The mind illness that blinds us to everything but dollars and ...

The mind illness that blinds us to everything but dollars and ... ACCESS ECONOMICS believes obesity is costing the economy $21 billion a year - "double the cost of Medicare", as the Herald put it this week. Fair enough, but how are these things worked out? Is it the extra cost of trouser fabric, necessary to cover the nation's ever larger backside? Is it the additional leather required to fashion all those size 46 belts? Or just the extra fuel Qantas needs for its take-offs? Every week someone comes up with one of these calculations. Urban air pollution, we are told, costs Australia $7 billion a year, tobacco abuse costs "a staggering $21 billion" and a lack of live-in fathers "nearly $13 billion". Dust-related asthma costs Australia $50 million a year, a lack of English $4.8 billion, and hearing loss is costing $12 billion.