Economist says fat Americans contributing to gas crisis
June 9th, 2008 @ 7:06am
by Colton Shone/KTAR

Overweight Americans can take some of the blame for the high demand for gasoline, according to University of San Diego economist Richard McKenzie.

He says Americans are, on average, 24 pounds heavier than they were in the 1960s.

``Those extra pounds are the equivalent of 42 million additional Americans that are not officially counted," McKenzie says.

``And we're having to haul those Americans around in automobiles and take them along on jet planes. We are today consuming about a billion of gallons more than we would have to use if Americans today weighed exactly what they did in 1960."

Besides travel, McKenzie says fat Americans are driving up the price of food.

``There are all kinds of billions of gallons of gasoline being used to produce the food that's ultimately packed onto people's backsides and billions of gallons needed just for people to be able to consume calories to carry around excess weight," McKenzie says.





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