[SheLion]

no, it looks like the Senate is going to allow Philip Morris to become a monopoly at the expense of 25% of voters, because we all know from the expereince of the MSA, every penny of this tax will be passed directly to the consumers.

I am sure we all have seen the latest TV commercials by Phillip Morris. About how much they are against smokers and smoking.

If they are SO against smoking, then why the hell don't they pull their tobacco products and get out of the cigarette business?

They talk out of both sides of their mouths. I can't stand Phillip Morris. Two faced jerks!

[Gabz]

If they are SO against smoking, then why the hell don't they pull their tobacco products and get out of the cigarette business?

Their goal is put the competition out of business by making the others look bad and them look like little goody two shoes.

[StriperSniper]

They talk out of both sides of their mouths. I can't stand Phillip Morris. Two faced jerks!

Not to agree with them, or how it came to be, but that is part of the big settlement. They really don't have a choice anymore. If they took the high road in the beginning, they would be bankrupt, it was rigged, a government shakedown. But you are of course free to rant, it feels good sometimes. ;-)

As for the part of screwing 25% of the electorate, I would venture a guess that smokers disproportionately fall into the about 50% non-voting catagory, but hopefully that will start to change after another reaming.

[Wphile]

Phillip Morris isn't the only one being two-faced. The frickin' Congress is. If they don't want people to smoke, why don't they just ban cigarettes all together? The answer...they can't as they are much too dependent on the tax revenue from cigarette sales. The hypocrisy knows no bounds when it comes to this issue.

[LisaFab]

They talk out of both sides of their mouths. I can't stand Phillip Morris. Two faced jerks!

Just sold half of my 'Altria' stock and will dispose of the rest soon. If they and the other 'Big 5' fought this hard at the beginning, we wouldn't be in this sorry state!

[Bonaparte]

"About how much they [P. Morris] are against smokers and smoking."

Plenty of hypocrisy to go around. For many years, the French government has been clucking its tongue about tobacco, while raking in huge profits from it. Now, our own government is following suit, adopting tobacco as a major government cash cow while stigmatizing both the product itself and the consumers who are getting gouged.