It’s the Cheesiest

This week an “expose” was written by the New York Times in which it was revealed that the government was taking both sides of the dairy industry debate; on the one hand asking people to cut their cheese/dairy consumption for better health while on the other hand subsidizing restaurants to add more cheese and dairy to their menu items. (The biggest example being Domino’s pizza in which 40% more cheese was added to each pizza, resulting in one slice far exceeding the RDA requirements of saturated fat.)

The reason I put “expose” in quotes is because it surprised me to find that people were surprised about this revelation. It seems to me that the government has showed a concrete and substantial history of toggling between health and illness, such that this seems to be par for the course.

In the case of the New Your Times article, the author describes how a surplus of whole milk and extracted milk fat required the government to step in and create subsidies for the industry so that those products don’t go to waste. This is the exact same scenario and what happened in the 1970’s with the corn industry, resulting in the creation and excess use of High Fructose Corn Syrup in American food products.

In both cases, multiple studies have been performed to show that both sugar and cheese are two of the top reasons Americans have increased obesity and heart disease compared to other countries, yet, we keep subsidizing them, perpetuating industries that are making us sick and fat.

There is a third industry at play, here, however. The medical industry. They are just as much to blame for our health problems as the food industry. Having worked for a biotech/pharmaceutical company for a very long time, I feel confident that I can say most of these businesses are not in the business of curing anything. They are only in the business of creating a quality of life. To put it bluntly, there is no revenue when something is cured. They need to create a lifetime of patients, so they have a lifetime of money.

So here we have Big Agriculture Industry (corn, dairy, meat) and the medical industry with the government dancing between the two partners… like a woman accepting two dates to prom and not wanting either partner to know of the other. Add to that the fact that we live in a capitalistic society where everyone wants more and more money for themselves and the shareholders. In our current climate the government has no choice but to tout good health on the one hand while putting money into the pockets of the dairy farmer and the doctor in the other.

And why do I feel so confident this is true and will stay in existence? It comes down to this simple logical argument: if the government cared so much about our health, instead of creating a universal health plan, they would have stopped the subsidies. In doing so, they also would have saved close to $200 Billion dollars. But they didn’t. Every industry at play in this game is getting our money. The only people not getting our money is us. What we are getting is a lifetime of disease and shorter life span.. and being miserable and fat in the process.

The government pays close to $100 Billion in Big Ag subsidies. The nationwide Health Care plan is expected to cost $60 Billion dollars. The Big Ag subsidies are making us sick so we need the healthcare. Get rid of the one (subsidies) and you don’t need the other (healthcare). The citizenry has a surplus of income on the magnitude of $160 Billion dollars nationwide, which we can then put back into the system by supporting small farmers, agriculture and healthful food. Since we are healthier we will also be spending our money on activities outside of the home, stimulating growth of the economy and consumer confidence.

I will leave it up to you to decide what the government, Big Ag, and the Medical Industry have at stake to keep us dependent on our current way of life. I have my opinions, but that is irrelevant to the overall conversation and ultimate solution. Regardless of your beliefs of why they are doing it, why don’t we let that go, and start doing something to change it.