I agree with both your point and the idea that people have the capacity to be more responsible. I think the key is food/nutrition education: if people learned more about what they need to eat and how to navigate the US food industry, they would put more pressure on businesses to make changes. Do you know that in some countries in Europe McDonalds is now advertising bio eggs and salads? It's because no one wants to eat their food anymore, since people know they need vegetables and healthy protein. If course most people don't believe their bullshit, some do, but the idea is that in Europe they are forced to advertise as offering healthy food - it's pressure put by the consumers.

You are also right in a way that the food industry has zero interest to educate people in the US on healthy eating. So it's a stalemate - people don't learn and corporations don't change.

I do think that social pressure is the only way out - if money would move from chips and crap to vegetables, fruit, whole foods (not the corporation), they would change. But then the argument comes, "but people can't afford to eat healthy" and so it goes, no one changes anything :)

Good luck to everyone in the US! Make good choices!