A solution to obesity and unemployment?

I'm (almost) serious and believe it can be found in “pedal power.” A few days ago, I read in a French newspaper about Jean-Jacques Couton, a ski instructor from Vallorcine near Chamonix who built and set up a rope-two that precisely works on pedal power. This lift is intended for young skiers, ages 3 to 5 and could be the answer we all seek to both epidemic obesity and massive unemployment. Think about it that way; depending on your strength, motivation and laziness (I should say, lack thereof) it's reasonable to expect 100 to 300 Watts generated by an individual's pedal power. That's the basic building block; from there, to power a typical four-pack high-speed chairlift that requires about 500 Kilowatts to run, we would need between 2,000 to 3,000 able bodies to do the work.

Of course, we would also be required to house the operation into a structure reminiscent of an ancient galley and add a bunch of foremen to keep that collective engine “motivated.” This would require a significant increase in the upper chairlift station size where the electric engine is usually housed, but you'd keep it simple, spartan and ecological. The number of workers would vary according to the overall chairlift load and that variation could be used for resting and texting time. You'd pay minimum wage and the end result would be a population perfectly fit and fully occupied. But wait, someone just said “what's for lunch?” another screamed “I have to go to the bathroom!” Gee, I forgot that we needed to feed and sanitize that little army!