Tag Archive for 'michelle obama'

You know who could stand to shed several hundred pounds? The government. My mom sent me Mona Charen’s latest article, and it’s a good thing she did, because it had been at least 2 or 3 days since she gave me an article about something, and I was starting to worry. My mom is Article Queen – and if I don’t have at least an inch-thick pile of stuff to read from her at any given moment – about why vegetables are good for you or how to save on heating costs, then I’d be really concerned.

ANYWAY.

I read Mona’s article and was struck right away by this point: “No problem that the federal government undertakes to tackle can ever be recognized as solved because to do so would mean the dissolution of an agency. And if the federal program creates new problems, well, those are then excuses for new agencies.”

Ain’t that the truth?

A prime example of this is Michelle Obama’s new campaign to tackle obesity. Presumably, Michelle’s got herself a nice big staff of folks dedicating their days to this issue, at taxpayer expense. This bunch of fat-fighting folk have already suggested taxes on unhealthy foods, subsidies for healthy foods, etc.

But here’s the thing. The amount of money currently spent by the federal government on nutritional programs for kids is unbelievable. According to Mona’s article, one out of every EIGHT adults now gets food stamps, along with a QUARTER of all kids. Over HALF of all infants are on the WIC program. Plus, more children get free or reduced-price school lunches than those whose parents pay full price.

A bit of history, courtesy of Mona. The WIC was started in 1972 for the purpose of providing food, nutrition counseling and other services for poor expectant mothers and their kids (up to age 5). Five years after its inception, the program covered 4% of women and kids and 6% of newborns. By 2006, those figures were up to 30% of women, 51% of newborns, and 25% of kids. And the trend is going to continue, because there are few controls over the program, AND it continues to get big raises from the government. At the same time, eligibility standards are getting lower and lower, such that by 2006, only about half of families taking advantage of WIC were at or below the poverty line.

And what’s happened to the nation’s nutrition and health over that same period of time? Well, whaddya know. Obesity is seriously on the rise, and the folks most likely to be obese are precisely those who are eligible for federal nutrition programs. Hello.

So what’s the Obama solution? Throw more taxpayer money at nutrition and food programs. Yeah- that oughta work. I won’t be surprised if our tax dollars soon go towards funding exercise equipment for WIC/food stamp recipients. Or lapband surgery. I mean, we can’t expect them to make lifestyle changes without help, right? And now that there is an obesity taskforce, there will ALWAYS be an obesity taskforce, and the problem will never ever ever go away. But by golly, those fat-fighting folk will have job security.

Our government is way too fat, and it’s too far gone for a simple diet/exercise solution. We need to do some serious bariatric surgery on the government.

Ugh.