Today’s Big Story

Worldwide Obesity Tops 1 Billion

And rates among young people have quadrupled since 1990

One in eight people globally now live with obesity. Over the past three decades, obesity rates have increased fourfold among children and more than doubled among adults, according to a new worldwide study published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal.

The billion-person marker is seen as a sign of worsening nutrition that's also raising the risk of leading causes of death and disease such as high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes. Breaking down those numbers: The global rate of obesity more than doubled among women, from 8.8% to 18.5%, and nearly tripled in men, from 4.8% to 14.0%, between 1990 and 2022, according to research that pulls from over 3,600 individual studies.

For America, just over four in 10 adults and two in five kids are now classified as obese, which according to the World Health Organization, is a body mass index (BMI) over 30 (anything over 25 is considered overweight). If you want to calculate your BMI, the National Institutes of Health has a simple calculator tool. Of course, there’s been plenty written about how BMI isn’t always the most accurate measurement for determining whether somebody is of normal weight—especially anyone with a decent muscle mass.

Tonga and American Samoa had the highest rates of obesity among women, and American Samoa and Nauru had the highest rates of obesity among men, with more than 60% of the adult population living with obesity. The U.S. now has the world's 10th-highest male obesity rate and 36th-highest female obesity rate. In 1990, the U.S. had the world's 17th-highest male obesity rate and the 41st-highest female obesity rate. (On the other end, Vietnam had the lowest female obesity rate and Ethiopia had the lowest rate among men.)

“Getting back on track to meet the global targets for curbing obesity will take the work of governments and communities, supported by evidence-based policies from WHO and national public health agencies,” ​​Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in a statement. “Importantly, it requires the cooperation of the private sector, which must be accountable for the health impacts of their products.”

Congress Delays Government Shutdown

For, at least, another week or so

Congress passed another short-term spending measure Thursday that would keep one set of federal agencies operating through March 8 and another set through March 22, avoiding a shutdown for parts of the federal government that would otherwise kick in Saturday. The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.

The agreement continues a trend of lawmakers punting government funding deadlines down the road as they fight over appropriations bills. Congress will now return next week to finish working on the first tranche of six funding bills, but major hurdles remain in the way of a larger deal on government spending. Yesterday’s extension marks a risky political bet for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was under pressure from some conservatives to pick a shutdown fight, reports Axios. “Johnson faced pressure from other congressional leaders and the White House to avert a shutdown … but the short-term spending agreement will anger some on his right, and the stakes couldn't be higher.”

Biden in a Thursday night statement welcomed the bill's passage. He said it was “good news for the American people” but noted, “I want to be clear: this is a short-term fix—not a long-term solution,” and called on Congress to “do its job and pass full-year funding bills.”

IRS Launches Crackdown on Wealthy ‘Non-Filers’

And it’s going to hit them right where it hurts … the private jets

The IRS plans to go after more than 125,000 high-income earners who did not file tax returns going back to 2017, reports the Associated Press. And the agency says hundreds of millions of dollars of unpaid taxes are involved in these cases.

The campaign announced Thursday is part of the agency’s ongoing effort to pursue high wealth tax cheats—mandated in part by funding provided through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act passed into law in 2022 and a directive from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to IRS leadership not to increase audit rates on people making less than $400,000 a year annually.

That same funding allowed for better data analytics, which the agency said has allowed them to look closer at corporate jet usage. More than 10,000 corporate jets operate in the U.S., and the IRS believes some companies overstate deductions while using aircraft for mixed business and personal travel. Plus, they know the jets are personally used by executives all the time and later written off as a tax deduction. They will begin with a round of three to four dozen audits of corporate jet usage, focused primarily on corporations and complex partnerships. But future exams “could expand to individuals,” depending on the findings.

Airlines Are Raising Baggage Fees

Do it ahead of time to save yourself some money

If you can’t fly private, you have to play by the rules of major airlines. And you might’ve heard that multiple carriers are raising prices to check a bag—again. United, American, Alaska and JetBlue are all among the carriers that have raised the price to check bags this year. But just how much it will cost you, however, depends on when you pay for the service.

According to CNBC, the airlines charge customers more if they check their bags at the airport or close to their departure compared with paying to check a bag online in advance. Carriers are encouraging customers to pay to check their bags ahead of their flight, an approach the airlines argue will free up employees at check-in areas and get travelers to their gates faster.

Nearly every airline that upped baggage fees said inflation, higher fuel costs and operating costs led to the price increases. But some experts are saying that these price hikes may also be part of a strategy to incentivize more passengers to sign up for their frequent flyer programs and co-branded credit cards. After all, the stowed luggage is a bigger business than you may’ve realized. According to the Department of Transportation, travelers have already spent about $5.5 billion on checked bag fees within the U.S. in the first three quarters of 2023.

A Weekend Pairing

‘Shogun’ + Drunken Whale Sake

Strap yourself in for a wild adventure in feudal Japan. While the buzzy samurai drama Shōgun has sat with a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating among critics for a couple of weeks now, the show has only just debuted on FX/Hulu as of Tuesday. Now, fans are realizing that this is not an instance of critics being wrong, and the show is getting some of the best reviews of the entire year—on IMDB, it currently has a 9.3/10 rating, which scores it higher than both The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.

But the analogy is apt, since NPR says it has all the sex, violence and power struggles of those two shows, while The Guardian says the “lavish adaptation of the classic samurai novel is beautiful, intellectual fare that amply rewards your full attention.” But be warned: Apparently, its big on gore. And while Shōgun is presented as a limited series, it’s unclear if it may extend past that if it finds a large amount of success. The show is based on the book by James Clavell, of course, but it’s part of his “Asian Saga” which spans six books in total.

Stick with it.