Sunday, June 3, 2012

Bloomberg's Trap On All Fattening Foods

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City proposed a ban on the restaurant, movie theater, and street cart sales of any sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces.  Of course this is just stupid in that people will easily sidestep the ban by buying more than one 16 oz. drink at a time; or, by going back for seconds.  Bloomberg's argument for the ban is that these drinks contribute to obesity.

But, there is a bigger problem if Bloomberg gets way.  And, the problem is: "What's next?"

Will we then see bans on other fattening foods that contribute to obesity?  No more potato chips in New York City.  No fries. No cakes or donuts.  No Big Mac's or Whopper's. This list could be infinite.   People like Bloomberg think they can just legislate fat out of existence in the same way people like him thought they could legislate cigarette smoking out of existence.  Yet, despite extremely high legislated taxes and subsequently high prices for a pack of cigarettes, the number of Americans who smoke has only gone down from 28% in 1988 to today's 21%.  

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