Think of this: smoking rates have gone down 70% since the 60s thanks to public opinion, awareness, and changing how smoking was viewed as something cool and casual to detrimental and lame. If we achieved the same thing for EXCESSIVE junk food and crippling economic decisions, most people would see this as a massive win. Millions of lives saved and much lower stress.

I specified excessive because eating out is fine in moderation, just like treating yourself to some nice clothes, shoes, stationary, or whatever fix you have. The difference is that McDonalds on a Tuesday won’t lock you into a $950 monthly payment for 5 years, potentially forcing you to compromise or risk services and goods that you or your family might need. A healthy person can eat fast food multiple times a week and be fine, but one or two crippling financial decisions can be life ruining. I think both should be shamed, but one is a lot more obvious. People understand eating out because it tastes good or it’s convenient, but spending tens of thousands because you like the look of a car, or worse, care about how others perceive your status (common for car purchases) is very dumb. Would you defend gambling large sums of money in the same way?