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telemann.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
talkpolitics2010-04-03 02:42 pm
telemann.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2010-04-03 02:42 pm
Can I have a diet coke with that, please? Thanks!
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malasadas had a great post recently about making good food choices, especially when consumers have informed choices. In the spirit of that post, I was amused when I saw this today (via the "The Consumerist") KFC's "Double Down": it's bacon and cheese sandwiched between two pieces of fried chicken. The "Original Recipe" sandwich will set you back about 540 calories, 32g of fat and 1380mg of sodium. The not-as-bad-for-you Grilled Double Down totals 460 calories, 23g of fat and 1430mg of sodium. This doesn't even look appealing to me. Luckily here in New York City, restaurants are required to post nutritional information like this to give us some informed choices. But what if consumers insist on making the wrong choice even with all the information? New York City is considering a "bad food tax," and when you see fare like this, you have to wonder if heavy taxation would have an impact. Such taxation reduced cigarette consumption (a carton of cigarettes by law can not be lower than 72.00 here in New York). True, the case can be made taxation like this is rather ineffective because people order cigarettes online, or just buy them in other states, but with a lot of hungry tourists and citizens, it's unlikely everyone is just going to leave, and eat in New Jersey.
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You betta think.
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Specificity matters.
And it's not a punishment. It's an increased cost; it's not: 'this is morally incorrect and we are going to see to it that you do not feel good after doing this, so we are going to punish you for doing this action"
It's: "hey, your choice, but we are going to tax it so we can pay for your triple bypass surgery later"
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"It's not ethnic cleansing. It's forcible relocation!"