>I guess that Britain must be much richer than America then, because
>there is no starvation here - apart of course from that associated
>with anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
You don't have people living on the streets, picking food out of traschcans? We sure do. Malnutrition of various kinds is much more widespread. Health indicators for the American poor rival Third World levels, and bad food is part of the problem.
>As for depression and overeating, these are personally tragic
>circumstances, but I am not sure that you can blame capitalism for
>people's own self-destructive behaviour - not unless you think that
>people ought to be relieved of all responsibility for their own
>decisions.
No I don't think that. But depression does have social causes - the alienation and powerlessness that comes with working crappy jobs for $5.15/hr, or, further up the social scale, the alienation and stress that come with social isolation and overwork. Since we're all supposed to be happy, we don't like to talk about it. So some of us self-medicate with potato chips.
Doug