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Post by
gamerunknown
Poor decisions and obesity in the US.
Obesity doesn't account for the infant mortality rate. From a post I wrote in the Bin a while back:
Roughly 34% of US women are obese, compared to roughly 24% of UK women. According to this study, obese women are roughly 34% more likely to give birth to a dead child. If we take the UK levels as baseline, then we should expect the increase accountable to obesity to be roughly 34% of the additional that are obese 10%, but I forgot how to work out percentage increases so I pegged that as a 4% higher rate, when we actually see something like 77% higher rates
Not to mention that there may not be a free market solution to obesity. From an epidemiological perspective, the best result may be government intervention: advertising regulation, levies and education.
Homicides fail to account for the lifespan difference either. The number of people murdered is half that of the number that die in car accidents, a third of those that die due to lack of healthcare according to that Harvard Medical School study and 1/41 of those that die from heart disease (which may overlap with those that die due to lack of healthcare).
The scandinavian socialist countries actually spend less per capita on healthcare. They spend a higher pecentage of GDP on education though and frequently top the US on educational attainment scores (we can disregard science tests though, since they're biased to observable reality).
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
Poor decisions and obesity in the US.
Obesity doesn't account for the infant mortality rate. From a post I wrote in the Bin a while back:
Roughly 34% of US women are obese, compared to roughly 24% of UK women. According to this study, obese women are roughly 34% more likely to give birth to a dead child. If we take the UK levels as baseline, then we should expect the increase accountable to obesity to be roughly 34% of the additional that are obese 10%, but I forgot how to work out percentage increases so I pegged that as a 4% higher rate, when we actually see something like 77% higher rates
Not to mention that there may not be a free market solution to obesity. From an epidemiological perspective, the best result may be government intervention: advertising regulation, levies and education.
Homicides fail to account for the lifespan difference either. The number of people murdered is half that of the number that die in car accidents, a third of those that die due to lack of healthcare according to that Harvard Medical School study and 1/41 of those that die from heart disease (which may overlap with those that die due to lack of healthcare).
The scandinavian socialist countries actually spend less per capita on healthcare. They spend a higher pecentage of GDP on education though and frequently top the US on educational attainment scores (we can disregard science tests though, since they're biased to observable reality).
I'm not really sure I can explain it. I simply don't have the answer. It does seem like something that will be reduced due to genetic factors. I mean, if they aren't having babies as successfully, then logically...
I disagree on the government intervention thing. Poor decisions leads to obesity. Government making those decisions for us is the only real way to solve it, and I don't really think either of us want to go down that road... do we?
Edit: Our problem with education is NOT government spending. We spend more than any other country, per capita, on education... by FAR. It is our culture. Our teens are taught that it is a social game, and our college kids are taught it is a drink fest. They have no discipline. Take a look at Korean kids, or Japanese kids. We need some of that discipline. But, not from government, from parents. And why don't parents discipline their kids? Because government raises our kids for us, so we don't need to. At the root of all of these problems, I see government intervention. I don't know we are going to see eye to eye on much.
Edit Edit:
Edit Edit Edit: I stand corrected on the per capita. It is more flat, but not per capita.
Source.
Still don't think dumping more money on it is going to get the brats to do algebra.
Edit Edit Edit Edit: Wait a second, that isn't per capita, that is % of GDP. Only the Swiss beat us on spending per student, but not by much.
Source.
Considering how far behind everyone we are, and how much we spend, do you still think money is the solution?
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
I agree on less TV. I also think parents are to blame. But, government is acting as an enabler. Either way, more friggin spending is NOT the answer.
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
gamerunknown
Cathi Herrod, an unelected lobbyist, killed a bill that would protect all Arizona kids purely because of her intolerance of gay kids
I really hate the violent metaphors legislators are resorting to. She's not a "legislative terrorist". She has undue influence on the political process.
Also, I refuse to watch Jeremy Clarkson any more after he came out in support of bullying and said it helps "build character", in complete ignorance of the research which show that the results of bullying are almost completely negative.
Post by
asakawa
I have no doubt that Clarkson is an ignoramus but I think above all right now he's a character that he's getting good at playing
Post by
gamerunknown
All the world's a stage; his comments were in an article in the Sunday Times. While I don't actually expect journalistic integrity from a Murdoch vehicle, they could at least have the same decency as Limbaugh when it comes to spouting bilge and leave a little disclaimer saying "he's an entertainer".
Post by
asakawa
Aye, agreed. He got into hot water with the " should be shot" comment but all publicity is good publicity and I'm quite sure that his DVD sales go up each time he says something stupid.
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
gamerunknown
More a form of olds, but the answer to demographic problems without resorting to eugenics isn't contraception, it's
starvation
!
I mean does
Jesus
say anything about allowing contraception or anything? Hell no!
Post by
204878
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
Biden says
a bunch of dumb false stuff
. No one seems to care.
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
Biden says
a bunch of dumb false stuff
. No one seems to care.
He is a politician, they do that all the time. Why no one cares? I, to be honest, forgot that Biden was around. Dunno, about others.
Id rather he were President than Obama. He seems too stupid to be effective, which is better than being destructive. So... better to go nowhere then to go where Obama is taking us.... destruction through debt, and regulation.
Post by
Azazel
He is a politician, they do that all the time.
This. All politicians, whatever orientation they may have, make up and claim stuff every day.
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
Public school providing food for kids at home.
Post by
557473
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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