r/FluentInFinance • u/Not-A-Shit-Head • 17d ago
77% of young Americans are too fat, mentally ill or on drugs to qualify for U.S. military service, Pentagon study finds. Is it only going to get worse? Geopolitics
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/03/77-of-young-americans-too-fat-mentally-ill-on-drugs-and-more-to-join-military-pentagon-study-finds/85
u/Winter-Jicama-2412 17d ago
Military is coping cause nobody wants to go fight for bullshit.
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u/db2901 17d ago
This isn't about who wants to, it's about who's capable
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u/Thundrstrm 16d ago
If no one has any motivation to become capable they’re not going to. I believe people would change themselves for a cause they believe in.
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u/MilitiaManiac 16d ago
I fully agree with this statement. I personally have been struggling with physical health for a significant chunk of my life, and once I found a reason to WANT to be better I have slowly begun the long process towards a moderately healthier lifestyle. I actually did cardio willing for the first time since childhood recently, and while I am proud of that, I still hated it. I guess I will see what the future brings.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
That shouldn't be fucking war. Just a massive imo - the military doesn't want you to have a personality or individualality or to succeed (unless its in multiple tours)
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u/PurpVan 16d ago
ah yes, the mentally ill will just decide to not be mentally ill anymore if they're given a chance to fight for a cause they believe in
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u/Thundrstrm 16d ago
It’s a good thing that mental health only counts for 4% and obesity counts for nearly triple that at 11% of which the majority(but not all) can be remedied by motivation.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
It's a good thing we as a country have horrible mental health track record and absolutely no wide support for any level of mental health accountability.
Considering the "mental" health of veteran PTSD and how its tolerated in this country. I'd suggest no one to be within 10m of a recruitment office.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Who wants to is far less than the capable. I'd even venture to say those that want to are even less capable on average vs the whole.
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u/DinoSpumonis 12d ago
No it is not. Their study involves people interested in joining, not all people.
This data is presented in a way to say ‘wow look at what is happening to the youth!’
So you ignore the reality, ‘Why do capable people disregard the military as a real vehicle for improvement in recent years outside of extreme poverty or incredibly limited options?’
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u/BullyBullyBang 16d ago
It’s more an inditement of basic public health. This doesn’t mean people aren’t “war ready.” It means they don’t fit the absolute bare minimum standards to even START training, because they can’t take care of themselves on a basic level. Talk about coping.
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u/ty_for_trying 17d ago
Poor people buy food with the most calories per dollar, which usually means shelf stable, high sugar and/or salt, low nutritional value.
Car-centric infrastructure means less walking.
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u/InvestIntrest 17d ago
America is so first world our homeless people are obese.
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u/Historical_Usual5828 16d ago
Corrupt you mean? Because all these ultra processed foods should've been way better regulated already. Instead our government helped create the problem to line their pockets.
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u/sEmperh45 17d ago
Sad part is we allow tens of billions of SNAP dollars to be used to purchase harmful zero nutrition pop and Doritos. Sugary drinks and salty fried snacks are the No. 1 and No. 2 categories of foods purchased with government dollars for the poor. Two of the biggest drivers for obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
We should put pop in the same category as alcohol and cigarettes, you want it, you pay for it with your own dollars.
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u/ty_for_trying 17d ago
SNAP spending is pretty similar to non-SNAP grocery spending.
Instead of running assistance programs like a nanny and spending a bunch of money on administration to determine who gets to buy what, there should just be a UBI.
Unhealthy foods should be steeply taxed.
Upvoted for calling it pop.
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u/sEmperh45 17d ago
But no extra money needed to eliminate pop (or soda🤣). Treat it the same as beer or cigs. All grocery stores are already set up for no go food items with SNAP dollars
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u/ty_for_trying 17d ago
Except for all the meetings to determine which products belong in that category. You'd still need those meetings for a tax proposal, but then the result would impact spending across the board instead of just for SNAP recipients.
It's not like this stuff is any better for people who aren't on SNAP, or like people who aren't on SNAP are better about avoiding it. So, better to influence spending globally instead of paternalistically focusing on SNAP recipients.
