You ARE now the President of the United States. It’s 2024. It is your first term of office. You were elected with 310 electoral votes and won with 20 million votes over your opponent. Your political party controls both Congress and the Senate with a large majority of votes. Plus, you enjoy wide support from the public.
Your campaign slogan was: “Good Food, Safe & Affordable” because of your deep concerns about the health of all Americans.
Now it’s time to deliver on your campaign promises. Your focus will be on low-income communities because success in these communities will bubble up and improve conditions for the rest of America.
You are shocked and amazed by the current US Obesity Crisis. In 2020, 42% of adults were obese. It is projected that by 2030 half (50%) of adults will be obese whereas 1 in 4 adults will be severely obese. Childhood obesity has become a serious concern.
The goal: A healthy America where its citizens have easy access to good food that is safe and affordable.
You will need to understand WHY the current food and health situations exist before developing policies to achieve your goal. Here are some of the topics to investigate:
• If there is only one human species, why do health disparities exist in (socially categorized) racial groups? What is the origin of the health disparities observed in (socially categorized) racial groups?
• Are health disparities confined to (socially categorized) racial groups? Are there other communities similarly affected?
• Life expectancy of Americans is declining.
• Expensive to treat (yet avoidable) chronic diseases are increasing.
• Composition of the US food supply is shaped by USDA polices and farming subsidies.
• In the US of every dollar spent by consumers on food, only 15 cents go to farmers.
• 10 global food companies dominated the food products found in US grocery stores. Most foods are ultra-processed food products.
• Diets filled with ultra-processed foods are suspected of driving the obesity epidemic.
• 30% of the US food supply is wasted annually. The rotting food contributes to global warming.
• Yet many families in the US are food insecure.
There are other challenges facing America today that have adversely impacted the US food supply. Due to Ukrainian-Russian War food and transportation costs have skyrocketed over 12% since January 2022.
What are the policies and projects, if implemented, that could result in a US food supply that REALISTICALLY provides nutritious, safe, abundant, and affordable food for ALL Americans?
Answer the following items SEPARATELY
(1) What are the 3 to 4 areas that are so important to your success that they must be tackled first? Explain why each area is critical to the overall success of achieving your “Good Food, Safe & Affordable” goal. 1-page will be needed to:
(a) fully describe each individual area and
(b) explain why each is so important to achieving the goal of “Good Food, Safe, and Affordable.”. Provide citations for Item #1.
(2) What can be done REALISTICALLY through local, regional, national policy changes and/or incentives to achieve success in item #1? The food industry may resist changes that appear to adversely impact future profits. Currently ultra-processed foods are highly profitable. Can ultra-processed foods be manufactured that are truly nutritious? [Consider the packaged meals created for the military and astronauts.] 2 pages will be needed to:
(a) fully describe each proposed change,
(b) explain why this change is needed, and (c) describe the expected improvement the change would generate when implemented. Consider why each proposed change will be so important to your success. Provide citations for Item #2.
(3) Briefly summarize your proposed action plan along with the expected outcomes/improvements. 1 page will be needed.
(4) Create a realistic plan to encourage and activate political support for your plan (in Item #3) from the general public (locally, regionally, and nationally)? 2 pages will be needed.
