Waist banned - Does a tax on junk food make sense?

Economist ^ | July 30 2009

[1000 silverlings]

We have a NewfieX that ate stones when he was small, you could hear them rattling in his belly. The vet said not to worry, he'd outgrow it and he did, but we worried anyway and gave him mineral oil.

Ours also eat carrots, and the diabetic dog has survived 5 years now on lean meat, brocolli, cabbage, (cooked), baked yams, and a few other items. We bake them chicken regularly and feed a high quality dog food.

[Judith Anne]

My SIL had two Newfies, one recently passed away from old age, I think. I think they’re gorgeous. She has always had them shaved in summer, cuts down on the shed problem. They were always good natured, but I imagine they might eat an acorn...:-D

[1000 silverlings]

This motley pack is waiting, the cougars don’t even come up here anymore, go way around

[Judith Anne]

Our dogs are amazing, aren’t they? Over the years, Hub and I had some wonderful mixes, rescues. They were grand, even as senior dogs, which most of them were.

It’s a shame, but a lot of people give up their senior dogs. Most of them will be put down, because few people will adopt a dog of advanced age, even in good health. They’re the ones who break my heart.

[GeronL]

I wonder what Coon tastes like?

[ladyjane]

LOL - you’re from Massachusetts.

Lots of poor dogs there who are stuck on vegetarian diets.

Their moms need wine.

You’re a good samaritan.

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks to government health-care plans such as Medicare half of America’s obesity-related health costs land on taxpayers. In private employer-sponsored health plans the slim pay similar premiums to the overweight.

Obvious solution is for government to get out of the health care business, and for insurance companies to set premiums for classes that give their insureds the choice to either pay more and maintain their habits; or to change their habits, and be rewarded with a lower premium; or drop insurance altogether, and not bitch when they can't afford (and are thus refused) treatment.

Government was not instituted to social engineer, last time I read our Founding Documents.

[swarthyguy]

Some dogs can be partial to some veggies and even fruit, but to put a carnivorous animal on an exclusively vegan diet disregarding genetics, millenia of meat and carrion consumption and the dog’s health is a fairly vainglorious act in an ignorant albeit well meaning for a contemporary personal set of social mores.

“Oh, my dog’s a vegan, isn’t that so cool”.

[Judith Anne]

I certainly agree.

[swarthyguy]

You’re so correct, once the ideas are floated, like the mileage fee tax, the question is not if but when.

Words fail to describe the emotions, sad, shame, that correspond to this slide we are undergoing.

And if Swine/Bird Flu really hits, what a perfect reason for a national emergency to grasp even more control over individuals.

A crisis that would be too good to waste.

[swarthyguy]

>>a good samaritan.

I wouldn’t go that far, I had ulterior motives.

But it was satisfying to hear the little growler start barking in a healthy satisfied manner. Little bones sucked and chewed dry strewn across the carpet and kitchen floor. He became my best bud...:>>>

“he hasn’t barked for months” - gee, wonder why.

[swarthyguy]

>>our Founding Documents

There ya go again. Three hundred year old documents written by dead white men have exactly what relevance now in terms of public health? /SARCASM!!!!!

[swarthyguy]

>.You’d think that after being shafted so many times that more people would quit bending over to pick up the pieces.

History shows the opposite usually happens until some cataclysmic series of events causes change, usually at some very high cost and not always for the better.

We simply get used to it, as currently, our personal sphere shrinks and the public one increasingly encroaches upon ALL facets of our lives.

[OpeEdMunkey]

More likely you just paid it twice for, well, the obvious reasons.

[swarthyguy]

Check out this week's time magazine and read the warning tag about the article.

No government tax on us idiots, Munky, just on the food we eat.

The visionaries working on the system should give you the warm fuzzies.

[OpeEdMunkey]

No government tax on us idiots, Munky, just on the food we eat.

Damn...we could have retired the deficit.

[swarthyguy]

You planning on having that many kids?

[swarthyguy]

What you still pissed that I advocate taxing fat lardasses on how much they weigh?

What’s wrong with that?

Tax the FAT! Twice!

[swarthyguy]

Taxing chimney heads worked so why not widebutts?

[MamaB]

I sure am glad that you were not around when my late husband and late daughter gained a lot of weight because they were on prednisone. She died in 2004 from complications of Crohn’s Disease and he died 2 years later of liver cancer. You need a time out.