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Lifespan Crisis Hits Supersize America
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posted09/20/2004 10:48 PM (UTC)by
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TheTinMan2005
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Stay classy, MKO.

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07/31/2004 12:57 AM (UTC)
Lifespan Crisis Hits
Supersize America
By Robin McKie
Science Editor
The Observer - UK
9-19-4


Bloated, blue-collar Americans - gorged on diets of fries and burgers, but denied their share of US riches - are bringing the nation's steady rise in life expectancy to a grinding halt.

Twenty years ago, the US, the richest nation on the planet, led the world's longevity league. Today, American women rank only 19th, while males can manage only 28th place, alongside men from Brunei.

These startling figures are blamed by researchers on two key factors: obesity, and inequality of health care. A man born in a poor area of Washington can have a life expectancy that is 40 years less than a woman in a prosperous neighbourhood only a few blocks away, for example.

'A look at the Americans' health reveals astonishing inequalities in our society,' state Professor Lawrence Jacobs of Minnesota University and Professor James Morone, of Brown University, Rhode Island, in the journal American Prospect .

Their paper is one of a recent swathe of studies that have uncovered a shocking truth: America, once the home of the world's best-fed, longest-lived people, is now a divided nation made up of a rich elite and a large underclass of poor, ill-fed, often obese, men and women who are dying early.

In another newly published paper, statisticians at Boston College reveal that in France, Japan and Switzerland, men and women aged 65 now live several years longer than they do in the US. Indeed, America only just scrapes above Mexico and most East European nations.

This decline is astonishing given America's wealth. Not only is it Earth's richest nation, it devotes more gross domestic product - 13 per cent - to health care than any other developed nation. Switzerland comes next with 10 per cent; Britain spends 7 per cent. As the Boston group - Alicia Munnell, Robert Hatch and James Lee - point out: 'The richer a country is, the more resources it can dedicate to education, medical and other goods and services associated with great longevity.' The result in every other developed country has been an unbroken rise in life expectancy since 1960.

But this formula no longer applies to America, where life expectancy's rise has slowed but not yet stopped, because resources are now so unevenly distributed. When the Boston College group compared men and women in America's top 10 per cent wage bracket with those in the bottom ten per cent, they found the former group earned 17 times more than the latter. In Japan, Switzerland and Norway, this ratio is only five-to-one.

Jacobs and Morone state: 'Check-ups, screenings and vaccinations save lives, improve well-being, and are shockingly uneven [in America]. Well-insured people get assigned hospital beds; the uninsured get patched up and sent back to the streets.' For poor Americans, health service provision is little better than that in third world nations. 'People die younger in Harlem than in Bangladesh,' report Jacobs and Morone.

Consumption of alcohol, tobacco and food can also have a huge impact on life expectancy. The first two factors are not involved with America's longevity crisis. Smoking and drinking are modest compared with Europe. Food consumption is a different matter, however, for the US has experienced an explosion in obesity rates in the past 20 years. As a result, 34 per cent of all women in the US are obese compared with 4 per cent in Japan. For men, the figures are 28 and 2 per cent respectively.

'US obesity rates jumped in the 1980s and 1990s, and the vast majority of the population affected by obesity had not yet reached age 65 by 2000,' state the Boston group. 'As the large baby boom cohort begins to turn 65 in coming years, a stronger connection between obesity rates and life expectancy may emerge.'

In other words, as the nation's middle-aged fatties reach retirement age, more and more will start to die out. Life expectancy in the US could then actually go into decline.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1307954,00.html
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ShingoEX
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 •09/20/2004 03:41 AM (UTC) •
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We need a bit of population control.
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TemperaryUserName
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 •09/20/2004 03:47 AM (UTC) •
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I'll never understand obesity. Then again, I'll never understand why people will try virtually every diet before they resort to actual excercise.
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Blade-Tsung
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 •09/20/2004 03:52 AM (UTC) •
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Just one of the media's favorite 'stories' to distract us all from the real problems of this society.
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TheTinMan2005
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Stay classy, MKO.

 •09/20/2004 03:55 AM (UTC) •
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blade-tsung Wrote:
Just one of the media's favorite 'stories' to distract us all from the real problems of this society.





Um, no. This is a huge threat to society. Over 60% of adults are obese, we have tens of millions of baby boomers about to get into their senior years, and because so many are obese it will strain the medical system even further.

Something like 15% of children are obese! This has gone way too far. This is something major enough to actually lower the life expectancy. In the world's wealthiest nation.
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Blade-Tsung
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 •09/20/2004 04:00 AM (UTC) •
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You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..
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DrCube
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 •09/20/2004 04:03 AM (UTC) •
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blade-tsung Wrote:
You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..


Ya said it all.
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TheTinMan2005
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Stay classy, MKO.

 •09/20/2004 04:24 AM (UTC) •
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blade-tsung Wrote:
You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..





You are right. But this ties into it. The article talks not just about obesity, but about the disparity in distribution of resources. It talks about the growing underclass in this country.

