The Rule

In an article recently published by The Lancet, fat people are causing global warming.

… two scientists write that obese people are disproportionately responsible for high food prices and greenhouse gas emissions because they consume 18% more food energy due to their greater body mass — and require increased quantities of fuel to transport themselves and the food they eat. “Promotion of a normal distribution of BMI would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food,” write the authors, Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the evocatively named London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

First, then environmentalists will come for the obese. What next? The bald — their shiny heads reflect UV rays back into the atmosphere and contribute to the deterioration of the ozone layer.

All of our crises are always the fault of someone else. We are never culpable for the situations in which we find ourselves.

Just a couple of quick blurbs about the impact of the U.S. market slowdown upon the global economy:

Deutsche Bank AG said Tuesday that it expects first-quarter write-downs of $4 billion due to “significantly more challenging” market conditions triggered by the U.S. subprime collapse.

And:

Confidence at major Japanese manufacturers worsened to its lowest in more than four years as the plunging dollar, soaring fuel prices and fears of a U.S. slowdown weighed on the economy.
The closely watched quarterly central bank “tankan” survey, released Tuesday, showed the index for large manufacturers’ business sentiment fell to 11, down from 19 in the survey released in December.

Our mistakes are having an impact on everyone else. We must be more vigilant in all of our dealings. Connect the dots. Follow the money.