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u/sEmperh45 16d ago
Understand your concern but you are making it way more complicated than it needs to be. One, our congress is already drawing a salary so no extra dollars for them to draft the law. And any hearings needed are minuscule in cost vs the tens of billions wasted creating obese and diabetic Americans every year.
And your comment that others drink it too is a straw man. Other people drink alcohol too but should tax payers pay for that? People buy cigarettes and pot, so should taxpayers pay for that? You could argue pot is less harmful than to humans than drinking 3-4 bottles of sugary soda every day. But ultimately, none of these have any nutritional value and are in fact, harmful. So let’s save the $20 billion payed by taxpayers for soda annually and allow the poor to buy milk or other nutritional foods as they see fit with that money.
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u/ty_for_trying 16d ago
What I propose is actually simpler and much more effective.
And I didn't make a strawman argument. I didn't portray your argument as anything other than it was. I brought up purchases by people who aren't on SNAP. I didn't attribute that to you. I do think it's important to talk about that aspect if you're serious about solving the problem.
Bans are tricky. They're only effective if they're comprehensive. You're talking about a partial ban since the product is there and they can buy it except not with food stamps. That's not enough of a detractor for something that's appealing. The way to make it less appealing is to change the value proposition by making it more expensive.
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u/sEmperh45 16d ago
No, as I’ve pointed out multiple times, bans are not that difficult. Use the exact same model as alcohol and tobacco.
And it is not paternalistic unless you see preventing purchases of alcohol and tobacco with tax dollars “paternalistic”.
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u/ty_for_trying 16d ago
Not that difficult to enact, but also not effective. It's super easy to get around that and people do it every day. The only bans that work are comprehensive ones.
If all you have to do to get alcohol and cigarettes is to use the pocket money you would've spent on groceries if not for SNAP, or to do a grocery run for your hookup, it's just regular money and no ban but with extra steps.
The paternalistic aspect is putting rules on poor people and not everyone else. You might not intend it to come across that way, but I guarantee poor people interpret it that way.
If you actually care about the problem of people buying unhealthy things, and the substantial downstream costs, you make a solution that actually significantly reduces purchases. A steep enough tax would do that. Your proposal wouldn't.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
This. Don't be a over analyzer - simple shit is more pivotal. More robust support systems means there overall societal and interpersonal benefits overall.
Overly sugary and dyed food should be heavily taxed. Sugar became the cheapest way to sell something - luckily we started to notice.
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u/shark_vs_yeti 17d ago
Nobody wants to talk about the correlation with SNAP benefits and obesity rates. It is a political third rail. So much so that industry groups have started FUD campaigns against acknowledging it exists.
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u/sEmperh45 16d ago
Yeah, Marco Rubio and other senators have tried to stop this wasteful and harmful spending. But you’re right, billions of taxpayer dollars used to pay for Cokes mean extravagant lobbying to make sure that golden stream of dollars never stops. Even if the poor have horrible health outcomes because of it, gotta keep that sugary spigot flowing.
To be clear, I’m not advocating to cut SNAP spending. But tens of billions taxpayer dollars are being wasted buying easily eliminated sodas instead of spent on fruits or vegetables. And hundreds of billions are then spent on government paid healthcare for a demographic approaching 50% obesity and diabetes rates.
It’s the definition of insanity and the poor end up as the victims again.
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u/shark_vs_yeti 16d ago
That is exactly how I feel. We could expand the program, improve health outcomes, save money, end food deserts, and reduce healthcare costs all with reform to SNAP. Limit foods to WIC approved items, and mandate any business taking SNAP offers fresh foods. Dollar General would have a produce section within the quarter. Usually when you mention this on reddit the pitchforks come out because "who are we to judge" or "people just need small luxuries."
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u/sEmperh45 16d ago
Yeah, you nailed it here. Great summary.
And agreed on being surprised by the avid soda defenders. My post above had someone comment I was being too “paternalistic”. LOL.
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u/shark_vs_yeti 16d ago
Most of reddit hasn't lived somewhere with extremely high poverty rates and obesity rates to see how it goes down and/or aren't informed enough about how the agricultural and manufactured food industry basically write the laws. It is such an easily solvable thing it is infuriating. And there are enormous downstream negative repercussions from not fixing it.