The problems discussed in this op-ed, tie into some of the issues you just named. We have 5 mega corporations controlling the media, corporations control our government(in my opinion), and these same bastards are driving millions of Americans into an early grave for profit.

Due to the widening wealth gap caused by these vampires, more and more young people turn to the military because it is their only option to get by decently, and they go off and die in wars, waged for these same mega-corporations that put them in that helped to put them in that position in the first place.

These people want a complacent, consumeristic, uninformed(look at how they run the media), public at home who does not object to their adventures abroad. Unless this country takes a change of course, 30 years from now we will be living in a cleptocracy where corporations hold all the power, where we have the military as the only decently funded public institution(almost that way now), we're 10's of millions of people do not have adequate health care and housing.

Look at how they are changing the army. The army is starting to focus more and more on learning how to conduct urban warfare and riot control. These bastards want a McWorld. These corporations want to rule the world through the Almighty Dollar and control of the world's resources, and keep people down here at home. America will more and more come to resemble our old rival, the Soviet Union. A privledged upper class will live just fine, but a large underclass will be there only to prop them up, fight their imperial wars of influence abroad, and spend what little money they have until they are so deep in debt they will never get out, so these people can have their 'profits'.

This country will be a Darwinian nightmare.

I am quite aware of whats going on with this country, and this article ties into all of that.

Sorry if I came across defensive.
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DrCube
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 •09/20/2004 05:32 AM (UTC) •
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How did you discover our plans?
*shifty eyes*
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TheTinMan2005
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Stay classy, MKO.

 •09/20/2004 05:34 AM (UTC) •
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DrCube Wrote:
How did you discover our plans?


*shifty eyes*



tongue


I am serious.

We have had 1.3 million Americans enter poverty this year alone.

Also, look up the whole fiasco with the electronic voting machines and Diebold.

AND, I'd check out some info on "Project For a New American Century".
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jason06
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 •09/20/2004 10:22 PM (UTC) •
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For one, this article was published in britian. So it has nothing to do with scaretactics. Well, at least not american ones. The standard in this country is quite higher than in most other countries. We are acsheally suffering from TOO MUCH FOOD!!!!
As for 1.3 millions entering poverty "this year alone," how many americans die every year? How many are born? This doesn't mean that 1.3 million americans fell into poverty, it means there are 1.3 million new impoverished people. It doesn't take into account all the impoverished people who died or got out of poverty. Also, 1.3 million people is about .3 percent of our society, spisificeally, the bottom .3 percent as far as incom is concerned. With a country this large it is logical that your going to get a lot of pour people.
On a different note, I find it amazing that people try all these weightloss programs because there to disgustingly fat to work out! I mean, its an hour at a gym every day, or even every other day. How lazy are fat people anyway?
TheTinMan2005 Wrote:

blade-tsung Wrote:
You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..




You are right. But this ties into it. The article talks not just about obesity, but about the disparity in distribution of resources. It talks about the growing underclass in this country.

The problems discussed in this op-ed, tie into some of the issues you just named. We have 5 mega corporations controlling the media, corporations control our government(in my opinion), and these same bastards are driving millions of Americans into an early grave for profit.

Due to the widening wealth gap caused by these vampires, more and more young people turn to the military because it is their only option to get by decently, and they go off and die in wars, waged for these same mega-corporations that put them in that helped to put them in that position in the first place.

These people want a complacent, consumeristic, uninformed(look at how they run the media), public at home who does not object to their adventures abroad. Unless this country takes a change of course, 30 years from now we will be living in a cleptocracy where corporations hold all the power, where we have the military as the only decently funded public institution(almost that way now), we're 10's of millions of people do not have adequate health care and housing.

Look at how they are changing the army. The army is starting to focus more and more on learning how to conduct urban warfare and riot control. These bastards want a McWorld. These corporations want to rule the world through the Almighty Dollar and control of the world's resources, and keep people down here at home. America will more and more come to resemble our old rival, the Soviet Union. A privledged upper class will live just fine, but a large underclass will be there only to prop them up, fight their imperial wars of influence abroad, and spend what little money they have until they are so deep in debt they will never get out, so these people can have their 'profits'.

This country will be a Darwinian nightmare.

I am quite aware of whats going on with this country, and this article ties into all of that.

Sorry if I came across defensive.

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jason06
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 •09/20/2004 10:22 PM (UTC) •
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For one, this article was published in britian. So it has nothing to do with scaretactics. Well, at least not american ones. The standard in this country is quite higher than in most other countries. We are acsheally suffering from TOO MUCH FOOD!!!!
As for 1.3 millions entering poverty "this year alone," how many americans die every year? How many are born? This doesn't mean that 1.3 million americans fell into poverty, it means there are 1.3 million new impoverished people. It doesn't take into account all the impoverished people who died or got out of poverty. Also, 1.3 million people is about .3 percent of our society, spisificeally, the bottom .3 percent as far as incom is concerned. With a country this large it is logical that your going to get a lot of pour people.
On a different note, I find it amazing that people try all these weightloss programs because there to disgustingly fat to work out! I mean, its an hour at a gym every day, or even every other day. How lazy are fat people anyway?
TheTinMan2005 Wrote:

blade-tsung Wrote:
You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..




