News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by jacobush on Saturday July 04, 2020 @10:39AM (#23732510)
A) don’t subsidise sugar B) tax sugar
Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by vertbhrtn on Saturday July 04, 2020 @10:55AM (#23732637)
You assume good faith here. I'd argue that the "system" is intentionally set up this way.
Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by dominotw on Saturday July 04, 2020 @10:45AM (#23732553)
> B

It was tried and rolled back in chicago because it was deemed as unfairly targeting the poor.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by hagy on Saturday July 04, 2020 @11:32AM (#23732930)
Since there is a higher incidence of smoking among poorer folks[0], couldn't the same argument apply to the massive sin tax on cigarettes? We justify such sin taxes as being to the benefit of discouraging a harmful health behavior and personally I see the same link with higher sugar consumption.

[0] https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/targeted-comm...

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by ebg13 on Saturday July 04, 2020 @11:33AM (#23732947)
> It was tried and rolled back in chicago because it was deemed as unfairly targeting the poor.

There's no reason why you couldn't pair taxing sugar with price-subsidies on non-sugary foods. The US already knows how to subsidize food production. Just stop subsidizing corn syrup and shift the subsidies to something less clearly destructive.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by dominotw on Saturday July 04, 2020 @12:25PM (#23733287)
> price-subsidies on non-sugary foods.

That makes a big assumption that people aren't buying more spinach because of price of spinach.

beans and rice are already super cheap. Much healthier and cheaper option than mcdonalds.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by ebg13 on Saturday July 04, 2020 @04:05PM (#23734576)
> beans and rice are already super cheap. Much healthier and cheaper option than mcdonalds.

Why are you slyly shifting from "sugar" to "mcdonalds"? Minus drinks and desserts, McDonalds' offerings are not high in sugar.

> That makes a big assumption that people aren't buying more spinach because of price of spinach.

The price per calorie of spinach is extremely high. Micronutrients are great and all, but you can't live off micronutrients alone.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by dominotw on Sunday July 05, 2020 @07:23PM (#23743061)
> Why are you slyly shifting from "sugar" to "mcdonalds"? Minus drinks and desserts, McDonalds' offerings are not high in sugar.

Aren't carbohydrates sugar though?

Why is the distinction between sugar in drinks and sugar is burger buns relevant to the discussion.

> Micronutrients are great and all, but you can't live off micronutrients alone.

Why did you slyly ignore 'beans and rice' in my comment. I wasn't suggesting people get their calories from spinach, what a weird interpretation.

my mexican family of 5 ate this combo every single day ,growing up. spinach + rice+ beans and occasional meat was afforable on one gardner's salary.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by jacobush on Monday July 06, 2020 @10:20AM (#23748154)
I think a multipronged approach is needed. Many families in the food deserts lost the know how to cook properly. But it’s very unfortunate that the most subsidised crop is corn. If beans were, I am sure it would be perverted too somehow but maybe not as bad.

My general point is that the incentives today are all wrong. Many things need to be fixed and subsidies of corn syrup is one egregious thing.

Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by jacobush on Saturday July 04, 2020 @10:55AM (#23732633)
Did Chicago stop corn subsidies in the US?
Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by dominotw on Saturday July 04, 2020 @10:56AM (#23732645)
no? but wouldn't it have the same effect of burdening the poor more?
Re:Which firms profit most from America’s health-care system... by jacobush on Sunday July 05, 2020 @06:11AM (#23737683)
No