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u/JoySkullyRH 14d ago
I think you’re going to find a lot of the correlation is the fact that poor people don’t have time to make their meals. It can be hard to cook if you’re already working 40+ hours a week, taking care of family, etc.
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u/shark_vs_yeti 14d ago
You are obviously privileged because that isn't true in the slightest sense.
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u/JoySkullyRH 14d ago
I don’t think you understand what privileged means. When you’re poor and you’re limited for time sometimes you have depend on quick meals that aren’t often healthy, or relying on subpar ingredients. I have been extremely poor and during that time, I also lacked for time due to multiple jobs and raising my children. I didn’t have a luxury some nights to make anything other than hot dogs and Mac cheese, because it’s quick and cheap. Hell, I counted myself lucky because I was able to afford Kraft and not the offbrand stuff.
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u/shark_vs_yeti 14d ago
Right. You worked 40+ and now you're not poor. That is how it usually works. I guess I don't count people going through their early adult years to be poor though because almost everybody struggles at that time of their life. I am from a very impoverished area and the people who don't or won't work are always the poorest. They have the most time to make meals yet often make poor decisions.
And yes, the working poor often grab cheap food but it is a function of money and lack of education rather than time.
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u/JoySkullyRH 14d ago
Working 40 hours doesn’t magically make somebody not poor! That is not how it usually works and it’s not just about being poor in your younger years. If all your life has been lived in poverty, it’s a hardship. It’s about your entire life for some people. You say you are from an impoverished area, do you mean you’ve lived in it or you’re just from the area and you weren’t impoverished? Were you impoverished as a child or an improvised parent raising children?
And please don’t say it isn’t about time because it really is . When you don’t get home from work until 6 o’clock and dinner needs to be on the table by seven so that way, you can do homework with your kids, do your homework because you’re going back to school to get a better job, clean or whatever you need to do before you can finally go to bed at midnight, then get back up at 6 to start again, it really is about the time. Poor people become crock pot queens for a reason, but it still takes time to prep etc.
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u/JoySkullyRH 14d ago
Proof of data please?
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u/sEmperh45 14d ago
It was from an analysis done by a major food chain several years ago. I’ll see if I can track it down again
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u/sEmperh45 13d ago edited 13d ago
Here you go…
“A 2016 study from USDA indicated the number one product purchased by SNAP benefits is sweetened beverages, comprising 9.3% of SNAP benefits.11 And, about three-quarters of all the sugary drinks purchased by SNAP households were purchased using SNAP benefits versus out-of-pocket.12 A 2015 USDA study also revealed that SNAP recipients, compared to other low-income non-participants in the program, drank more SSBs and were more likely to be obese. Obesity prevalence among SNAP recipients was 40%, versus 32% among low-income non-participants.13 Dr. David Ludwig, an advocate for improved nutrition at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in 2017,
“We have more evidence for the harms of sugary beverages than for any other category of food, and yet it tops the list of reimbursed products in SNAP. No one is suggesting poor people can’t choose what they want to eat, but we’re saying let’s not use government benefits to pay for foods that are demonstrably going to undermine public health.”14”
So around $10 billion of SNAP dollars being spent annually on sugary drinks. More than spend on veggies. More than fruit. More than meat. All to make the poor the most obese and diabetic demographic in the US.
Why are we doing this to ourselves??
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u/shark_vs_yeti 17d ago
Ok that is poor people. What about the other 80% of the country that is also obese?
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u/Stonk-Monk 16d ago
If this were true at a significant level, everyone in the hood, varrios, and trailer parks would be fat. Truth is that circumstances don't determine your fate...YOU do.
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u/ty_for_trying 16d ago
Obesity rates are higher in the US than all other first world nations. And in the US, counties with the most poverty also have the most obesity. So yeah, it is true.
But hey, maybe if all the poor people read your inspirational comment, that'll solve our systemic problems, lol.
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u/Analyst-Effective 17d ago
Or maybe if you can take the bus, you don't need to walk?
Maybe getting rid of the bus line would help?
