Protectionism Makes You Fat
And how free trade can help you lose the weight, without diet or exercise Joe Holmes
The single greatest predictor of obesity in America is…(drum roll, please)…a person’s wealth. And no, the correlation isn’t positive. Throughout history, the poor have been those calorie starved individuals teetering between life and death. For a period of time, roundness was considered to be a sign of a person’s wealth and status. Today, those with the least amount of money to spend on food are those most likely to be overweight. In modern times, if one is eating on a budget, the most rational economic approach is to eat badly and, subsequently, get fat. How is it that these traditional notions have been turned on their head? Good old Uncle Sam.
The high-minded officials of the federal government like to fancy themselves as helping the tired, poor, huddled masses to breathe free, but too often failed government policies have the exact opposite effect. It is no secret that the government has continued to subsidize the largely bloated and inefficient farming industry. But where are these subsidies going? Who are they helping? And perhaps most importantly, who are they hurting?
The answer lies in the convoluted and drudgingly complicated farm bill (which, by the way, is currently being considered by Congress). Every five years the great minds of our country get together to set the rules for the American food system. It is during the adoption of this bill that our legislators decide which crops to subsidize. The five commodity crops that the farm bill has supported in recent times are corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton.
For the last several decades – indeed, for about as long as the average American’s waistline has been expanding – Federal agricultural policy has lead to systematic overproduction of these five crops, especially corn and soybeans. These two crops in particular are the root source of many artificially cheap (and fattening) foods. Corn is the source of nearly all added sugars, while soy is the source of most added fats. Indeed it is ironic that at a time where the U.S. Surgeon General has called obesity an “epidemic”, the government continues to throw money at farmers to continue this senseless overproduction of food.
Why are we spending roughly $25 billion a year on farm subsidies which benefit a small politically powerful farm lobby at the expense of broader public health? While healthy food choices are a matter of personal decision and responsibility, the government should not be actively fanning the fire. Indeed, it seems horribly inefficient for the government to be both subsidizing and nurturing the overproduction of these unhealthy food products while also devoting government resources to fighting this “epidemic.”
Our federal government, that modern-day hydra, is fighting (i.e. throwing money at) many battles that it has largely created by itself. However, it is morally, and perhaps more importantly, politically inconsistent for our government to both exacerbate the problem of obesity by subsidizing the production of food sources that are the single greatest contributor to the problem and to devote government resources to actively fighting the increasing problem of obesity in our society.
The above work is the opinion of the author, and not necessarily that of The Prometheus Institute.
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