This book offers new insight into the economic causes and consequences of America's dramatic weight gain over the past half century. It also uncovers the follies of seeking to remedy the country’s weight problems with government intrusions into people’s excess eating, arguing that controlling people’s eating habits is fundamentally different from controlling people’s smoking habits. This book also explores such consequences as higher fuel consumption and greenhouses gases, growing health insurance costs, reductions in the wages of heavy people, and reenforcement of rescue equipment.