Oddbean new post about | logout
 Idk man. Yeah I’ve listened to your podcast. I feel like you should have a pretty concise explanation for how state intervention leads to seed oils and nutrient deficient food. Something like A leads to B leads to C. And you still didn’t answer the other question I asked which is, “How would the free market prevent this from happening?” 

Conversely, I can create a very simple explanation for how this is caused by the free market*. Corporations want to minimize costs and maximize profits. How do they cut costs? Use cheap to manufacture chemicals in place of real food. How do they maximize profit? Make their food highly addictive. 

If you think this explanation is wrong, you should be able to clearly tell me why it’s wrong and why it actually comes about due to some government intervention.

*I grant you that we don’t live in a totally free market, but rather there are aspects of freeness in the market, and my point still stands regardless.