Time to lay off the McDonald's folks. It's hurting the economy.
"The US has one of the highest rates of obesity in the advanced world, a rate that has increased from 15% in 1980 to 30.5% in 2000 to 41.9% in 2020. This is ten times the rate in Japan and significantly higher than China. Obesity is linked to multiple health problems, including heart disease, depression, hypertension, lifestyle related cancer and diabetes, which afflicts 13% of the population and costs US employers an estimated $90 billion a year.
The obesity problem is significantly worse in a cluster of southern and southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) that have strong military traditions. It is also worse in the working class and in Black and Hispanic populations (the figures for Asians are more complicated because there is such a difference between Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent). A 2020 study put the economic cost of obesity at almost $1.4 trillion for 2018 — almost 7% of the gross domestic product.
The opioid epidemic turbocharged America’s problems with drug- and alcohol-abuse. Deaths from drug overdoses rose from 17,000 (62 per million) in 2000 to 92,000 (277 per million) in 2020, largely driven by the mass production and distribution of opioids by big pharmaceutical companies. Unsurprisingly, opioid abusers are more likely to take unscheduled leaves or drop out of the workforce entirely as well as to die prematurely.
The opioid epidemic may have taken root in populations that already had health problems: The vast majority of opioids were originally prescribed to people who want relief from pain caused by either disability or illness. The epidemic is certainly more concentrated in certain classes and areas where repetitive physical work is a way of life: Death rates from overdoses are five to seven times higher for those without a college degree than for those with one and much higher in ex-coal mining communities, particularly in Appalachia, than elsewhere.
The Covid-19 pandemic acted as the third horseman of the health apocalypse. America’s Covid death rate is still much higher than in most other advanced countries, with 339 deaths per 100,000 population compared with 254 in France, 201 in Germany and 134 in Canada, thanks to the country’s poor primary healthcare system.
The pandemic led to a sharp decline in America’s (already low) labor force participation rate, a decline from which the country has still not recovered. It also seems to have left a longer-term legacy in terms of “long Covid,” a problem that doctors are still trying to understand but which leaves people with problems such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and brain fog. The Brookings Institution suggests that some three million people — or 1.8% of the civilian labor force — may be out of work due to long Covid, representing $168 billion in lost annual earnings."
"The US has one of the highest rates of obesity in the advanced world, a rate that has increased from 15% in 1980 to 30.5% in 2000 to 41.9% in 2020. This is ten times the rate in Japan and significantly higher than China. Obesity is linked to multiple health problems, including heart disease, depression, hypertension, lifestyle related cancer and diabetes, which afflicts 13% of the population and costs US employers an estimated $90 billion a year.
The obesity problem is significantly worse in a cluster of southern and southeastern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) that have strong military traditions. It is also worse in the working class and in Black and Hispanic populations (the figures for Asians are more complicated because there is such a difference between Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent). A 2020 study put the economic cost of obesity at almost $1.4 trillion for 2018 — almost 7% of the gross domestic product.
The opioid epidemic turbocharged America’s problems with drug- and alcohol-abuse. Deaths from drug overdoses rose from 17,000 (62 per million) in 2000 to 92,000 (277 per million) in 2020, largely driven by the mass production and distribution of opioids by big pharmaceutical companies. Unsurprisingly, opioid abusers are more likely to take unscheduled leaves or drop out of the workforce entirely as well as to die prematurely.
The opioid epidemic may have taken root in populations that already had health problems: The vast majority of opioids were originally prescribed to people who want relief from pain caused by either disability or illness. The epidemic is certainly more concentrated in certain classes and areas where repetitive physical work is a way of life: Death rates from overdoses are five to seven times higher for those without a college degree than for those with one and much higher in ex-coal mining communities, particularly in Appalachia, than elsewhere.
The Covid-19 pandemic acted as the third horseman of the health apocalypse. America’s Covid death rate is still much higher than in most other advanced countries, with 339 deaths per 100,000 population compared with 254 in France, 201 in Germany and 134 in Canada, thanks to the country’s poor primary healthcare system.
The pandemic led to a sharp decline in America’s (already low) labor force participation rate, a decline from which the country has still not recovered. It also seems to have left a longer-term legacy in terms of “long Covid,” a problem that doctors are still trying to understand but which leaves people with problems such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and brain fog. The Brookings Institution suggests that some three million people — or 1.8% of the civilian labor force — may be out of work due to long Covid, representing $168 billion in lost annual earnings."
