Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Fat Tax
The biggest loser is one of my favorite TV shows. I think its inspiring and amazing how dramatically people can change their lives through just diet and exercise. Today, while I was watching a rerun they gathered students from two different high schools so that they can learn how to diet and exercise before their condition becomes extreme and causes them to have medical problems.
I think it’s obvious as a country we have a huge problem with obesity and it reminded me of a bill that was purposed a few years ago that would impose a “fat tax” on people that are overweight. I think that this is a very interesting idea. People that are overweight have more health problems so they will be charged extra on their health insurance to make up for the additional costs they will cause.
But is implementing a “fat tax” a form of discrimination? I think that it is very similar to taxes that healthcare providers put on smokers. I feel that since being overweight cause’s people more emotional distress and is more of a social stigma than smoking law makers are very sensitive to addressing it.
While I also think that family life is very important to how we learn to take care of ourselves, I don’t think that it has been working well. Childhood obesity has tripled the past two decades. In most states a taxes on cigarettes has been extremely effective. And although I don’t like the government having a control over my life, but I think that if they are doing it to save us from ourselves, then maybe it is for our own good.
I think it’s obvious as a country we have a huge problem with obesity and it reminded me of a bill that was purposed a few years ago that would impose a “fat tax” on people that are overweight. I think that this is a very interesting idea. People that are overweight have more health problems so they will be charged extra on their health insurance to make up for the additional costs they will cause.
But is implementing a “fat tax” a form of discrimination? I think that it is very similar to taxes that healthcare providers put on smokers. I feel that since being overweight cause’s people more emotional distress and is more of a social stigma than smoking law makers are very sensitive to addressing it.
While I also think that family life is very important to how we learn to take care of ourselves, I don’t think that it has been working well. Childhood obesity has tripled the past two decades. In most states a taxes on cigarettes has been extremely effective. And although I don’t like the government having a control over my life, but I think that if they are doing it to save us from ourselves, then maybe it is for our own good.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Father knows best?
Just like many teenagers, growing up I felt that my parents were dumb and had no idea what was going on with the world or in my life. Like many other fathers, my dad’s advice would be broad from my love life to how I should prepare for a career. I would simply shrug it off and never really take his advice to heart.
But when I came to college a strange thing happened to me. I realized that my father actually knew what he was talking about.
When I was younger, to kill time in car rides my father would often give me, what I thought to be, a bizarre interview question. Our favorite one was calculating how many gas stations were in Kansas. He told me to look at what I knew and then from there I could estimate what the answer was. He told me that the interviewer would want to know how I think rather than arriving at the correct answer. My friends would also play this game with us and they learned the techniques behind it as well.
One day while in my dorm room I received a phone call from one of my friends who is in the business school at Georgetown University. She had just finished and interview for a business club where they asked her a question very similar to the one that my dad used to ask us to pass time. I was amazed. She told me how helpful it was to know how to answer the question and how she knew that my dad would love to know that they actually asked her a question like his.
As time went on I noticed more and more things that my father had told me that I didn’t believe but now I see that he is right. It is a strange feeling to constantly doubt someone only to be proven wrong when you’re away from them. I guess what they say is true and father really does know best.
But when I came to college a strange thing happened to me. I realized that my father actually knew what he was talking about.
When I was younger, to kill time in car rides my father would often give me, what I thought to be, a bizarre interview question. Our favorite one was calculating how many gas stations were in Kansas. He told me to look at what I knew and then from there I could estimate what the answer was. He told me that the interviewer would want to know how I think rather than arriving at the correct answer. My friends would also play this game with us and they learned the techniques behind it as well.
One day while in my dorm room I received a phone call from one of my friends who is in the business school at Georgetown University. She had just finished and interview for a business club where they asked her a question very similar to the one that my dad used to ask us to pass time. I was amazed. She told me how helpful it was to know how to answer the question and how she knew that my dad would love to know that they actually asked her a question like his.
As time went on I noticed more and more things that my father had told me that I didn’t believe but now I see that he is right. It is a strange feeling to constantly doubt someone only to be proven wrong when you’re away from them. I guess what they say is true and father really does know best.
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