The other day I was talking to a good friend of mine about food, when a touchy subject came up. I said something about how I really only like whole wheat bread and without knowing it I had struck an emotional nerve. My friend started ranting about how there is no affordable whole wheat bread and how poor people cannot afford it and how they are stuck with wonderbread. Although this was something that in the back of my head I was aware of I realized that my access to fresh and nutritional food is just another thing that I take for granted in my life. The way our economy is set up mass produced food is cheaper than fresh ingredients. The more shelf-stable a good is generally the less it costs and generally the less nutritionally rich it is. An article in the Washington Post described why poorer people have more difficulties gaining access to fresh food.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/
With many families and persons facing a time of economic hardship cutting back of the weekly grocery bill may be the first step to change overall spending habits. When it comes down to eating cheap, unhealthy food or no food at all, of course people are going to choose to eat. However it is exactly this unhealthy eating that in the long run leaves Americans prone to disease and the need for healthcare, only in this day and age access to adequate healthcare is also up in the air.
"People are eating cheaper, more fattening foods; care is more difficult to find; and as a result we're going to have more and more people presenting at a later stage of the disease process," says Roslin. "If you're concerned about paying your rent and making ends meet, it's very hard to think about the future implications of diabetes and other illnesses."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/194980
Now I know that many of you may be sick of me harping about farm subsidies, but the reason why unhealthy food is cheaper than vegetables stems from the subsidies. Cheap corn is processed into cheap additives and calorie dense foods that appear in almost all processed products. Without subsidized corn we would not have the food industry's favorite high fructose corn syrup hidden in so many things. If we subsidized the growing of vegetables and the processing of whole grains then more Americans could afford to buy that whole grain bread that their doctors are saying is good for their heart instead of chowing down on cheap alternatives and crossing their fingers that later down the road all will be well.
I agree with what you are saying however it is not the governments responsibility to do everything for the people. The government already has welfare programs and food stamps for people who need them and it is up to them what to buy with that money, and not the governments. Therefore, it is up to the individual to choose what they eat. If the government were to do something about health standards,then maybe they should have health requirements for FDA and USDA approval.
ReplyDeleteThe cycle entrapping many people is vicious. Poor people can't afford the food they need to spend less money on health care... a problem that has been surfacing this past decade with each new "fast food story". I suppose something I always wanted to know is, whether it makes more sense to lower prices or to raise incomes?
ReplyDeleteMy gut reaction is to say that most things should not be as expensive as they are (ie. higher education, food, living costs...). And that by pricing them in a different manner many problems could be solved. But there is a selfish interest again, in the lowering of price. You have unhappy producer and a government that isn't satisfying its largest benefactors. This is where this idea of selfishness comes in, as it dos so many times in economy. To be a responsible Economist, one would have to care about more than just themselves. But that's asking an awful awful lot. (E,A)
It's weird, just as I opened this page to make my comment, I was biting away at a couple slices of whole wheat bread. I was thinking the same thing when I went into the store and realised that the prices for whole wheat bread doubles the price of the white bread.
ReplyDeleteI agree that something needs to be done. Most producers arent concerned about the well-being of their customers, they are concerned about making profits. They aren't the ones paying the doctors bills, suffering from diseases, feeling pain etc. No, they are the producers of the least healthiest food this country has to offer and yet they are the consumers of the healthiest food there is. To them, its nothing personal, just business.
I agree, something needs to be done about this. But what can the government do? They could start by investing more in organic farming.
Based on E, A
ReplyDeletePerhaps the government should cut existing agricultural subsidies entirely, and instead subsidize healthy foods. This, in turn, would lower the price of healthier foods, raise the price of much of the unhealthier foods, and thus create an incentive for people to eat healthy. Moreover, the increased demand for healthier foods would create an incentive for food suppliers to supply healthy rather than unhealthy food, and thus further reduce the price of healthy foods.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that the majority of cheap foods are considered to be "junk food" or have lower nutritional values. Not only is junk food cheaper, in many cases it will appeal to people's tastes more (especially kids). Cheap and low nutritional food has led to many health problems in the United States as well as other countries. It is really hard to believe that people in other countries are starving to death and some people in the United States are dying because they have too much to eat. Is economics to blame? (A)
ReplyDeleteI agree that something needs to be done about this. Perhaps if the government, instead of heavily subsidizing corn, subsidized healthier alternatives, the price of healthy food might decrease and become less prohibitive for those seeking to eat well.