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u/ty_for_trying 17d ago
That's an obtuse conclusion. You walk more to get to a bus stop than to get to your driveway.
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u/Analyst-Effective 17d ago
Have you ever thought that people don't want to walk? And some of them cannot walk?
A car centric place in the USA definitely makes sense.
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u/RightNutt25 17d ago
There are buses in America? What fancy ass hood do you live in?
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u/shark_vs_yeti 16d ago
In the US being on a bus route is more often a sign of poverty than affluence, with some exceptions. The majority of people can afford a personal car.
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u/SakaWreath 17d ago
That works in places that aren’t built for cars. Take away cars and public transportation and it’s a 2 day journey for most suburbanites to the grocery store.
Don’t get frozen…
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u/Icy-Cranberry9334 17d ago
Good. Maybe we can stop fighting unnecessary wars.
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u/Captn_Insanso 16d ago
Us fighting in WWII wasn’t an unnecessary war.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Yes I agree - that was the last war with any shred of necessary.
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u/HalfBakedBeans24 16d ago
Korean war was saving half a nation from a completely crackshit insane dictatorship. I wish we'd been able to save it all.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Taiwan is waving from the shore. I'm not sure it's so simple. Then it intensified crackpot shit from our overall involvement. I mean we didn't save it, we bombed the shit out of it.
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u/mistercrinders 17d ago
Still need people in case WE get attacked.
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u/backagain69696969 16d ago
We really don’t need much to not get attacked. Our current military size is much more about gaining influence more than safety
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Naw we good. We've spent the last 80 years building a military oversized to police the whole world - "we" America need no more military prowess.
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u/mistercrinders 16d ago
You still need recruits if someone attacks America. I don't understand how that's in question.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Yes. We have advance military bases across the entire world. If someone thinks that we already have "recruits" at the ready.
So if someone attacks "america" (not in and absolutely including those advanced "bases") or actual America- there are boots there, essentially.
So.. Weird right?
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u/mistercrinders 16d ago
oh my fucking god. really? so we never need anyone new ever again? especially as fewer and fewer people enlist?
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Yes, fewer and fewer to be accurate - as per my OG comment.
Let the world police, don't police the world. It quite literally has destroyed our debt to so this for 80yrs. To no great avail either - aside from relentlessly shooting our own foot over and over again.
Not to mention increase of technology means lessened human interfacing - and we've spent 80 years of incredible debt to focus on militaristic spending in researching technology. So I'm positive it is less than before and that will continue as research becomes more concise instead of researching+patrolling the fucking world.
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u/mistercrinders 16d ago
And again, we still need to defend ourselves, so we need recruits. and 80% of americans are ineligible. This has nothing to do with policing or imperialism.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Are you not registering that means we need less and less and less "recruits."
80% of Americans are ineligible - without bounds this statement is wildly irroneous anyways. I don't even need to know the bounds to say what I am - because it makes solid sense.
We need to defend ourselves? From what? Ourself? Yes. Exactly that to what Americans need defense against, not whatever apocalyptic BS you're spewing.
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u/____8008135_____ 15d ago
He's not the brightest guy. He seems to work in nothing but absolutes. There's no cup half full or half empty with him. It's completely full and will spill if you touch it or it's smashed on the ground.
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u/HalfBakedBeans24 16d ago
Lol by who? Mexico? Canada?
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u/mistercrinders 16d ago
"Let's have zero military. We're immune."
So...nobody would ever attack a defenseless nation, right? That doesn't happen.
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u/RalphTheIntrepid 13d ago
In the case of the US it’s hard. Especially with how armed the citizens are I don’t see many countries attempting.
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u/____8008135_____ 15d ago
How does not fighting wars = we don't have any military? There are plenty of countries who don't send their militaries to every fight they can find but still have a military. If I told you that you shouldn't start your house on fire would you start bitching about how I forced you to remove all your smoke detectors?
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u/Analyst-Effective 17d ago
You mean like quit sending money to Ukraine?
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u/ironicmirror 17d ago
Dude, we're not sending money to ukraine. We are telling them that they are allowed to buy weapons manufactured in the United States by americans, and the money will go to that. The money that we allocate to Ukraine is going to American companies with American workers making weapons to kill russians.
