The Price We Pay - Is It Worth It?

The Price We Pay - Is It Worth It? Junk food has crept into the lives of the American people. There are over 160,000 fast food restaurants in the United States of America. (Static Brain, Source Pew Research Center) With that many sources for junk food and soft drinks, Americans make poor choices everyday. In hopes of creating financial stability in our economy, men and women are busy pursuing their careers. People are working longer hours than their elders did in the past. Time to fix proper meals and knowing proper portioned meals is way down the list of priorities. I believe that the fast pace Americans have adopted has forced us to rely on fast food as a substitute for regular meals and has made us unhealthy. In certain states, new laws have been passed to tax junk food and sodas in order to prevent obesity. Many experts believe that taxes placed on soda and sugar-sweetened beverages are too low to have much impact on the amount that people consume. (, “ Taxing junk food and soda is not the way to make America healthy.”) Back in 1773, the people of Massachusetts reacted to the English Parliament for taxing tea by dumping it over the side of the ships which were docked in Boston. These actions further raised tension that broke out resulting in the War of American Independence in 1775 . Now this may be an extreme situation for the current time, but if the government were to initiate a national tax on all junk food throughout the United States of America the government disapproval ratings would go up. In a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive, concluded that more than half of Americans were opposed to the “fat tax”. Doctors affiliated with “fat tax” studies say the beverage industry has manipulated public opinion to oppose a tax. People do not want to pay more taxes as many are still having a hard time recovering after the 2007 recession. Taxes are not going to help the people who are already obese in America. First people need