Why We're Fat Volume 11

Why are Big Macs© cheaper than more nutritious alternatives?

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Well, according to Time Magazine, look at what a dollar can get you. One U. S. Dollar can buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda and only 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit. Since the normal healthy male should consume a 2,000 calorie a day diet to maintain the body, two dollars, a bag of chips, and a soda is all that is required.

So, why spend the four dollars for fruit and vegetables to keep yourself alive?

Well, lets ask the agricultural conglomerates.

Lawmakers (that would be Congress, y'all), whose political campaigns are underwritten by agricultural conglomerates, have used billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize those conglomerates' specific commodities, i.e. corn, soybeans, wheat, etc. It is these commodities that are the key ingredients of unhealthy food. Hmmm? Not surprisingly, these subsidies have caused such a massive price difference in raw ingredients that allows junk food to undersell nutritious-but-unsubsidized foodstuffs, like fruits and vegetables. So, in the end, the recession-battered consumer (that would be you and me, y'all) are increasingly forced by economic circumstance to "choose" the lower-priced junk food that their own taxes support.

Since we can't afford apples or tomatoes, that five dollar "Xtra Value Meal" is looking better and better.

So, let's keep the McDonalds Corporation, the Coca-Cola corporation, and Monsanto in business, hunh?