Debt v Fat - the secret of the Universe?

Zulu_Dawn

climbgirl wrote:

I don't really think there is necessarily a link and I think it's a bit arbitrary that you've made it. I've never been in debt for example and I know I sure as hell could do with losing some pounds! The problem is that growing numbers of people in the UK are obese and growing numbers are in debt. Because those two statements are fact does not automatically mean they are linked in a causal relationship. You've assumed they are, and that's where your calculations fall down if you're going to analyse them in any scientific way.

I agree with you that there needs to be a better way of finding out who should be lent to, but I can't see how linking it to BMI can help. BMI is a pretty arbitrary way of measuring obesity anyway if you read the (scientific!) publications about it in recent months....

Does this now mean that a high BMI means you can't borrow money as well as adopt children?

You are so not a market researcher!!!

I hvae no idea whether there is a link. That's what I want to explore. Because my suspicion is it is innately the opposite of what one thinks (I.e poor people are thin and starving and have nothing). My suspsicion is that "poor people" have shed loads of stuff and eat and drink well because the banks have nade it so easy for them to have them - they are therefore asset and lifestyle rich and cash poor.

Let me ask you two questions where I know the answer.

Which product is most used disproportionately by the obese compared to the non-obese?? (Clue - it's not lard)

How many more spoons of sugar are put in a cup of tea by an obese person compared to the non-obese?



I house point if anyone gets them both right.


I also accept that in trying to make two separate points, i am confusing this thread. I may start again on two new threads if this is interesting.


ZD

Zulu_Dawn

debecca wrote:

Sorry, here comes the sad maths teacher's response...

As I have no outstanding debt, I have an undefined DMI as I have had to divide by zero... so presumably you can only have a DMI if you have debt to begin with...

I feel deprived. My BMI is 21 by the way

Hi Debecca. A maths teacher with no debt and a BMI of 21.


Do you have a boyfriend?
Do you have a phone number?
You don't have to be sad or deprived any longer.

climbgirl

Zulu_Dawn wrote:

You are so not a market researcher!!!

I hvae no idea whether there is a link. That's what I want to explore. Because my suspicion is it is innately the opposite of what one thinks (I.e poor people are thin and starving and have nothing). My suspsicion is that "poor people" have shed loads of stuff and eat and drink well because the banks have nade it so easy for them to have them - they are therefore asset and lifestyle rich and cash poor.

Let me ask you two questions where I know the answer.

Which product is most used disproportionately by the obese compared to the non-obese?? (Clue - it's not lard)

How many more spoons of sugar are put in a cup of tea by an obese person compared to the non-obese?



I house point if anyone gets them both right.


I also accept that in trying to make two separate points, i am confusing this thread. I may start again on two new threads if this is interesting.


ZD

Actually I am a market researcher!

I do appreciate what you're trying to do, prove the link between debt and obesity. But people who don't have any debt can't do your calculations because the answer is zero. LIke myself and like debecca. So because only people who have debt can work in your calculations, of course there's going to be a link between debt and obesity, because you can't do the calculations if you don't meet those criteria in the first place....

Do you see what I'm saying? It's like trying to prove a link between people who own swimming pools and go overseas on holidays. But then saying that only people who do those two things can enter the survey sample.....

climbgirl

I'm not trying to knock what you're trying to do, I think chances are that you're right - there probably is a link between impoverished people and obesity (in fact, I recall reading this somewhere recently).

However your calculations are inherently flawed because they only work if people have debt in the first place, so of course there will be a link!

climbgirl

And if the calculations aren't meant to prove the debt/obesity link, but rather provide the banks with a more "accurate" way of finding out who's a good person to lend to, then why on earth should BMI come in to it??!?!

It's such an arbitrary thing, yes there may well be a link between debt/obesity but certainly not in 100% of the cases. I have a perfect credit rating, why should I not be able to get a loan because I need to lose a few pounds?!?!

It's like saying, no you can't have a loan because you have curly hair. Or because you're over 6ft.

CAFCGirl

I thought it was all a bit of laugh?

I didnt realise there was copyrights involved lol

ManAtHome

You can include the debt-free by using (debt+£1).

Put me down for 2% royalties...

BargainHunterCat

Well I'm 5'10 and I weigh 10st so I'm borderline underweight.

According to your theory, I'd better not pay off my debts or I'll waste away!

Do you think it would it help if I ate lots of burgers to compensate?

:rotfl:

Zulu_Dawn

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Hi Climbgirl. If you are a market researcher, I probably know you and you may know me. Can you give me a little more - like which company?

AS CAFC Girl correctly said, the whole thing was a bit of a laugh. I was not planning to carry on my research in a controlled environmnet across a DFW chatroom!

However my two points are serious.

I think I could establish a better credit rating that those that do it currently, based upon what I have learnt about debt and how credit providers make their money.

I do think there is an interesting research project that looks at the relationship between obesity and indebtedness (amongst lots of other things)


So does anyone want to have a guess at the two questions I posed?


ZD

ZTD

Credit rating depends more on macroeconomic factors than individuals. Right now, anyone who hasn't defaulted on something, and can fog mirrors, can get credit. Even under 18 year olds.

In the seventies, you had to fight to get credit, and it was mostly secured (HP, mortgages etc).

Different eras, and the same individuals had very different results.

Obesity and indebtedness, could possibly be related to an individual's time preference. But there are too many other factors to give that "nice straight line on a graph" that I would wish for.