Overweight And Undereducated

Felix Salmon pinpoints an underlying dilemma:

[T]wo of the biggest and most daunting long-term problems facing the US economy are (1) the fact that Americans aren’t as well educated as their counterparts elsewhere in the world; and (2) the fast-growing obesity epidemic. Both of these problems are caused, in large part, by America’s very high levels of child poverty.

Acknowledging that taxing bad behaviors is verboten in the US, Salmon wonders if there's a conservative alternative to improving education and nutrition. Taylor Marvin bolsters the argument for change. Yglesias looks at Denmark's new tax on fatty foods:

On the one hand, most people probably won’t change their behavior much in response to a tax, which means it’ll raise plenty of revenue. On the other hand, if people do change their behavior, the social consequences will be beneficial. The Nordic countries have become the world leaders in combining high levels of public services with strong economic growth precisely by being pretty relentless at seeking out economically efficient ways to raise tax revenue.