WalletHub is out with a new report that essentially concludes that Americans are getting fatter. The personal finance social network released a list of the nation’s fattest cities. It looked at the 100 most populated cities in the United States, and Memphis, Tennessee; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Indianapolis, Indiana were in the top three.
Here is the chart:
Now, being fat, overweight or obese (whatever you wish to call it) isn’t good for you. It can lead to a plethora of diseases and expenses. To rectify your obesity, you should, for the most part, eat well and exercise. Many of us don’t do this because we’re, well, lazy.
But the other story behind this report is that we should be grateful that we’re fat. Indeed, this is something that will likely be frowned upon.
We opined around Black Friday (SEE: Be thankful for food waste, Black Friday and laziness on Thanksgiving) that we should be happy that we’re stuffing our faces with a lot of food as opposed to nothing at all. We should be glad we’re fighting for television sets as opposed to bags of rice. We should be satisfied that we’re able to sit on our big bums and watch football all day instead of scrounging up grain and being chased by armed rebels.
The Western world maintains a marketplace where consumers can buy and sell whatever they please. If they wish to purchase food that they may not entirely consume then that’s their choice (it’s stupid, but it’s their choice). Now compare this to a country that does not have capitalism or free markets, a place like North Korea or Eritrea. They don’t have this option of feeding themselves until they puke or expand their waistlines by a few inches.
Here is a list from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. It looks at the hungriest places on Earth. They include:
5. Haiti: 1,980 calories available per day
Undernourished: 49.8%
Calorie deficit: 431
GHI ranking: 67
4. Timor Este: 1,920 calories available per day
Undernourished: 38.3%
Calorie deficit: 254
GHI ranking: 75
3. Zambia: 1,910 calories available per day
Undernourished: 43.1%
Calorie deficit: 306
GHI ranking: 69
2. Eritrea: 1,730 calories available per day
Undernourished: 61.3%
Calorie deficit: 488
GHI ranking: 77
1. Burundi: 1,670 calories available per day
Undernourished: 67.3%
Calorie deficit: 581
GHI ranking: 78
Tyrannical governments, corrupt politicians and inept bureaucrats have aided the massive suffering we see all over the world, whether it’s in remote parts of Africa or in Venezuela. A lot of countries around the world have introduced, even gradually, capitalism and free markets into their systems (SEE: Thanks Capitalism: World poverty rate crumbles 80% in 36-year span), and this has led to a global reduction in poverty.
Indeed, it’s easy to poke fun at a fat person, but it’s better to be heavyset than someone who is about to pass away from starvation.
It’s just incredible to compare cultures: on one side of the world, we waste half of what we consume; on the other side of the world, the population (except the leaders) has nothing. Are we positive that we should send capitalism into the garbage bin along with that horrid piece of broccoli, expired milk and expendable chicken?
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