Quick Hit: Point of Order! 3 March 2010 2:44 pm
Posted by Tracy in : consumerism,convenience,eating,economics,food snobbery,geekery,health,news,nutrition,politics , trackbackToday, several news sources I follow are all about a new study comparing the effects of “junk” food taxes and subsidies on healthier food which concluded that the former is better at encouraging people to buy more “healthy” stuff. If this story goes away in less than a week, I will be very surprised, so I’m going to be watching it if only to see how long it persists, and hey, look at me responding to news in a timely manner for a change, woo!
That said, my one-word response to this study story is: AUGH. (That’s supposed to spell out a deep, guttural groan: imagine it sounding sorta like I was hit in the gut). My one-sentence response is: Wait a sec, can we please acknowledge that maybe it’s a bad idea to make food — any food — more expensive for people who can’t afford to eat well to begin with (especially since poverty is demonstrably way unhealthier than any eating pattern I can think of except for the obvious “not eating enough”—which, unsurprisingly, maybe kinda sorta correlates with poverty again)? I may or may not get around to writing a more coherent one-paragraph, one-page, or even longer response, but it’ll have to wait because I’m supposed to have read this whole freaking book by class at 4:55 tonight.
Ok, back to work now.
