Pal, DAM -- I think Thom's main debt jubilee has the best chance of happening, although be it a very small chance. That is, we should have a student debt jubilee. The moral hazard for that would be people wanting to go to college.

It seems to me you guys are wimps (me too). Economists main concern is that inflation is too small and will become deflation. Deflation will lead us into depression. Robert Reich points out in his book aftershock we need an inflation rate around 4%. He is speaking of the measured CPI. That rate will feel like 10% to us wimps. The reason we need a higher inflation, per Bob R, is that it will put into our minds that we may not want to put off buying something because its price will increase. The forces of the market place are not meant to feel good.

Providing a bunch of money to the supply side of the equation does not cause inflation. As Thom always says demand is what causes inflation. If that demand is kept below the productivity rate, the inflation should be tolerable except to us wimps.

Palindromedary ~ You're welcome! I think you'll find that there are a lot of cool weight loss/management tools on that site.

You are very right about the American nightmare. We do make many bad choices. However, they are not our original ideas. We get spoon fed these ideas from our Capitalistic for profit corporate marketing system. I know first hand about the dangers of secondhand smoke. I'm not at all very fond of the tobacco industry. Although the greater problem of mass smoking is greatly reduced it still exists. It's just one example of how much damage an unregulated marketing media can do to the society that it pretends to serve all in the name of profit. And, it is a very good example at that.

chuckle8 ~ You know the calories in a frozen pizza because they are stated on the box. If it is in a restaurant, like Round Table or Domino's Pizza, you can do a simple web search like, "calories in Round Table pizza" and find out how many calories are in each slice of a large size or in a personal size pizza. You can extrapolate from that for any other similar type of pizza and then just multiply that by the number of slices you eat. Below are links to charts for Round Table and Dominos Pizza.

http://calorielab.com/restaurants/round-table/88

http://calorielab.com/restaurants/dominos/8

As far as meats go you can go by the weight of the whole when you buy it and then cut it evenly and divide by how many pieces you have; or, simply invest in a food scale. As far as lbs are concerned, simply remember that 16 oz = 1lb. Once you figure out how many ounces are in your meat, use this table to figure out how many calories for your particular cut.

http://www.calorieking.com/calories-in-steak.html

You can likewise find accurate caloric information for just about any other food from doing simple web searches. However, in order to become proficient at it you have to sit down and do it for yourself. That is the only way you can really learn and benefit from the internet. You have to learn how to use it yourself. No one can do that for you.

DAnneMarc:Thanks for that calorie counter tool!

Yes, the American Dream has become a nightmare! But, I'd bet it'll get much worse! But, at least, many fewer people smoke less than before during the "More doctors recommend smoking Camels" propaganda days. Thank goodness for that anyway! But, there are people who can't put food on the table for their children who have no problem going out and buying a couple of cartons of cigarettes that they smoke in a week subjecting their children to all of that hazardous second hand smoke.

I'm a little bit shocked to see you, Thom Hartman, wanting more people flying at lower cost. Much of the cost of flying is currently externalized (as in CLIMATE CHANGE). Do you really think we can have our cake and eat it, too? Unfortunately, we can't have 7.2 billion Earthlings jetting off on family vacations. Flying needs to become a very infrequent occurrence (I'm pretty sure peak oil is going to make the price of flying skyrocket very soon, which will take care of that). Wish it weren't true, but that's the price of the binge.

Dave Gardner
Director of the documentary
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth

Palindromedary ~ Basically I agree with everything you've said. I'd like to add that there are also free online calculators to help people assess what their ideal caloric intake is. It takes into account such factors as sex, age, height, weight, and lifestyle. These calculators also recommend the caloric bracket for optimal healthy weight loss. Here is a link to just such a calculator that provides caloric recommendations--and time frames for achieving goals--to anyone interested in losing weight.

http://caloriecount.about.com/tools/calories-goal

People do make dumb decisions and tend to get into the habit of repeating them. I feel that this is a phenomenon that is more attributed toward ignorance than stupidity. Society bombards people with marketing messages geared toward stimulating consumption rather than thinking. The secret to breaking this bad effect is through knowledge and education rather than scorn and ridicule.

People honestly would no more prefer to be fat then to be in debt. You are also right that one thing tends to lead to another. Someone in hock up to their eye brows is far too busy trying to make enough money to avoid losing everything than to pay close attention to what they eat. To them eating is an inconvenience that doesn't make any money. Therefore they seek out the fastest and cheapest solution to the problem. They are not interested in any information that might spoil that convenience.

Yet what are people to do? They must have a place to live. When I was a kid my father made about $12k/year; which, was good money at the time. Our rent was $56/mo, and you could buy a really nice house in a nice area for about $20k. When he retired 15 years ago he was making about $86k/year. However, that house that was $20k when I was a kid was now $450k. He had a really good job with a union; but, his wages only went up by a factor of 7X; whereas, that house went up by a factor of 22X.

Back then it was possible to rent and save for 5-7 years and be able to buy a house outright with cash. Even if you couldn't wait and took out a loan you could pay it off in a few years. However, few people did that because it made no sense to pay more just for a minor convenience of not having to wait another year or two. That is no longer possible. Now, unless you make something like $264k/year you need credit to buy even a modest home. And that is long term credit over the period of several decades. Essentially, to live today, you have to become the indentured servant of a bank.

