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Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler |
| Thursday, 16
April 2009 |
"Hey, guys! Got a hot date? Be sure
you treat her to a nice salmon dinner!"
That's the message young bachelors could get from a recent
study. Another message of the study is that
socialism may get less attractive to Americans as they age.
How could the same research study have both of these
results? It all has to do with the relationship
between fats and fairness.
The research is in the new interdisciplinary field of
Neuroeconomics, which studies how the brain makes economic
decisions. It was conducted jointly by the
Interdepartmental Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and
psychiatrists in the Department of Applied Health and Behavioral
Sciences at the University of Pavia in Italy.
The results have been published in the science journal
Physiology & Behavior, entitled
Serum
omega-3 fatty acids are associated with ultimatum bargaining
behavior.
Omega-3 fatty acids are necessary for human health but are
not produced by the body so you must get them from your diet.
They are particularly concentrated in the brain and play
an important role in brain functions such as memory.
Prior research has shown that low levels of omega-3 fatty acids
are associated with increased hostility and decreased impulse
control. Given this, the researchers at Pavia
hypothesized that higher levels of omega-3s might have a
measurable effect on the willingness of people to
accept offers made to them in the ultimatum
bargaining game.
The Ultimatum Game is a famous social experiment, using two
people anonymous to each other. One, the
"proposer," is given $10 and told to split it with the other,
the "responder," any way he wants. The responder
then has the choice to either accept or reject the offer.
Acceptance means both keep the money as per the proposed split.
Rejection, however, means neither player gets anything.
Economists who believe that people make economic decisions
rationally (the "rational man" theory) predicted that responders
would accept any offer, even as low as $1, because it's not
rational to prefer having nothing rather than something however
small.
But surprise, in thousands of Ultimatum Games, the responder
will reject - often angrily - any offer he (or she) doesn't
consider "fair." An offer by the proposer to split
the money 50/50 is almost always accepted, and the acceptance
rate goes down rapidly as the split favors the proposer. Almost
no one accepts $1.
This stumps rational man theorists. Why should the
responder care if the proposer gets more than he does?
It's found free money! For socialist
economists, however, the experiment is a godsend.
It's proof that human beings have an emotional instinct for
egalitarian or socialist "fairness." It's proof
that people would rather suffer rather than let someone else get
something "unfairly."
Then again, it could be proof that a lot of people have certain
brain deficiencies.
To test this, the Pavia researchers measured fasting serum or
blood levels of the primary omega-3s, alpha-linolenic
acid or ALA, eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA, and docosahexaenoic
acid or DHA, in sixty undergraduate economics students.
The results showed that the ratio of serum omega-3 fatty
acids was significantly lower in individuals who rejected
"unfair" offers as compared to those who did not.
The higher a responder's levels of ALA, EPA, and DHA, the less
he or she was concerned about fairness, and was more accepting
of any offer. The lower the levels, the more the
responder was angrily concerned about being "treated unfairly,"
rejecting any offer they considered did so.
Just as for any Marxist or Socialist, the current President of
the United States considers "fairness" to be the primary goal of
government economic policy, not prosperity and wealth creation.
He explicitly declared this one year ago today (April 16,
2008) during a Democrat candidate debate.
When asked by moderator Charles Gibson whether he would raise or
lower capital gains taxes, in the light of "history showing that
when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up," he
replied: "Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I
would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of
fairness."
Our government is being run by an individual who prefers that
the majority of Americans not be wealthier in order to prevent a
few of them being even wealthier, which would be taking more
than their "fair share." Indeed, this is the
dominating ideology permeating the entire Democrat Party.
But what would happen to its power base if increasing numbers of
Americans became less susceptible to the siren song of socialist
fairness?
Ask your doctor this question: What is the most
common symptom of heart disease? Be prepared for
his answer: The single most common symptom of
heart disease is sudden death.
Please read that answer again and reflect on it for a moment.
If you weren't fully sober and awake, you should be now.
Vast research has demonstrated that 1,000 mg (milligrams)
on average of omega-3s in one's diet, either by
eating foods high in them such as salmon or supplementation
(such as fish oils), reduces the risk of sudden death heart
attacks (which are half of all heart attacks) by 80%.
The FDA, however, made it unlawful for makers of fish oil
dietary supplements to inform consumers of this fact - until
Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw sued the FDA for violating their
First Amendment free speech rights to make truthful and
non-misleading health claims. Their victory in the
Federal Courts -
Pearson v.
Shalala - was a great landmark for health freedom in
America.
Thanks to this victory over the FDA, millions of Americans are
supplementing with fish oils. Thanks to it, there
is such a growing market for foods high in omega-3s that
farm-raised salmon are being bred with omega-3 levels as high as
those of wild-caught salmon.
And pigs are being genetically engineered with an algae gene
that pumps out so much omega-3s that soon you'll have pork with
omega-3 levels equal to salmon - healthy bacon!
The consumption of omega-3s is increasing at a very rapid pace,
particularly by baby boomers as they age. This
means that the huge baby boomer generation is going to rapidly
become less enamored with the core concept of Democrat ideology
- "fairness."
Note that what always accompanies someone's demands for
socialist fairness is emotional anger.
The Democrats' game is to rouse emotions of envious anger which
they can manipulate into acquiring more control over people's
lives. What increased levels of omega-3s seem to
do is modulate this anger. People just don't care
that much any more about what's "unfair," and can thus focus
more clearly on choosing what's in their genuine rational best
interests.
This bodes well for politicians selling freedom and prosperity
instead of envy and equality.
It bodes well for anyone selling anything reasonable, from a
businessman negotiating a deal to a guy on a date.
For the "Fats and Fairness" experiment indicates that you can
reduce the likelihood of irrational emotional rejections of a
reasonable offer by treating the person you're negotiating with
to a leisurely (allowing time for omega-3 absorption) meal of a
cold water fatty fish like salmon - along with good wine to
increase the absorption.
And if you're married, be sure and tell your spouse to take lots
of omega-3 supplements. "They're good for your
heart, honey!" is a truthful and non-misleading health claim.
Of course, you want to take plenty yourself.
That would only be reasonable - and fair.
Note: Many thanks to Durk Pearson and
Sandy Shaw for their contribution to this article.
And in case you're wondering about my omega-3 intake, I take
1500mg ALA, 2160mg EPA, and 1440mg DHA for a total of 5100mg of
supplemental omega-3s per day. Sudden death does
not appeal to me, any more than Democrat Fairness.
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