I'll Let You Call it "Thinking Outside the Box" if You Let Me Call it "Weird"

As a disclaimer, I don't like Newt Gingrich.  Never had.  And probably never will.  Notwithstanding my ideological differences with him, he strikes me as a pompous, hypocritical ass.

That said, I still have some problems with these ideas on "health care:"

The first step in lowering health care costs and insuring all Americans is getting people to change their behavior, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich told state lawmakers Wednesday.

The Republican endorsed the carrot over the stick, saying he would pay pregnant teens to take prenatal vitamins and go to the doctor regularly so the government avoids astronomical bills when babies end up in neonatal intensive care units.

I really don't disagree with this.  How will this fit in the anti-abortion, anti-sex-ed Republican philosophy, I have no idea.

His other ideas include paying teens who don't get pregnant and stay in school;

First, this is really sexist.  Teenage girls don't get pregnant by themselves.  Hey, even with Mary the "hand of God" had to get involved there.  You can't prevent pregnancies by focusing solely on the females, not to mention that it places a burden and a responsibility on them that does not belong just to teenage girls.

Second, we're going to start paying kids to do what they're supposed to be doing in the first place?

Third, are we looking to reward the girls who have sex but don't get pregnant too?

requiring exercise for school children;

I know it's been a while since I was in school, but, when did this stop being mandatory?

giving tax breaks to grocery stores that open in the inner city;

They don't need tax breaks as much as they need security.

giving bonuses to food stamp recipients who buy fruits and vegetables;

Hmm.  I wonder if Newt has tried to feed a family fruits and vegetables on the amount of money they get on food stamps.  Nah.  I don't think he's even tried.  He's too fat.

and making students walk to school if they live close enough.

Uphill, both ways, in winter, during a snow storm too?  And what's his idea of "close enough"?  A block?  A mile?

Sure, the devil's in the details.  But you can't start out with something so obviously inadequate.

Comments

[HispanicPundit]

Hmm. I wonder if Newt has tried to feed a family fruits and vegetables on the amount of money they get on food stamps. Nah. I don't think he's even tried. He's too fat.

This comment makes me wonder how much experience you´ve had with the poor. The poor are certainly not skinny, in fact, our obesity epidemic is overly concentrated in poor areas.

But with that out of the way, I agree with you. His solutions are far too government micromanaging for my taste. And I say this as someone who likes Newt.

[La Ventanita]

Loco, I've heard some schools due to budget cuts have actually cut physical education. The NFL had a commercial on this during Super Bowl week.

I usally agree with Newt, but on this one he's beyond being out of the box.

[El Loco]

Hey HP, haven't heard from you in a while. Happy New Year!

The poor are certainly not skinny, in fact, our obesity epidemic is overly concentrated in poor areas.

As a former member of the poor, part of the reason poor people are overweight is because they don't have the money to afford a "balanced diet." I would be nice to afford a tossed salad every night, but for the price of one tossed salad you can probably get enough mac-and-cheese blue boxes to last you a week. And it would be good to have a fresh fruit salad now and then, but the cost of one of those salads is usually more than what it costs to buy a box of just-add-water cake mix that could last you a couple of days.

A lot of people take for granted stuff like "fruits and vegetables" but if you go out to your grocery store and you add up what it would cost to "eat well" and you compare that to the amount of money poor people have - either people on welfare or working poor, take your pick - you'll realize it's nearly impossible. Unless you can go without things like gasoline, or heat, or clothes.

[Olivia]

It sounds like Newt is out of his element here- that is, accurately addressing social issues. For a couple of Newt's proposals you mention here, education- the great equalizer in this country- seems the obvious answer. People with a college education, having more resources at their disposal like better pay and information, can afford healthier food and time to exercise- in a gym even.

Newt should be addressing the root issues surrounding disproportionately high high school drop-out rates in economically-challenged neighborhoods. If you can turn that around, then as more people attain higher education, they're better equipped to fix their own problems.

[HispanicPundit]

Thanks! Happy New Years to you too. I actually tried commenting on here a while back, I cant remember what post, but I had comment problems. It wouldn't let me sign in and in the end I just gave up. Hopefully that is all fixed.

You write, "As a former member of the poor, part of the reason poor people are overweight is because they don't have the money to afford a "balanced diet."

I still disagree. Even eating at McDonalds, done right, is considered healthy fast food. See here. This further reinforces my skepticism that you have seen anything like real US poverty. I don't mean this as a jab, I am being serious. I grew up in Compton, Ca, in the valleys of South Texas (Edinburg area), and have lived on welfare and what you write here seems so far removed from my experience that I wonder what kind of poverty you lived under.

I know people who have a minimum wage job living in the ghetto, immigrants who don't even speak English, who all find it easy to eat healthy if they choose to. Granted, its easier the more money you have, but its not all that difficult if you are poor. Most people I knew who ate unhealthy, did so knowing the dangers and trade offs involved and it represented a general care-free lifestyle in all aspects of their life, and one can say that is precisely why they are poor (its similar to the mentality that would rather spend alot of money on expensive shoes, than an education).

The only examples I can think of where trying to eat healthy was truly difficult was with single parents with more than one child...but once you go that route, then what Gingrich is complaining about makes sense.

In short, though I disagree with Gingrich, his representation of the poor matches reality far better than your, I would argue idealized, version of the poor - atleast the poor in the United States.

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