The problem with credit is you cannot see the future. Just like with a poor diet based on misinformation, you just don't know what the consequences of your choices will be until it is too late. You don't know if you will still have your job, or if the company will still be in business, or if the house will still be worth the same. You don't even know if you will live long enough to ever actually own the home. If any of these "unexpected consequences" pop up you could stand to lose everything you've worked for most of your life. No wonder people put their diets at the bottom of their priority list.

Just like with health, there are many contributing factors with debt that can make or break the success of the venture. For instance, the above calculator also relies on physical activity as well as caloric intake. All I'm saying about food additives is that it makes sense to suspect them of causing the same effect in every part of the food chain that they cause in the original host. Of course this warrants further study. Also, if it is shown that indeed this suspicion is accurate, I don't mean to imply that this is the only cause of our obesity epidemic. This problem is simply to complicated to blame on any one cause. However, it certainly may be a very serious and unnecessary contributing factor; and, for that reason, if it is, it needs to be revealed. As with credit debt, obesity is just too big of a problem (pardon the pun) to allow any contributing factor to go unscrutinized and unaddressed.

DAnneMarc: Well we don't really know that additives in our food may be causing us to be fat. That is speculation. But we do know that too much food and not enough exercise will cause us to be fat. Using the computer, or diet book, can tell you how much calories one should take in. Of course different people have different needs to lose or maintain a given weight. Some people are taller and bigger boned than others. And there are many other factors as well.

Too much of the wrong kinds of food...like sugars in the soft drinks or other drinks sweetened with sugar...will make people fat. I think the dumbest thing that mayors or other politicians are doing is to tax sodas for the purpose of stopping people from becoming obese. Perhaps they should, instead, tax sugar. People add lots of sugar to their ice tea or coffee, etc. They are still going to get fat from drinking lots of coffee or tea if they add lots of sugar.

It's like many people that get themselves into debt that they can't get out of...people get fat and can't get unfat if they keep doing the same dumb things over and over again. Many of these people just have no good sense or willpower. Others are just too dumb to know any better.

I'm not a doctor either; but, the best tool for losing weight is staring you in the face right now--your computer. Simply type in your browser -- "Calories in X" and you will see exactly the calorie content of whatever you want to put into your body. X here can refer to "a piece of pizza," "an "8 oz steak," "a cup of cooked white rice," " a tablespoon of yellow mustard," or anything else. If your goal is to lose weight, keep your total daily caloric content at 1500 calories. If you simply want to maintain weight, keep it around 2000 calories. If you exercise you can also figure out the caloric usage of say, "Calories used walking in one hour," and figure that into your diet.

However, the point made above that weight gain in humans may also be attributed to additives given to our food to help them gain weight is a very disturbing and provocative suggestion because it makes perfect sense. It would certainly help to explain the growing obesity epidemic in this country and why such health problems just aren't seen in non industrialized countries. It would also be well worth the effort to try organic/free range alternatives for a period of time to determine if there is indeed a difference in efforts for weight loss. If anyone tries that, their results would be most appreciated if they post them.

I am not a doctor or health specialist but...about the only way to lose weight is to greatly cut back on calories* and increase exercise. Don't waste your money on special hyped-up diet programs..or diet fads....you may lose some weight but you'll lose way more money.

* (ie: the food you eat...specifically...the amount of food you eat. You can eat skinless chicken but unless you follow that with eating small amounts of skinless chicken and very small amounts of all of the other things you eat with that skinless chicken losing weight will not be very forthcoming. If you go to a restaurant..only eat a small portion of the amount served and then box the rest to take home.)

Everyone is different (some people may have health issues where dieting is not a good idea) and some people lose weight easier than others. I lost 40 pounds 16.5% of my weight) just by reducing how much food I eat, over time (about 4-6 months), and I didn't ever exercise...not even walking very much. I realize that exercising would have been much better for me..and the weight would probably have come off faster.

I never eat beef or pork or any "red" meat...I haven't eaten any since the Mad Cow Disease stories came out many years ago...over 10 years ago. And from the scare stories I've been reading (like Thom's message) and the stories about "what's in your filet of fish" on RT, I may just have to go strictly vegan. But even veggies are not always safe either. Some people can no longer even grow their own because of the water crisis in certain areas.

But, how do you really know that it really is "organic" with no chemicals? I read, somewhere, that a certain amount of chemicals are allowed and still able to be called "organic". Remember the horse meat that being put into certain namebrand hamburgers? Just how "regulated" do you think "organic" is? I think most of it relies upon a certain amount of "faith" and "belief" and not empirical proofs.

Quote chuckle8:Debt Jubilee. You guys watch too much science fiction.

chuckle8 ~ That makes more sense. A tax jubilee just isn't that hard to imagine. After all, that is exactly what we've been having for the last decade and a half. It's old already. Time for a new jubilee!

A debt jubilee? Well, may The Force be with us!

To Magginkatz: If you're concerned about antibiotics in your meat, buy organic. Yes, it's more expensive, but it's more nutritious than plumped up factory farmed meat so you don't need to eat as much and it has no antibiotics. If you can afford a freezer, you can often find a farmer who will sell you freezer ready organic chicken - enough to set you up for months or even a year with good meat at a reasonable price. Do an experiment on yourself and see if you lose some weight. Enjoy your coffee!! Everyone's gotta have a little fun!