The Failing U.S. Economy is Not a Financial Problem, It's a Health Problem

by: Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor
Thursday, December 18, 2008

(NaturalNews) The shutdown of the American economy has begun. Today Chrysler announced it would shutter 100% of its factories for one month as it seeks bailout money from the Federal Reserve. The Fed, meanwhile, slashes its interest rates to zero, even while promising to print unlimited trillions of new dollars in order to "save" the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, the state of California has announced it would halt all infrastructure projects (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/us/18...), meaning that the construction and maintenance of bridges, roads and schools will be abandoned until new money can be found.

On the same day, the U.S. dollar plummeted to a 13-year low against the Yen. Investors around the world are realizing the dollar is doomed, and they're increasingly betting against it. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=...)
Earlier this week, an important international meeting of heads of state was held in Latin America. The most notable fact about this meeting is that the USA was not invited.

The power and influence of the United States of America is rapidly plummeting, and the closing down of Chrysler's factories is a major warning sign that the U.S. economy, which has long operated on financial vapor, has begun an unprecedented reconfiguration that could mean the end of the dollar as a world currency and the final gutting of America's long-doomed manufacturing industry.

Why the health of the People determines the fate of the economy

In other countries, workers are willing to work for less money, executives are aggressive and well educated, and companies aren't burdened with out-of-control health care costs that have been enforced by the Big Pharma / FDA conspiracy that seeks to keep Americans diseased and medicated.

The upshot is that, in many ways, America can no longer compete on the world stage, and it is now suffering the predictable effects of an economy built on mass consumer poisoning and the continuation of disease...

To read the rest of "The Failing U.S. Economy is Not a Financial Problem, It's a Health Problem", please visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/025120.html

Commentary by Erin Brennan

Thank you, Mike Adams, for another provocative and thrilling article. While I agree with many points that Adams makes in this article, I think that he is forgetting one key point, which I will discuss a little later. I agree that the pharmaceutical industry's reign needs to come to an end. We live in an over-medicated society, and the FDA is more than willing to push through even the most deadly drugs without proper testing (see my article "Avoiding Animal Cloning" for a great example). I agree that as a society, we are purposely kept diseased. Keeping the masses sick and medicated is a genius way for doctors and pharmaceutical companies to ensure a constant revenue flow. I also agree that healthy workers will be much more productive in the workplace and will cost companies far less in healthcare costs and sick days. I agree that more money would be available in our unstable economy if the rates of cancer and chronic disease in this country went down.

The part of this that I do not agree with however, is Adams' suggestion of how to go about making changes in the overall health of our society. I think that education is key here - along with ending the corruption of the FDA and the pharmeceudical industry. However, we can NOT force people to make healthier food choices. We can make healthier food choices more available and more affordable. We can NOT make people stop taking pharmeceutical drugs and over the counter medications. We can make alternative, holistic care and natural medicine more widely accepteded and supported, by our govenment and insurance companies alike. History has proven that you cannot take away the right of the people to choose to injest substances that are harmful to their health and well-being. Just look at the prohibition of alcohol at the turn of the last century and the current "War on Drugs" that has cost billions upon billions of dollars; Dollars which could have been spent ensuring that all Americans have access to nutritious and healthy food choices rather than soft drinks, french fries, and burgers. People seems to always resist what is forced onto them, whether it is in their own best interest or not.

We cannot expect our govenment to make an about face and suddenly start pushing natural and healthly choices in the faces of Americans, just as they have for many years with the pharmeceutical industy and modern medical care. We cannot expect that, in a short period of time, grocery stores will just rearrange their shelves, with healthy items on display and not-so-healthy items at the bottoms of the shelves. Grocery stores will begin to do so when natural, healthy food items start selling as well as oreos and cheetoes. That means that is up to us to become educated consumers. I always tell people to vote with their dollar. The dollar always seems to win in the end, and as long as Americans continue to buy into the advertisements from the junk food and pharmaceutical industries, that is what will continue to be made available.

I think that a major part of the problem is that many people operate under the misconception that eating healthier and/or taking herbs and supplements is more expensive that eating the way they currently do. Maybe this is true when you only look at the short-term cost. It costs less right now, in this moment, to buy junk food and processed food items, but when you factor in the long term costs of health care for diet and lifestyle related disease, it becomes very apparent that is not, in fact, more expensive to lead a healthier lifestyle.

I have to admit, though, even though I am a strong supporter of freedom of speech and think that everyone has the duty to educate him or herself enough to make wise decisions regarding health, etc. - I think that advertising junk foods and medications during children’s programs and allowing junk and soda machines in schools is outrageous and needs to stop. Children are very influential and may not necessarily understand why, physiologically, junk food and sodas can harm them. Adults should care enough about themselves and their children to make healthy decisions, but I think that it is safe to say that no one wants to live in a world where they are forced to eat health food. Healthier food choices should be made more affordable and available, but dramatically changing from one extreme of junk food and pharmaceutical drugs to another of naturopathic medicine and health food is not likely. The FDA has done its best to ensure that Americans believe that herbs and natural supplements are either unsafe or will not make them any healthier, despite research done in other parts of the world to the contrary. Gradual change made through education, awareness, and making better food choices available is more likely to work.

While I am hopeful, like Adams, that our government will begin to support more natural health initiatives, sadly, I lost faith long ago. I am fearful that the corruption of the FDA, the pharmaceutical corporations, and our government run so deep that the only way to recover from their virtual monopoly on "healthcare" is for the system to completely crumble before being rebuilt anew. They own the healthcare system in this country and they are not going to go down without a fight.