You are right. But this ties into it. The article talks not just about obesity, but about the disparity in distribution of resources. It talks about the growing underclass in this country.

The problems discussed in this op-ed, tie into some of the issues you just named. We have 5 mega corporations controlling the media, corporations control our government(in my opinion), and these same bastards are driving millions of Americans into an early grave for profit.

Due to the widening wealth gap caused by these vampires, more and more young people turn to the military because it is their only option to get by decently, and they go off and die in wars, waged for these same mega-corporations that put them in that helped to put them in that position in the first place.

These people want a complacent, consumeristic, uninformed(look at how they run the media), public at home who does not object to their adventures abroad. Unless this country takes a change of course, 30 years from now we will be living in a cleptocracy where corporations hold all the power, where we have the military as the only decently funded public institution(almost that way now), we're 10's of millions of people do not have adequate health care and housing.

Look at how they are changing the army. The army is starting to focus more and more on learning how to conduct urban warfare and riot control. These bastards want a McWorld. These corporations want to rule the world through the Almighty Dollar and control of the world's resources, and keep people down here at home. America will more and more come to resemble our old rival, the Soviet Union. A privledged upper class will live just fine, but a large underclass will be there only to prop them up, fight their imperial wars of influence abroad, and spend what little money they have until they are so deep in debt they will never get out, so these people can have their 'profits'.

This country will be a Darwinian nightmare.

I am quite aware of whats going on with this country, and this article ties into all of that.

Sorry if I came across defensive.

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TheTinMan2005
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Stay classy, MKO.

 •09/20/2004 10:33 PM (UTC) •
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jason06 Wrote:
For one, this article was published in britian. So it has nothing to do with scaretactics. Well, at least not american ones. The standard in this country is quite higher than in most other countries. We are acsheally suffering from TOO MUCH FOOD!!!!
As for 1.3 millions entering poverty "this year alone," how many americans die every year? How many are born? This doesn't mean that 1.3 million americans fell into poverty, it means there are 1.3 million new impoverished people. It doesn't take into account all the impoverished people who died or got out of poverty. Also, 1.3 million people is about .3 percent of our society, spisificeally, the bottom .3 percent as far as incom is concerned. With a country this large it is logical that your going to get a lot of pour people.
On a different note, I find it amazing that people try all these weightloss programs because there to disgustingly fat to work out! I mean, its an hour at a gym every day, or even every other day. How lazy are fat people anyway?
TheTinMan2005 Wrote:

blade-tsung Wrote:
You know what is a huge threat to our society? People flying planes into buildings. Presidents that don't know how to tie thier own shoes. Crooked politicians getting put in cozy jobs for doing favors. Fake elections. Fake wars. This is the real news.

Fuck some countrys wish they could be fat like us. A fat person would be king in the Congo.

It's a problem yes but I think it's just a scare tactic, like the killer bee's that never quite made here to kill us all..




You are right. But this ties into it. The article talks not just about obesity, but about the disparity in distribution of resources. It talks about the growing underclass in this country.

The problems discussed in this op-ed, tie into some of the issues you just named. We have 5 mega corporations controlling the media, corporations control our government(in my opinion), and these same bastards are driving millions of Americans into an early grave for profit.

Due to the widening wealth gap caused by these vampires, more and more young people turn to the military because it is their only option to get by decently, and they go off and die in wars, waged for these same mega-corporations that put them in that helped to put them in that position in the first place.

These people want a complacent, consumeristic, uninformed(look at how they run the media), public at home who does not object to their adventures abroad. Unless this country takes a change of course, 30 years from now we will be living in a cleptocracy where corporations hold all the power, where we have the military as the only decently funded public institution(almost that way now), we're 10's of millions of people do not have adequate health care and housing.

Look at how they are changing the army. The army is starting to focus more and more on learning how to conduct urban warfare and riot control. These bastards want a McWorld. These corporations want to rule the world through the Almighty Dollar and control of the world's resources, and keep people down here at home. America will more and more come to resemble our old rival, the Soviet Union. A privledged upper class will live just fine, but a large underclass will be there only to prop them up, fight their imperial wars of influence abroad, and spend what little money they have until they are so deep in debt they will never get out, so these people can have their 'profits'.

This country will be a Darwinian nightmare.

I am quite aware of whats going on with this country, and this article ties into all of that.

Sorry if I came across defensive.




JEBUS. wow I have never seen spelling so terrible.
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jason06
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 •09/20/2004 10:35 PM (UTC) •
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Yeah, it is pretty bad.
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SkeletonofSociety
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 •09/20/2004 10:48 PM (UTC) •
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TemperaryUserName Wrote:
I'll never understand obesity. Then again, I'll never understand why people will try virtually every diet before they resort to actual excercise.


Couldn't have said it better myself.

As far as that article relates to my daily living it's just another possiblilty for me. So that makes heart disease, cancer, high blodd pressure, and now this. Ohh I can't wait to see what kills me first.
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