October 20, 2015 – The Centers for Disease Control claims that excessive drinking costs the U.S. economy $249 billion in lost productivity, health care costs, absenteeism, car crashes and so on per year up from $224 billion in 2006.
How do they come up with these figures? Does CDC employ a large cadre of statisticians and number crunchers? My immediate reaction was to wonder what’s happened since 2006 to cause the uptick in drinking. Well for one thing, the economy sucks and polls show the majority of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track. So could it be that folks are a tad depressed?
CDC has also said that one out of every 10 deaths of working age Americans is caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Based on personal experience, that sounds unreal. One statistic that is quite fascinating is the cost of binge drinking on a per state basis. Guess where the costliest place per person is? It’s not even a state — Washington D.C. has the highest cost per person – $1,526, compared to the $807 national average. Well, that’s depressing since our tax dollars are paying for it.
Obviously getting smacked and having a hangover is unpatriotic so don’t do it. Besides, feeling like crap isn’t fun, an even better reason.
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