Interesting article on our decline and how societal trends can have ripple effects across the country. The map is somewhat predictable...
It still amazes me that there are so many people opposed to government funded anti-smoking/obesity movements.
I'm not sure I want to live into my 80's, by that time you're too old to even take care of yourself to the degree you do nowadays.
I would suspect more open season on humans by corporations from Big Pharma flooding the market with needless drugs to Big Industry pulluting the environment more than simple obesity - Which could be attributed to an extent to BIG FASTFOOD being able to pass anything off as healthy and the FDA rubber stamping it They don't give a d*mn about people beyond them handing money over for profit margins If their companies make a extra billion a year but the cost is 1 yr off the life expectency of even AMERICAN well . . .that Americans will simply have to do without that year Rocket River
It wouldn't bother me if Texas, or Harris County funded voluntary community rehabilitation and education services. It bothers me when the State of Texas or the federal government fund measures criminalizing vice or manipulating vice markets in some misguided attempt to legislate morality. It's common sense.
Pathetic, with all of our advances in health care technology, there's no reason we're not living longer.
Let's really make this into a D&D thread. What's the reason behind the south's life expectancy disparity? 1) Due to lack of education of eating/living healthy in the south. or 2) Due to southern states not regulating the healthcare industry in their specific states.
The interesting demographic that I noticed first on that map is that almost every region dominated by Native Americans has a declining life expectancy. That's odd to me, but interesting.
I think even regions with relatively large Native American populations aren't really dominated by Native Americans. What region do you feel is actually dominated by Native Americans? There are parts of MN, AZ, NM, OK, and FLA with significant populations of Native Americans, but I wouldn't say any of them were really dominated by them.
The trick is to do how they do it in Spain, a friend of mine lives over there, and they have a nationalized health care plan. The trick is, they tax you for being overweight, smoking, or eating excessive fast food(I think he said if you weigh over x amount of kilos and you get anything bigger than small at McD's there's a surcharge. It, at least in thoery, encourages people and gives them the financial incentive to be healthy.
I wonder if it's the same reason Native americans have trouble with alcohol, because their genetic code gave them bodies that aren't used to eating such crap.
Southern and Western Oklahoma, for one. That's what made me notice it. But parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, the Dakotas. On that map, a lot of the red spots outside of the South correspond with big reservations.
Let people make their choices in life. If they eat crappy and don't take care of themselves than they die earlier than those that do. Pretty straightforward in my book. Just as its not the governments job to legislate morality its not their job to legislate choices and health either. And don't blame McDonalds. They are just serving what their constituents want. Their job is to provide what their customers want at an adequate price that they can profit and the customer can enjoy their purchase. They're not secretly plotting to turn the US into fata$$es. Food in Europe is much less healthy but they have a sense of portion control, whereas Americans don't seem to.
