Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
Inactivity is the single most important reason for unhealthy, obese people I think. Whether they move or not is their choice.
Correct. And to ensure that they don't we add extra taxes on playing hockey... Or not. Called acceptable side effects.

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
It would cost the government nothing if the government did not run health care.
Obesity costs society no matter what medical system you use (even none). Ever used or heard smaller piece from a larger cake rethoric to support tax cuts? Obesity makes the cake smaller.

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
Why not make people take responsibility? If their obesity makes them need medical attention, then they should pay out of pocket for it. That would motivate people to live healthier lifestyles without destroying industry, discriminating, or running the government dry.
Why are generally students so stupid he asks. Why generally are smart people easily be made to believe in evolution he asks. People are generally able to draw long term conclusions using probabillity statistics, he concludes.
Obama's idea of making "decent" the default choise and letting people choose good and bad on top of that is freaking brilliant IMO (he's certainly not the first one), when you deal with large populations.

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
I mean seriously, do you think that I would not stay in better shape if I knew that I would not be able to pay for any medical complications? Of course I would.
Sure.... See above, most wouldn't. Are you fatter now because you consider yourself to be able to pay for any medical complications, while you didn't when you were younger?

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
People can enjoy fatty foods without being obese (I used to), and depending on their lifestyle, can enjoy lots of fatty foods and not be obese. The problem is that people now adays are a bunch of pampered, lethargic, bums who do not like to move.
The problem is that the food has gone fatter, while the work and entertainment has gone lazyer. People have always been a bunch of pampered, lethargic, bums who do not like to move. But nowadays they don't have to. And that is evidently a problem.

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again View Post
A tax on fatty foods will not change that. It should be someone's choice if they want to stay trim and fit or be fat and lazy, and they should have to deal with the consequences themselves. People who are not creating a problem should not be made to give up foods with a certain amount of fat in them though because of the problems that others create.
A tax on fatty foods will change that. Well how much fatty food they eat that is. Which should be positive on general public health.
Generally these taxes are more of a decrease rather than a give up system, but that is always a question of the indiviual freedom vs the collective damage/benefit. Should heroin be legal? Some can surely handle it. Evidently you say that individual freedom triumph in the fatty food case.

Quote Originally Posted by Just Vuk Again
He smoked inside, outside, in the car, everywhere he went. So much in fact that the house was often filled with ciggy smoke like a barroom. It did no wonders for his health (he had incredibly unhealthy lungs), but it didn't seem to do any harm to my lungs.
Fair enough. Training youth is the best lung recovering group though, when it comes to the general decline of lung capacity, so your mother would probably be a better test subject for that. Lost two grandparents to lungcancer and iirc both were secondary smokers (either that or smokers with with extra exposure from other family members), so I'm a bit biased on personal anectdotes.