McDonald's is too cheap

We have now all seen the recent 'Obesity Epidemic' reports in the news, once again drawing attention to this issue. While it would be easy to continue to blame the fast-food world and their constant serving-size wars, the blame would be misplaced. The epidemic is an economic problem.

If you're old enough to remember 20 or 30 years ago, think back and try to imagine what a 'poor' person looked like when you were little. I remember the poor as skinny, undernourished waifs. Being fat was a sign of wealth and the ability to indulge that came with it. Today, those images have completely reversed! Overweight people are stigmatized as poor, slovenly souls who simply don't have the self-control to stop eating or the will power to exercise.

Now, think about our current economy. Foreclosures were up 58% in the first six months of 2007. The housing market remains in a stall. As interest rates rise, people can no longer afford their house payments, car payments, electric bills... and what about credit cards? The interest on credit cards goes to the maximum if a payment is late, making it nearly impossible to ever pay them off.

If you were in that situation, how would you to feed your family? A the grocery store, you can get a bottle of 100% juice for $3.99 and a lean steak for $6.00, or you can get four 2-liter bottles of Coke for less than 4 bucks, and four boxes of chicken nuggets for less than the steak. Sure, it's crappy, fat-, sugar, and preservative-filled food, but it's going to feed your family for two or three times as long. Let's not forget fast food; it's the ultimate bargain! 99-cent cheeseburgers? A 48-ounce Coke for under a dollar? Are you kidding? Sign me up! Who cares that it will probably lower the average human life expectancy by a small factor every time it's consumed? At least the kids can eat.

The problem is, cheap food is the bread and butter (and fries) of the fast-food industry. The only way that the FF industry could positively impact the obesity epidemic would be to triple their prices, thereby making it difficult for the lower-economic echelon folks to get any. Unfortunately, that will just result in either more children starving, or more crime when Mom has to pull a holdup at the drive-through.

Healthier foods are more expensive. It's a fact. I sort of understand, because it has become increasingly difficult to provide domestically produced food that is not devoid of nutritional value. However, when the stores with names like Fresh Foods, Green Fields, and Farm Town jack up the prices another 30 to 40%, they are only exacerbating the problem. They need to do their due diligence to make their healthy foods available to everyone.

Unfortunately, until the government decides that the people in the United States - all of them, not just the ones who pad campaign funds - are worth saving, the economic disarray we're in will continue to further the country's issue with obesity.

In my opinion.