Waltzing with Bears

Finances

I spent 2 hours today trying to put in order my finances and past taxes (some of which I never recieved my refunds for)—various calls to HR Block, my state Tax and Revenue Office and the IRS rewarded me with the knowledge that I actually owe a balance of $157 in taxes.

Probably not the best use of my time. I won’t be looking at that again considering that my economic stimulus check went to help me pay off a traffic ticket in Virginia.

Nutrition and the Free Market

Today I am wondering about the ability of the free market to regulate our nutrition as individuals. Currently, farm subsidies support the growing of corn and related to this, we have a large amount of corn-derived foods in our diets. While corn is notable for it’s ease of being grown, it also goes to note, that it may be the cheapest food to produce. As a food, it is target of the most concern in the form of high fructose corn syrup—the main ingredient in soda.

In a recipe that I use to make a french toast with a caramel topping, the original recipe called for a corn syrup to help the butter and brown sugar get the right consistency. I found, that I can easily substitute the corn syrup (highly processed) for Grade B Maple Syrup (boiled tree sap). Both are sweet and I might say that the version using the Maple Syrup does have a little bit of a better taste to it. While I don’t have the nutrition background to argue that one of these sticky substances is better for you than the other, as they both contain an incredible amount of sugar, one thing that stands out is their difference in price.

For our purposes here, let’s assume that both syrups have the same sweetness and behave the same when used in cooking. The cost of producing the corn syrup is cheap due to the cheap and high supply of corn along with various processing techniques.

On the other hand, maple syrup is expensive and is harder to come by. Sap is taken from trees during the fall and many gallons of sap is boiled down to just a small batch of syrup.

Simply stated, I’d hypthosize that the cost of acquiring the maple syrup is more in tune with it’s nutritional content than high fructose corn syrup. With costs staying low, it allows people to cheaply acquire a sweetness that should be more expensive and therefore appreciated more. The demand for both is high, but it’s too cheap to purchase high fructose corn syrup.

I guess I need some help here from either an economist or a nutritionist to move this argument any further.

What is Waltzing with Bears?

Our Uncle Walter's not right in the head
He's been that way all his life, my mother said
Its not that he's violent or falls down the stairs
Its just he goes waltzing, waltzing with bears

He goes wa-wa-wa-waltzing, waltzing with bears
Raggy bears, shaggy bears, baggy bears too
There’s nothing on earth Uncle Walter won’t do
So he can go waltzing, wa wa wa waltzing
He can go waltzing, waltzing with bears

I went to his room in the middle of the night
I tiptoed in and I turned on the light
But to my surprise, he was nowhere in sight
For my Uncle Walter goes waltzing at night

We gave Uncle Walter a new coat to wear
When he came home it was covered with hair
Lately I've noticed several new tears
I think Uncle Walter's been waltzing with bears

We told Uncle Walter that he should be good
Do all the things that we think he should
But I know that he'd rather be out in the wood
I'm afraid we might lose Uncle Walter for good

Well we begged and we pleaded, "Oh please won't you stay"
Managed to keep him at home for a day
But the bears all barged in and they took him away
Now he's dancing with pandas,
And he can't understand us
And the bears all demand at least one waltz a day