Serial Killer Exposed: Corn

Serial Killer Exposed: Corn

Over 99 billion hamburgers made your own way got Americans screaming "I'm lovin' it." Fast food companies serve meals within minutes to millions of people a day, at a more than fair price. However, after constant binge eating at these places people start to blame their weight or diabetes on these very same companies even though they opted to get the food. If questioned on why these very same people got the fast food to begin with, "fast, affordable and easy" is the common answer. However, is the fast food companies to blame? Is the consumer to blame? The answer is, not at all. The government is actually to blame for one simple reason, corn subsidies.

Corn along with the government money funding the growth of corn is making the unhealthy choice the only choice. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a sugar found in corn that is the equivalent of regular sugar. It is put in most foods such as ketchup, crackers, soda etc. It is cheaper to obtain HFCS then regular sugar because of the mass quantities of corn being grown in the "corn belt" states like Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. These states alone produce more corn then the rest of the world combined. Companies have caught on to this, and put this sweetener in most of their foods, making a possibly good thing an overused bad one.

A common question asked is "Why does the government subsidize corn so much?" The answer has numerous parts. First, it is because of ethanol. Ethanol is commonly seen when you are at the gas station pumping gas. Gas for a car commonly contains around 10% ethanol content which serves as a kind of substitute for regular gasoline. Oil companies caught on to this and decided they would save money and gasoline by adding the ethanol, thus began lobbyist pressure from the oil industry. Second, corporations and large companies bought a lot of the farm land and tried to form monopolies in the late 70's early 80's within the corn industry. Due to new US laws implemented shortly after, they were stuck on this land with over produced corn which leads to them pressuring the government for tax breaks and more subsidies. A third reason, and lucky for the corporations owning the corn, is that it can be used for a lot of things like ethanol, HFCS and the fact that it can be used to feed people easily in the USA as well as other high populated countries.

American tax money use doesn't stop their either. Tobacco has a bigger space in the government's wallet then most other vegetables and fruits combined. In fact, The United States government gives about 20 billion dollars a year to farmers in direct subsidies to grow certain types of crops. The top crop that the government currently funds is Corn with a 7.3 billion dollar money pool. This makes oil companies and fast food companies benefit tremendously. Due to tremendously high amounts of high-fructose corn syrup being produced, it is cheaper to buy a Big Mac and a coke from McDonalds then it is to buy a head of lettuce or even a bottle of water. I decided to write about this topic because it can directly relate to the reason why America has been in obese mode and why illegal immigration is on the rise.

Large lower or middle class families rely on cheap, filling foods to get through the day with full bellies and no hunger pains. Not to mention fast, because who wants to slave over a stove after a long day's work? In this situation in America, the average family would take a trip to your average fast food restaurant. Let's say, McDonalds. In a family of four, you could buy four hamburgers, four French fry selections, and four sodas for fewer than ten dollars. Not bad right? Let's take the same situation but change the menu items. Four salads, four water bottles, and four apple slices. A salad with chicken by itself is a little more than five dollars, bottled water is around two dollars, and pack of sliced apples (4 slices per pack) is a dollar a pop. Put it all together and you're looking at around $32. Obviously the hamburger and soda combo is the better deal. It also happens to be the deal that put pounds on one's gut, clogs heart arteries and increases the number of people diagnosed with diabetes per year. All this is thanks to how cheap corn is grown and in return how cheap corn products are to make and sell. Making things like large sodas more affordable then bottled tap water because of the high fructose corn syrup. ScientificAmerican.com stated how "Between 1985 and 2010 the price of beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup dropped 24 percent....Over the same period the price of fresh fruits and vegetables rose 39 percent. For families on a budget, the price difference can be decisive in their food choices."

These same farm subsidies also cause an increase