“We’re seeing that corn is the number-one reason that fast food is so cheap and available,” said Meredith Niles, a food policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety who was not involved in the study. “U.S. programs are subsidizing obesity in this country.”
http://www.businesspundit.com/to-bail-out-the-country-stop-bailing-out-corn/
Comments (3)
Here, here! I love this idea. Not sure it will lower health care costs, but damn I hate subsidies for corn, oil and coal. Lets get rid of them all. Why should energy produced via corn, oil and coal be subsidized and not wind, hydro and nuclear power?
I like the idea of getting rid of farm subsidies so much, I think we should just eliminate them immediately.
It won't immediately lower health care costs and would be more of a long-term investment in the health of Americans. By bringing the cost of corn back in line with reality, it would decrease it's usage as a cheap substitute for healthy grains and sugar.
In "Food, Inc.", we're told that cattle ranchers only started feeding their cattle corn because it was so cheap and it fattens them up the fastest. At another point in the movie, it's mentioned that ~90% of the foods available in grocery stores are made from corn or corn-based products. They don't "do the math" for the viewers in the movie, but it jumped out at me that ~90% of foods in a typical grocery store are made from the ingredient that cattle ranchers give their cows "because it fattens them up the fastest". Reducing the incentive to use corn would reduce the number of food items containing corn and increase the food items containing healthier ingredients, which would, eventually lead to a reduction in obesity in the US, which would reduce health care costs by reducing the number of obesity-related health problems and insurance claims resulting from them. It's a long way around, but it's one that would be good for everyone in the long run.