If you could point to some sort of tangible, measurable decrease in obesity on a long term scale thanks to gym equipment that is generally accepted in a statistical sense, I'd concede it as a point and say we should be trying to maximize the trade-off (cost/benefit) to get the most for the least price.
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<br>Same goes for crime and drug dealing and all of that. However, the fact is, there is no evidence that what you suggest has had a long term impact on people in this country. There's no evidence that suggests more emphasis on physical education has provided long term benefits, there's no evidence that expensive science equipment has better enabled kids to pass science exams, etc. You're implying a correlation that *does not exist*. I personally think obesity in this country has a higher correlation to the fact that our economy has shifted away from blue collar physical employment jobs towards white or pink collar service oriented jobs. In other words, I don't think fat people have never heard of exercise, I think they just don't *do any of it* on a daily basis because their lives do not require them to.
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<br>So while you can make all the claims you want and justify these intangible benefits are worth billions of dollars a year nation-wide, I'd prefer to actually be operating on facts rather than "gut instincts" that aren't justified in any tangible or quantitative way.