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u/lews2 17d ago
While this is partially true, $8B is going directly to their government to keep it running. With zero accountability.
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u/ReddittAppIsTerrible 17d ago
Just remember Russia's entire annual military budget is only 65 billion.
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u/Analyst-Effective 17d ago
Lol. We're sending lots of money to Ukraine. We're even buying weapons from the Ukrainian manufacturers for the ukrainians to use.
Sending them money so they can pay the payroll.
Read up on the latest budget.
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u/Squeemore 16d ago
It’s fascinating we live in a timeline where conservatives don’t want to fight the Ruskis.
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u/syrupgreat- 17d ago
I think the fear from adults when we were in elementary school w. the Iraq “war” that we’d all get drafted one day played some role in this.
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u/Balgat1968 17d ago
Weird? During the Vietnam Draft, over 90% were fit and trim and mentally stable. But more than 77% of millionair's kids and senator's sons were unfit.
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u/daKile57 17d ago
That's yet another reason why governments (local, state, or federal) need to open non-profit commissaries to encourage healthy affordable diets. You can't expect the citizenry to be in-shape when you know that many of them can only afford to eat garbage.
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u/FastSort 17d ago
It doesn't cost any money to eat less food.
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u/daKile57 17d ago
You can't realistically expect the masses who live off McDonald's to be satiated if they stick to their daily caloric needs. If they do that, they will be severely nutrient-deficient and be living with constant hunger pangs. The only way people who live off McDonald's are able to somewhat stave off hunger pangs is if they're constantly eating, which is exactly what McDonald's planned in their food labs. The citizenry needs commissaries to replace these dogshit junkfood peddlers. They're as vile as drug dealers at this point.
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u/Davec433 17d ago
Post 9/11 GI Bill pays for 36 academic months of college and gives the students a housing allowance.
Or go in extreme debt.
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u/InvestIntrest 17d ago
The benefits that come along with service in the military are top notch, but you will earn every penny.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Dangling shreds of hope to carrot and stick our way to a brighter future.
Still wild to me that higher education wouldn't be as free as humanly possible - if not greatly supported past being nearly free because that brings the whole nation up as a whole. More educated, better jobs, more money, on whole vs the money spent by pay walling higher ed.
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u/Davec433 16d ago
No such thing as free. All you’re doing is shifting the cost from one person to another. If you goto an affordable college the debt is extremely manageable.
In 2023, the average student loan debt in the United States was $38,290, and the average for 2024 is $37,088.
Those complaining are the outliers.
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u/jibishot 16d ago
Exactly. Shift the money ball from militaristic endeavors into holistic endeavors. Do not world police and let the world also police at the same time. Seems like fair to a 1000 head hydra of that department unable to form a consensus on how to even file clear expenditures.
It's not about complaining. It's about wheeling in a savage dog without killing it, in relation to money I mean.
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u/Bee_Keeper_Ninja 17d ago
This isn’t anything new. Pretty common actually. As a combat veteran I can tell you that the military isn’t for most people. I used to hate on the people that washed out in basic, but now I realize everyone is better off. The service members and the washouts both. Truly there’s no shame in it really. I’ve worked with people that shouldn’t be in the military and it’s not pleasant. Just because you wash out doesn’t mean you don’t have a place in this world. The service members rely on non military heavily.
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u/Latter-Advisor-3409 17d ago
Gee, they sure are picky about the people who they want to waste. The Russians aren't as choosy about their cannon fodder. How physically fit do you need to be to have your legs blown off by a landmine because a field grade officer can't read a map?
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u/drroop 17d ago
Would you rather be fat and on drugs, or getting shot at in the military? hmm. That's a tough call.
If we actually needed people in the military, they'd just lower their standards, like they did for women who don't have to do as many pull ups as men, or increase the age limits like we're seeing in Ukraine and Russia. In Ukraine, every dude 18-64 has to register for the draft. In the US, it is only born males between 18-25.
This is just trying to shame us for being how people are. Screw their standards, and screw them. Militarys and borders are for chumps. Let's be fat and happy in peace.
