Sunday, May 18, 2008

Bush and the thing in his mouth

How can one be proud being the citizen of a country where the president… for heaven’s sake not his press secretary, not his vice-president, not his dog, but the president… says things like this about another country?

''There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.''

Mr. President, during the time that you managed to put your foot in your mouth and also managed to read up that we have around 350 million people (which btw is quite a high estimate, the actual number is 200 million) classified as middle class, didn’t you bother to look up some of the facts about your own country’s eating habits?

“American obesity rates are highest in the world with 64% of adults being overweight or obese, and almost a quarter being obese. Estimates of the number of obese American adults have been rising steadily, from 19.4% in 1997, 24.5% in 2004 to 26.6% in 2007.”

That means that every fourth American you meet is obese and out of every five Americans you meet at least three will be overweight! Well, Mr. President, if you turn to your team of experts they will be able to explain to you the most important cause for obesity - eating too many calories.

While still on the topic of rising food and oil prices, we Indians have something to add. There are 192 million people in the United States who are classified as overweight. Their overweight population is as large as our (Indian) middle class population. When you are overweight, you need more calories to sustain normal energy and maintain daily activities. And so the demand is high and that causes the price to go up. It doesn’t end there. Obese and overweight Americans need more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, hence the increasing energy prices!

PS: Inspired by this and this

2 comments:

Alok Vats said...

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Malesh Ponnusamy said...

Well said. Can't imagine how a country that is world no.1 has a president like this!!! Are they worried that the globalization policy of their's is backfiring? The west trying to formulate economic policies that would give them world domination without having to conquer a nation physically!

I am reminded of this ancient story":

There was once a learned scholar crossing a river. He was asking the boatman whether he had any bookish knowledge. TO which the prompt reply was NO and the scholar pitied him on how he had wasted his life. Just then there was heavy currents and the boat was about to topple. The boatman asked the scholar whether he knew how to swim and the scholar was helpless!!!