Money, Politics and Health Care: A Disease-Creation Economy

From Dr. Mark Hyman

Money in politics is making our nation sicker, threatening our national security, and ultimately destroying the very economic prosperity the "money in politics" seeks to achieve. It is undermining our capacity to care for our citizens and threatening our global economic competitiveness in invisible, insidious ways. The links, connections and patterns that promote obesity and chronic disease are clear, though. The economic and social impacts are evident. As health care consumes an increasingly large percentage of our federal budget, the negative impacts of money in politics have become too alarming too ignore, and never more obvious than in this election cycle of 2012.

It may seem odd to suggest that lobbying, and in particular Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that personifies corporations and allows unlimited corporate campaign contributions through political action committees, threatens our nation's health. But it does.

If money rules politics, then our nation is not protected from disease-causing Frankenfoods including soda and processed foods, or from unrestricted marketing of the lowest-quality, sugar-laden foods to our children. When money rules politics, our agricultural lands, soils and aquifers are depleted through oil-dependent industrial farming supported by billions in federal subsidies.

Full article here.

Eddie