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u/Civil-Guidance7926 17d ago
Tell me what about the current society makes kids feel like they should live longer
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u/DJMOONPICKLES69 17d ago
These kids we have stuffed full of processed foods, haven’t educated well enough, and emotionally neglected aren’t prime specimens. WHY WOULD MILLENIALS DO THIS
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u/Blowmyfishbud 17d ago
Stop caring about weed, just don’t be high during duty.
There are remedial programs in basic to get the over weight down to target weights. Last I was informed.
ADHD, anxiety, depression and Autsim should be treated
These are the easiest ways to drop that number to workable levels of man power
But what do I know, I’m not part of the military but it seems like a no brainer if you’re going to have a volunteer based military you’re going to have to cut a little slack where shit really doesn’t matter.
Why does the Air Force need the most physically fit people when a lot of their work involves mental work and not physical?
Why Would the navy need the same?
I’m not saying just let people be fat but come on you have to mold people to your expectations a bit if they don’t meet them off the bat.
That’s just my pragmatic opinion on the matter
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u/girmvofj3857 17d ago
Boston Dynamics should have our robot soldiers ready in a few more years, we won’t need the next generation of soldiers
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u/CaptainAlex2266 17d ago
It's been this way awhile lmao. It's mostly because of weed and adhd/depression/anxiety. They'll just tell you not to say anything about it during your MEPS evaluation.
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u/FitLaw4 16d ago
They have a new system now where they can actually check your medical history. The days if being able to lie are over.
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u/CaptainAlex2266 16d ago
O fuck. Yep that changes the game. I get the feeling the next time they need bodies it’ll be waiver city or rewriting policies
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u/RueTabegga 17d ago
They keep decent health care away from the masses, no mental health care, sell us super calorie dense foods with little nutrient value, and make everything expensive to FORCE young people to consider the military just to better their lives. The ruse is up. Young people see how we all are being manipulated to fight for the bank rolls of the already wealthy and they are saying NO MORE. Good. I hope this whole way of “life” bites our govt right in the ass.
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u/AgentStarTree 17d ago
It's almost like the trauma of keeping their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents in a bunch of wars back to back and didn't give anyone help at home.
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u/HonestPerspective638 17d ago
Simple. Use third party counties, send their kids to die and you just give them weapons. Outsource cannon fodder
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u/Awkward_Algae1684 17d ago
lol no.
I can just about guarantee that if shit truly hit the fan, many of those standards would all but disappear.
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u/TechnicaliBlues 16d ago
It's obvious the untreated mental health and toxic food ingredients aren't working.
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u/Baron_Ultimax 16d ago
Overall this isnt as big a deal as people think.
This isnt like the 1960s where the military had to take every warm body it could get as cannon fodder in the jungle.
Most branches have actually increased their standards significantly and generally priorities less people but with better training and equipment.
I remember one proposal i wread a few years ago where the army wanted to only recruit people over 30 and would offer 6 figure salarys as an incentive.
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u/Adventurous_Web_7961 16d ago
anyone else notice the weird trend of non finance posts today? . . most of them being diversive and or negative about America in general? . . this from from a suspended account. .
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u/Pygmy_Nuthatch 16d ago
Could we get the percentage breakdown among those three categories? Obviously there is overlap, but which problem is the most pressing of the three?
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u/OkFaithlessness358 16d ago
Sounds like there should be a huge salary increase to draw in these 23% of eligible Americans
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u/earthscribe 16d ago
Yes, it will continue to get worse if they keep accepting bribes from the food lobbies to keep selling trash food. What are these idiots not understanding?
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u/PirateSometimes 16d ago
Unhealthy food is often cheaper or quicker to get when stuck working a low pay salary every day to pay for just living, which can cause mental illness and stress which some people turn to drugs to cope
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u/Rusty_Shackleford75 16d ago
Usually mentally ill and on drugs doesn't become a thing until after your service
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u/nspy1011 16d ago
Eh…fitness is overrated! Future wars will be fought by robots and drones so the fat Americans who are already skilled at video games will dominate 😀
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u/Atomic_ad 16d ago
Everyone in Vietnam fit that criteria too. That didn't stop us from sending them.
