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Originally Posted by Gun Grape
Bulgaroctonus, your "Little bit of discrimination" need more research. 2 examples you might want to look into is the roots of the current day antismoking campaign. What has become a public distain for smoking and an all out ban in public facilities started out in the airline industries. Look where "Lets make a section where cigar smokers can enjoy a stogie without offending anyone. A smokers section on airplanes" has become business owners no longer have a right allow smoking in their private establishment.
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The issue with smoking is that someone who is smoking is infringing on another's clean air. It makes sense for the government to regulate smoking in establishments open to the public, after all, we have health regulations for such private enterprises. Private regulation of smoking just wouln't work. Its a CATCH-22 for a private owner to ban smoking in his bar, because while the nonsmoking majority would appreciate it, he would certainly loose the smoker minority. Since many nonsmokers hang out in groups with smokers, these groups of mostly nonsmokers would still be less likely to go to nonsmoking bars because of their smoker friends.
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Originally Posted by Gun Grape
Your plan to tax/regulate "Bad" foods. First name a bad food. I will bet any that you can think of I probably eat on a daily/weekly basis. Tweekies, cake , pasta and nothing beats a warm honeybun and a cup of coffee. Will I be hit with a "Sin tax"?
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I would just tax foods that are unhealthy and high in saturated and trans fat. You can clearly eat those foods and be healthy, you just can't eat them all the time. That's why a tax wouldn't be a big deal for someone who eats them infrequently, but for someone who frequently eats unhealthy foods, the tax could lead them to consider healthier alternatives.
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Originally Posted by Gun Grape
If so, Why? FYI, I'm 40 something, 5'11", 155lbs and can still run a first class Marine Corps Physical Fitness test. 20 dead hang pullups, 100 situps and a 22 min 3 mile run. (Bad knees, multiable operations). Do I get taxed because some undisciplined F#ck is too short for his weight and cannot or will not police his self?
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But what you don't realize is that you do pay for those people. You pay in terms of lost productivity from medical problems, which leads to a higher cost of goods and services. You also pay in terms of increased healthcare costs, ie higher medical insurance costs, and of course Medicare/Medicaid expenses.
The small tax that you would pay for eating your twinkies and honey buns would be greatly outweighed by the economic benefits of reducing obesity. A google search tells me the estimated annual cost of obesity is $75 billion dollars. Now that doesn't pale in comparison to the Iraq war, but its a big chunk of change. If we can do something about it by raising a tax on obesity inducing factors and encouraging exercise, then we can discourage obesity and help pay for its effects at the same time.