With a lot of focus on cost of living, it is inevitable that the focus will shift onto government expenditures. And of course, with less access to the corporate money and people earning relatively less to the inflation rate, governments themselves will look to save money, cutting back on even more services.
Pay more, get less.
People hate it when governments waste money, but also increasingly for taxpayers, how people rely on government spending. With all the social movements out there, I wonder how long people are going to "put up with" those who waste government resources in ways that are preventable. For instance, the headline below the image comes from Australia and talks about the burden of disease.
Every year in Australia, millions of years of healthy life are lost because of injury, illness or premature deaths. This loss of healthy life is called the ‘burden of disease’. Information on burden of disease and injuries is important for monitoring population health and provides an evidence base to inform health policy and service planning.
What is the "new" health crisis? Well, it is obesity of course. So, it isn't exactly new. While smoking apparently accounts for 7.6% of the burden in 2024, obesity is 8.3% of the burden. But it isn't just the death and millions of lost years that matter, there is also the cost to society for treatment and other social aspects. Many will argue that it is possible to be overweight and healthy, but is obesity ever healthy?
What they have done to reduce smoking in Australia is what is happening everywhere, raised taxes. They don't actually care about the health of people though, it is just to get more tax revenue to waste on other activities and expenditures. But for reference, about 72% of the cost of a cigarette packet in Australia is tax. A 20-pack of cigarette's in Australia is $40 AUD ($25 USD), so a pack a day smoker would spend $9125 on cigarettes, and pay $6570 of that in taxes.
Is there a tax on obesity?
Nope. There is support for it, if anything. While it is okay to tell a smoker to quit smoking and bring up how they are shortening their lives, how their insides are rotting, how they are costing the taxpayer in healthcare - it is probably a crime to tell someone that they should stop eating for much the same reasons.
Why is a preventable situation, so protected?
This isn't a dig at overweight people. Firstly, I am also overweight, though I am far from obese. I am not even interested in the choices people make for themselves, though I think that when parents feed their kids poorly and encourage obesity, it is a form of child abuse. The "don't know better" excuse just doesn't hold up in this anymore. What I am interested in however, is that as a society, we seem to keep avoiding the open conversations that matter, pretending that being obese is okay, that we should love ourselves, as we uncontrollably eat ourselves to death.
Taxing food doesn't help reduce obesity, it is just another revenue earner for governments that give the impression that they are doing something about it. They don't care - consumption of all forms is a money spinner, so as long as they can get a cut, they are all for people eating themselves to death. They don't care about the cost to society or the burden on healthcare systems, because that is just another place they can make more income, drive more business. Plus, it gives them more excuses to cut services from normal taxpayers, to move more wealth to those who use tax loopholes to pay less taxes.
There are lots of reasons to become overweight, and there are lots of reasons as to why it is so hard to lose weight. But, we shouldn't fool ourselves into believing that being obese is healthy for us. We shouldn't be tricked into thinking that it is okay to do nothing about it.
But of course, now that there is a very expensive set of pills on the market, obesity can finally be the circular economy they have always wanted, where people can keep on consuming, and then pay to reduce the effects of their inability to control themselves. It doesn't matter about all the other effects over eating has on the world and individuals, as long as they don't look fat, then that means all is okay.
As you can see, I am sceptical about many things, but I am pretty confident that no government or corporation gives a shit about the people they are paid to serve. I am confident that it doesn't really matter what others think of us, we should be okay with ourselves. But, "being okay" doesn't mean we should ignore our bad behaviours, even if we don't see them in the mirror each day. Maybe instead of just loving ourselves the way we are, we should also consider asking,
Do I feel good the way I am?
I can't say I do.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
