The true cost of food--final 2021 report by Rockefeller Foundation

This report it being touted by various liberal sources charging the "American diet" or "food system" is killing us, the environment, damaging the health of minorities and costing all of us $1.1 trillion annually, much more than the price tag.

 
I've glanced through it (if Washington Post loves it, it must be worth reading, right?) I can't see there's anything different than what I knew when I was Agriculture Economics librarian at OSU in the 1980s. Except the heavy emphasis on equity and underserved communities. That's a giant wet snow ball that gets bigger with every report from the foundations and universities.

 
One thing for sure--as you see more and more stats on the inequities of the pandemic, you can certainly look at diet, obesity, and its outcomes. We were told this from the beginning of Covid that co-morbidities are a serious problem. Obesity is 1.2x more prevalent in Black Americans and diagnosed diabetes are 1.7x higher in Latin Americans than White Americans, and 1.5x higher in
Black Americans than White Americans. So behind the curtain is the "blame whites" for the diets and culture of minorities, even though co-morbidities among whites are nothing to brag on. If we've learned nothing else, we've been told blacks should be arrested, or die, or buy homes at the same percentage as their population.

If you read the bibliography/footnotes/side bars/ tables, you see enough holes to drive a truck of pastries through. This is not to say the "system" isn't wasteful or fattening, but the suggestion is always for big brother to do something--do anything. I've been reading these final reports for 40 years. And Americans just get fatter, waste more food, and eat out even more.

 
And now that Biden is in office, what's another trillion or so? Do you really think the $$ from the $2.2 trillion American Rescue Plan will go to eat more vegetables and fruits? Families with a joint income of less than $150,000 will receive $3,600 per child under the age of 6, and up to $3,000 for children between 6 and 17 years old in 2021.

"Even using this limited scope, human health impacts are the biggest “hidden” cost of the food system, with close to $1.1 trillion per year (est.) in health-related costs to American taxpayers. The majority of these costs—$604 billion—are attributable to health care costs related to diet-related diseases such hypertension, cancer, and diabetes. The additional costs are impacts from health care costs from workplace injuries, food insecurity and pollution, and additional costs attributable to obesity." p. 17

 True-Cost-of-Food-Full-Report-Final.pdf (rockefellerfoundation.org)

You can down load this. Wonderful graphics. Just remember the direction it goes.

Gender equity push by Biden Administration

How are women or gays helped or "advanced" if we defund the police while "Advancing Gender Equity" in law enforcement, for example? Send more women and girls out to be slaughtered by an increasingly hostile environment toward police whipped up by BLM and Antifa?

This briefing document chants just about every shibboleth we've come to expect from the left about gender. Income, Health. Promotion. Laws. Customs. Careers. Violence. Yes, if you compare men who are ambassadors with the women who clean their offices you will find a difference in pay grade, but that would apply if women ambassadors, lawyers, college professors and doctors were compared with women pre-school teachers, waitresses, pastors, and retail clerks. Men have shorter life spans, are more likely to be killed or injured on the job, are less likely to graduate from high school and college, and are expected to do more of the heavy, gritty, smelly work than women. But in government, you never have to compare like with like. Only gender, color and ethnicity matter.

And even though men's health has been more vulnerable in the current pandemic, this document from the Biden Administration reports, "the impact of COVID-19 on women and on our economy has put us [women] at a very serious breaking point, one that is a – basically, a national emergency." Never waste a crisis. And who helped that along? Our Democrat governors, Congress, and a task force that claimed some jobs were essential and others were not! Gender? All the plumbers, electricians, farmers, truckers, and emergency workers, continued to serve.

 
This briefing was a heads up for an appeal for more money, "The American Rescue Plan," for more well paid bureaucrats to sit in their offices and dole out grants to more universities. More money (paid by us) doled out by well-paid bureaucrats to well-paid academics to write more task force reports, so they can get promotion and tenure. And when the leisure industry recovers from the bad decisions of the bureaucrats and academics who instilled fear in the nation for over a year there will be more grants to attend more conferences and meetings--like this one.

This briefing was also one more slam at President Trump, who lead more people out of poverty and low income slots than any president in history.

 
"Understanding America; advancing gender equity" March 4, 2021, Dept. of State. Understanding America: Advancing Gender Equity - United States Department of State