It was only a matter of time before today’s “progressives” followed their prohibitionist predecessors and set their sights on spirits.First Big Gulp, Now Bottomless Bloody Marys: New York Bans Boozy Brunches
In his study, The Wages of Sin Taxes, Chris Snowdon reveals that these taxes not only do little to limit the use of “bad” products, they do nothing to reduce societal costs. Most remarkably, Snowdon demonstrates that those shockingly large estimates of the costs that the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, sugar, and fat supposedly impose on society have little basis in reality.READ MORE
As Snowdon shows, the myth that “sinners”—those who drink, smoke, and eat unhealthful foods—cost more to society than everyone else has been perpetuated in large part because “government has no incentive to tell the public that these groups are being exploited and the affected industries dare not advertise the savings that come from lives being cut short by excessive use of their products.” We have been down this road before—first it was the campaign against alcohol, then onto tobacco and other products.
As The Wages of Sin Taxes brilliantly demonstrates, sin taxes do not promote public safety and do nothing to reduce costs to society, and fleece taxpayers. Certainly, many sin tax proponents genuinely wish to improve the health of their fellow man and view these price increases as an unobtrusive way to achieve that goal. Yet, even when we set aside the argument about the morality of government interfering in individual choices, Snowdon demonstrates that these policies do not have the outcome they intend and in many cases cause greater harm to those they are meant to help.
Historically, we find a correlation between the shift from polygyny to monogamy and the growth of alcohol consumption. Cross-culturally we also find that monogamous societies consume more alcohol than polygynous societies in the preindustrial world.New study: Monogamy linked to … alcohol?
GIVE up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out “high carbon” food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu
Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions.
“Changing our lifestyles, including our diets, is going to be one of the crucial elements in cutting carbon emissions,” said David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change.
Kennedy has stopped eating his favourite doner kebabs because they contain lamb.
Alias Barack Obama: a lie is born: The greatest identity fraud in history Paperback – July 10, 2012
