in the kingdom of daventry. either way he has to go to an island and once upons the island he is confronted by five little gnomes all each distinguish themselves with attributes such as Huge ears for good hearing, the other is a huge mouth for gluttony i guess, big hands for feeling and a huge nose for smelling. each of the characters needed a different stimulus to pass certain "sense" give the guy who smells something nice to smell and he lets you go... I think they based this advert off that game.

i don't know, i can think of several other reasons to dislike them, but i guess leading the downfall of modern societies in the area of slobbish gluttony would be up there somewhere.

"I prefer a unitarist approach, that both employers and employees have a stake or vested value in the success or at least continual survival of a corporation."

No argument there. Surely you can see the disparity between a worker who might get a 5% raise and feel lucky to keep his job, and an invester or board member who feels cheated if they didn't get a 10% to 20% return on their capital - which is taxed at a lower rate than the workers wages.

"...ripples through the whole economy through an unexpected fall in consumption levels and consumer/business confidence followed by secondary effects upon interest/exchange rates and inflation levels."

Which is another way of saying that the system is inherently flawed and tends to support my claim that economic gluttony is a criminal act.

When you speak of consumption levels and consumers, you are talking about the workers and their ability to buy product.

They can't buy product when they're underpaid or unemployed.

The culminating effect of corporations crumbling under the inefficiency and inflexibility of a highly rigid labour market is far more devastating that steady corporate restructuring. It's like comparing sadness to depression. Economic gluttony and materialism is simply a by-product of capitalism, frankly as is tax evasion.

Economic gluttony is a criminal act.

It always warms my heart when I see how well American style gluttony has made it to other countries.

Gluttony of wealth.

Priceless

In reply to your comment:
“Penns' just too hard to watch...such a hack, such a non-actin' entity....he's a flea between the shoulder blades of a shepperd, growing fat on the blood of a noble beast, while his fellow parasites distance themselves from his gluttony, by migrating to the hind-quarters, for even they are embarrassed to include him amoung their ranks.........”

Penns' just too hard to watch...such a hack, such a non-actin' entity....he's a flea between the shoulder blades of a shepperd, growing fat on the blood of a noble beast, while his fellow parasites distance themselves from his gluttony, by migrating to the hind-quarters, for even they are embarrassed to include him amoung their ranks.........