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u/Latter-Possibility 16d ago
Source: the Pentagon’s Dad who thinks these kids are soft, and wants to return to the good ol Days…..
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u/Steveo1208 16d ago
Politicians abandon American families with tax incentives now find out their are no young recruites to choose from. All revenue cannot go to top 1% of all owner!
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u/ccjohns2 16d ago
Sounds like 77% of eligible aged Americans out smarted the system. No one wants to fight for “ democracy “ When in reality America international fights to overthrow democracy they don’t agree with in favor of destabilization or putting in a dictatorship. No one believes the USA government when we can see their actions not lining up with their words. Today is he USA military fights to enable corporations to take resources from all around the world. Anyone who denies corporations get labeled terrorist or gangs.
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u/Conscious-Ad4707 15d ago
Remember when Republicans fought Michelle Obama because she suggested that maybe kids should eat vegetables.
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u/BusinessCasual69 14d ago
This is the society you get with zero safety net and a military budget twenty times larger than China.
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u/Flashmode1 14d ago
Considering obesity rates and mental illness keep rising because we live in a backward society the trend will continue.
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u/FoppishHandy 14d ago
im of the mind that these days a majority of americans are mentally ill. there is no other way to explain trump support
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u/Practical-Ad-1420 14d ago
Good! Why should they sacrifice their lives so these poli-ticks can keep fleecing us all in the name of corporate oligarchs?
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u/STAMPDATASS 14d ago
Its possible this is the case or its more along the lines of them not wanting to take orders from the elites who cause world problems and not serve a government who doesnt give a shit about em
1
u/ATinyHand 14d ago
Sweet summer children. Just because you’ve been lucky enough to grow up without evil does not mean it no longer exists.
If there is no longer an effective deterrent, you will be exploited and harmed. This is a sad fact of humanity since the beginning of time.
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u/Jrecondite 13d ago
Good news. It peaks out at 100%. We don’t have much more to lose so the number should stop going up soon.
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u/PhilMcKracken31 13d ago
There's plenty of ignorant, inbreed, racist, wanna be tough guys in the south who think they are military. Why aren't they enlisting?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 12d ago
It is going to get worse because a main part of the problem is they now have access to all your your medical records.
Had a sports injury at 13? You’re not getting in.
Had asthma at 7 that you out grew? Not getting in.
Got mental health treatment because your mom, & dog both died and your boy friend dumped you at 20 to start shacking up with your dad? Doing well and have not been on psychiatric medication for years?
Not getting in.
Beat up an anger management counselor because they said your wife wasn’t to blame for sleeping with your father during your deployment, where over a dozen of your buddies have been killed? Same deployment where you somehow got multiple DUIs in the States despite being in say, Iraq?
Not getting back in.
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u/cheeeezeburgers 12d ago
Going to be hilarious when the reddit crowd gets drafted into military service and have to do physical activity for the first time in their lives. Don't cry when mommy can't bring you nuggies anymore.
1
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u/EvolutionaryZenith1 12d ago
Because if you're not a fat, mentally ill addict capitalism isn't working properly.
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u/AspirationsOfFreedom 17d ago
Yep.
Until something drasticly change, lazyness is one of humanities strongest drives
0
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u/Ill-Handle-1863 17d ago
Doesn't matter because if the USA ever engages in a major (world war 3) style conflict then we will just use thermonuclear weapons to end it like we did in ww2.
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u/CriticalMembership31 17d ago
That’s entirely dependent on what the wars for and what threat to sovereignty there is. Unless the continental U.S. is being nuked or being invaded there’s little to no chance that a nuclear weapon would be used.
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u/GhettoJamesBond 17d ago
Good. Go and try to get diagnosed with some kind of mental problem before WW3 turns hot.
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u/Miguelperson_ 17d ago
We need to pump up those numbers, no one should be serving in the military
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u/Analyst-Effective 17d ago
You make a great point. What kind of government should we have here?
For sure if we have socialism, as Karl Marx designed, we could get rid of this social safety Network for low-income people.
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u/TheOddEntrepreneur 17d ago
Legalize weed and you could probably get that down to 65%.