ReplyDeleteNick, I agree that it is up to the individual to choose what they eat. But you have to put yourself in someone elses shoes. Think about going without a meal or living week to week on a minimal paycheck to try to support your family. I have volunteered at health centers, and food and homeless shelters and I learned that there is so much controversy about the government's role in helping low income families. They can do a lot more than what they are doing now.
ReplyDeleteA Gallup poll conducted in 2006 revealed that the income of the wealthy has only increased since the 20th century, while the income of the poor has stayed constant. As the rich become richer, the poor still struggle with a constant, low income.
Because of the wealth gap and the inability for the government to get their act together, low income families can not get help. If the wealth was distributed more evenly, and the government makes health care more accessible, as well as allocating more money to shelters, low income families can actually get healthy food. E, T
Responding to Mysha's comment, I'd like to make clear that organic food and healthy food are not one and the same. Non-organic crops and meat can and often is just as healthy as the organic variety, its just a matter of how its processed and what's added to it. Organic food is only seen as healthier because manufacturers of unhealthy, processed foods are uninterested in buying more expensive organic ingredients, as the foods organic status is generally not as big a concern to their customers as is its price. I recognize that the idea of organic, traditional farming methods holds a certain appeal, but the fact remains that non-organic farms can produce just as healthy food more cheaply. And seeing as the relative expensiveness of healthy food is likely a major cause for lower income people turning to cheap, processed, and unhealthy foods, I feel that emphasis should be put on reducing the price of healthy food, rather than organic food, as the price of simply healthy food will necessarily be able to go lower.
ReplyDeleteThis is a reality that is seen by the obesity rate in this country. The United States has the highest obesity rate in the world, and a big reason this can be attributed to is the high price of organic foods, as well as healthy products in general. In a tough time such as this, many people are saving money any way they can. An easy way this can be done is by substituting inferior goods for normal goods. Inferior goods are things such as store brand items, which are always cheaper than a name brand good, which could be called a normal good. The cheaper the good, usually results in that food being less healthy, as explained by Hannah in her post. People are also eating more fast food than ever, not because it taste goods, but because it is cheap. People are substituting their health for cheaper prices. The fact of the matter is, producing organic goods takes more time and more money to produce than that of non-organic goods. That causes the price to be more, which causes many consumers in today's world to turn to the non-organic goods, because they are cheaper, and everyone is trying to save a buck in these tough times. It just come downs to the consumer, and how much money they are willing to spend on their health. In my opinion, being healthy is one of the most important things, so spending an extra few bucks for an organic food is more than likely going to pay off in the long-run for your personal health. (A, F)
ReplyDeleteThere's a documentary, I think it's called People Like Us, that I saw pretty much every year at summer camp growing up. It's about class issues, and they devote a large chunk of time to how different people eat different types of food. They specifically talk about how socio-economic status plays into whether people eat wheat bread or wonderbread, and how, by offering one or the other in an area with a specific demographic, it can change the way that demographic views the store selling it. It's interesting to see how something as simple as choice of bread can be a divisive class issue.
ReplyDeletethis post made me thought about a video clip I watched in my sociology class, it talks about the choice of the bread also, they believe the choice of the bread shows the social status, there are two groups of representives, one group of people they are from low income family, they seem very unsaticified with their neighbourhood market, they think the bread the market offer are too expensive for them to afford.So the community decided to build a cheaper market for them in this area. E
ReplyDeletei agree with everyone here on the idea that healthy food should be available to all. Perhaps they should raise junk food prices and allo healthy foods to be cheap. That would give people more opportunities to become healthy when shopping. People do enjoy their junk food due to tastes but also everyone i think usually trys to spend the least amount of money possible.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this is not the place of government. The programs already in place to provide food for the poor are expensive enough as is how much would it cost the government to provide superbly beneificial food? A
ReplyDeleteIn response to Evan's comment, I feel that in the long run, government could actually save money by subsidizing healthy foods. If the subsidies succeed in getting low income people to eat healthier food, there overall health would in turn be increased. Healthier people, in turn, our less likely to need medical care, and as low income people are often uninsured our insured under medicaid, healthier low income people means less medical care that the government ultimately ends up paying for. Moreover, the government could make subsidies for healthy foods cost-neutral even in the short-term, as they could simply reallocate the subsidies currently distributed to farms. Subsidies on healthy foods would still benefit farmers by increasing demand, while helping to eliminate the problem of farmers being paid not to farm.
ReplyDeleteThis is like a vicious circle, poorer people eat junk food and get sick thus need more money to see the doctor. I agree with some comments above that the government can take measures to improve this situation, but I think it also depends on individuals to choose diet to a large extend, because obviously some people don't have a clear concept of what healthy food is.
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