Stuff That’s Not So Bad

1. Lots of ever expanding obesity among humans. Children playing virtual games instead of real physical ones. North American lifestyle junk food diets. Associations of people trying to get fat, aiming to be 600+ lbs. and set Guinness records. Other Associations to build the self esteem of the overweight.

What else do we know?

We know we have a health care cost crisis. We know the overweight have shortened life spans. We know they cost the health care system less than the people of normal weight and exercise regimens who live long and make up about 70% of total health care costs. We know the DNA of those prone to addictions, including food addictions, and too stupid to take charge of themselves, should not be encouraged to proliferate. Logically, we should encourage those addicted to grossly fattening foods to gain as much weight as possible, as soon as possible.

But they don’t need encouraging, they’ll do it to themselves.

That’s not so bad.


2. People in North America and elsewhere in the world are running out of potable drinking water, agricultural water, and arable agricultural land is disappearing everywhere.

Severe and rapid climate change threatens life everywhere.

40 000 years ago humans and their domestic animals made up only 1/4 of 1% of the vertebrate biomass on earth. Today, humans and their domestic animals comprise 95% of the vertebrate biomass of the planet.

Where is the good in this?

Humans are the cause of these problems. And because of their stubborn addictions to unhealthy foods, enormous petroleum energy consumption, substitution of machines for human effort and exercise, and procreation, they are not likely to solve any of these problems without a drastic, forced reduction in total human biomass.

The planet herself will take care of herself by getting rid of humans. All they have to do, which is all they are likely to do, is go on as they have been, indulging their addictions and encouraging all nations to join in the party.

That’s not so bad.

4. In Ontario, $42 billion of a budget total of $100 billion goes to health care. $14 billion goes to education. Health care costs are rising without letup at 6% per year. In 6 years time, by 2016, the increase in health care costs will wipe out the entire education budget.

We know that health care costs per person are about $200 per year until age 60 or so, when they start to rise dramatically, reaching $10 000, $15 000, $20 000 per person per year by age 75-80. 70% of the total health care budget goes on chronic (that is incurable) illnesses of the elderly, palliative care merely, just keeping them alive longer.

Note I have no bias in this, I’m 75 years of age in May of 2010.

It doesn’t matter what people want, or what the Government says, we’ll have to spend the education budget to keep the elderly alive beyond their time. Without all the expensive drugs and other interventions their time is of course limited by their unhealthy lifestyles, including the wrong kinds of food all their lives.

In places, known as “blue zones”, in many locations around the world, people live to age 90 without much health care at all, then die. How come? Look it up. Google “blue zones” and get the data. It’s being vegan, getting exercise, and living without stress. Simple, and inexpensive.

So the warfare between the old and young continues. The old who vote grow in percentage of the population and demand the limited budget taken from the earnings of the young taxpayers be spent on palliating the result of their lifelong addictions to unhealthy lifestyles. The young grow fewer in numbers, and with poorer educations cannot compete with the global education and internet job sharing systems of India, China, Brazil and their 100’s of millions of young people. Canadian companies out source their work globally with no loyalty to Canadian youth. We lose lifetime jobs we used to have making stuff in our communities, our neighbourhoods. Sure a few can earn good incomes in the resource extraction businesses, oil and mining, as long as that lasts... But that is only the few.

We will lose our civility if this continues.

But you and I don’t have to do anything. Our whining and ranting won’t change people. The lack of enough money, as it always has throughout history, will force the needed change.

Governments will be forced to make health care a user pay system for those over 60, for those addicted to unhealthy food, tobacco, drugs and alcohol. The vast mass of the people will not be able to afford health care by the current medical establishment model, composed of Big Pharma and expensive doctors. To stay alive and be healthy, we will have to alter our lifestyles, change our food and exercise habits, be more at ease with ourselves and our families. In the words of Huddie Ledbetter, the last verse of “Good Night Irene”, “Stop your ramblin, stop your gamblin, stop stayin out late at night, go home to your wife and children, stay there by your fireside bright”.

That’s not so bad.

Donato April 16 2010