The Weakest Link?

A new Department of Agriculture study says that healthy foods are not necessarily more expensive than unhealthy foods, and in many cases cost significantly less.

"In fact," reports USA Today, "carrots, onions, pinto beans, lettuce, mashed potatoes, bananas and orange juice are all less expensive per portion than soft drinks, ice cream, chocolate candy, French fries, sweet rolls and deep-fat fried chicken patties, the report says."

(AP File photo)

So if food deserts are a myth, and healthy food doesn’t really cost more than junk food, what exactly is the link between obesity and poverty that we're always told about? It sounds like a pretty weak link to us. If poor people can afford bad food which costs more on average than healthier food, and in general have access to buy food, how can we believe that poverty causes obesity? How can advocates of Big Government use poverty to justify their freedom-inhibiting and market-tampering power grabs?

How do lose sight of the reality that while poor people in most other times and places were undernourished not overweight, we in America continue to think of the poor as a class of helpless individuals who must be spoon-fed by the nanny state? 

P.S. In today's other predictable research findings, scientists have discovered organic food turns people into pretentious jerks, and that men like to eat meat because they think it's a manly food. Yes, really.