NYC bans sweet drinks

[Ifreann]

Wow, this has to be one of the stupidest laws ever passed.

I dunno, there's some damn stupid laws.

[Terruana]

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

[Imsogone]

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

Just take everyone that has more than 30% BMI and jail them.

Makes as much sense as denying everyone a pleasure because some of them are fat.

[Alyekra]

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

No we don't.

[Parpolitic Citizens]

Anyone with a proper understanding of how the human brain is effected by the temptation of food stimulus should support this. Obesity is an unrelenting curse with a no greater than a 15% cure rate.

[Ifreann]

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

I believe the standard glib response is to feed them to the hungry.

[Vetalia]

I'd get around it by setting up by selling concentrate rather than soda...buy a 12-ounce Coke concentrate and then mix it after the sale in a separately provided 64-ounce cup at the fountain. After all, I never actually sold a beverage larger than 16 ounces, and for all we know that 64-ounce cup could just as easily be for unsweetened tea or water!

[Samuraikoku]

I find there are more important issues to regulate than what people drink.

[Hallistar]

I remember once I was dangerously close to fainting..I think it was cause of heat exhaustion, I never had it before but it was thanks to a powerade in a vending machine that saved me.

I mean come on..the entire city? I would understand schools, but I'm sure adults can make their own choices tyvm.

[Lackadaisical2]

Anyone with a proper understanding of how the human brain is effected by the temptation of food stimulus should support this. Obesity is an unrelenting curse with a no greater than a 15% cure rate.

I dunno, I have no problem with convenience stores carrying 40's either.

[Parpolitic Citizens]

"Forget about super-sizing sugary drinks in New York City starting in Spring of 2013. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, frustrated he couldn't get a 'soda tax' passed, is ordering restaurants and delis to stop selling sodas, sugared teas and other sweet high-calorie drinks, over 16 ounces, in restaurants, delis, movie theatres and sports arenas."

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/def ... E|featured

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/busin ... t-business

Is this a good thing? Some people actually need those calories, what about them?

There is no proof that obesity leads to higher health costs, no proven cause-and-effect relationship, so I say government should not tell us what not to drink.

Absolutely positively quantifiably wrong :

Obesity Adds More to Health Care Costs Than Smoking, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2012) — Obesity adds more to health care costs than smoking does, reports a study in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/ne ... -estimates

THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that obesity accounts for nearly 21 percent of U.S. health care spending, which is more than twice as high as previous estimates.

The findings strengthen the case for government intervention to prevent obesity, said the researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The researchers found that an obese person's medical costs are $2,741 a year higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese. That works out to $190.2 billion a year nationally, or 20.6 percent of total U.S. health spending.

Stop being wrong.

[Vetalia]

THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that obesity accounts for nearly 21 percent of U.S. health care spending, which is more than twice as high as previous estimates.

The findings strengthen the case for government intervention to prevent obesity, said the researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The researchers found that an obese person's medical costs are $2,741 a year higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese. That works out to $190.2 billion a year nationally, or 20.6 percent of total U.S. health spending.

Stop being wrong.

Considering the healthcare industry is one of the major sources of job and economic growth in this country, I honestly don't see how this is a bad thing. Even so, it really is up to the individual to decide; if they're willing to pay more as a result of poor health choices, that should be their decision.

[Terruana]

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

Just take everyone that has more than 30% BMI and jail them.

Makes as much sense as denying everyone a pleasure because some of them are fat.

It's not denying them the pleasure, it's denying them the convenience. There's nothing to stop them buying drinks in a supermarket or something and bringing it with them. It's more about taking away the temptation than stopping people from drinking it.

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

No we don't.

Yes, we do. (This is a fun, productive argument).

Gotta do something about the obesity epidemic.

I believe the standard glib response is to feed them to the hungry.

I dunno... Red meat's kinda unhealthy too. Don't wanna make everyone fat, or we'll have no hungry people to feed them to.

[Parpolitic Citizens]

Stop being wrong.

Considering the healthcare industry is one of the major sources of job and economic growth in this country, I honestly don't see how this is a bad thing. Even so, it really is up to the individual to decide; if they're willing to pay more as a result of poor health choices, that should be their decision.

I would say no. Those poor health choices cost everyone else money and diverts cash away from more productive sectors. Secondly, you're acting as if obesity is a choice. No possible long term treatment has been found with a cure rate of over 15%.

[Lackadaisical2]

Stop being wrong.

Considering the healthcare industry is one of the major sources of job and economic growth in this country, I honestly don't see how this is a bad thing. Even so, it really is up to the individual to decide; if they're willing to pay more as a result of poor health choices, that should be their decision.

Seems akin to the broken window fallacy, besides, not not everyone's healthcare costs are borne by themselves.

[Vetalia]

Seems akin to the broken window fallacy, besides, not not everyone's healthcare costs are borne by themselves.

True, in cases of government-paid healthcare I would agree.

That being said, I doubt the costs of obesity overall outweigh the benefits in terms of stimulating the healthcare sector. Many high-paying jobs are created that wouldn't exist elsewhere if we were healthy. And honestly, given the rut we're in economically we could use a few million broken windows to get things going again.

[Vetalia]

I would say no. Those poor health choices cost everyone else money and diverts cash away from more productive sectors. Secondly, you're acting as if obesity is a choice. No possible long term treatment has been found with a cure rate of over 15%.

Productive sectors like what?

That being said, obesity is a choice. People can always choose to alter their diet, exercise, and lose weight...food supply in the United States and its colonial predecessors has not only been cheap but has been more than adequate, even overabundant since the 17th century and yet obesity only exploded during the latter half of the 20th and 21st centuries. I think the problem goes much deeper than sodas.

[Freiheit Reich]

from Atlas Shrugged: There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt.

This is what the US govt. does time and time again. Pass laws which allow lobbyists and lawyers to get wealthy and increase govt. power. Welcome to the "Land of the Free."

[Parpolitic Citizens]

I would say no. Those poor health choices cost everyone else money and diverts cash away from more productive sectors. Secondly, you're acting as if obesity is a choice. No possible long term treatment has been found with a cure rate of over 15%.

Productive sectors like what?

Something that doesn't involve shoveling cash to pharmaceutical companies.

That being said, obesity is a choice. People can always choose to alter their diet, exercise, and lose weight...food supply in the United States and its colonial predecessors has not only been cheap but has been more than adequate, even overabundant since the 17th century and yet obesity only exploded during the latter half of the 20th and 21st centuries. I think the problem goes much deeper than sodas.

Your statements are completely unsubstantiable. Like I said, the cure rate for obesity is 15%, and that was for thousands of people who were involved with various studies.

Secondly, what changed between the 17th century and now? Are you serious? Now there is a Burger join on every single street. There is candy, cake and pie, purposely designed by companies to ensure that people crave it. Our hunter gather brains are not equipped to resist the constant barrage of food temptation.







The problem is nearly the same for all of the industrialized world. And it will bankrupt us if we don't fix it.

[Parpolitic Citizens]

from Atlas Shrugged: There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt.

This is what the US govt. does time and time again. Pass laws which allow lobbyists and lawyers to get wealthy and increase govt. power. Welcome to the "Land of the Free."

There is no such thing as innocence. All actions are inextricably linked. Secondly, it would be preferable to everyone if you kept your poorly written fiction to yourself.

[The Serbian Empire]

The utter fuck? How did this pass?

Mayor's orders.

[Imsogone]

from Atlas Shrugged: There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt.

This is what the US govt. does time and time again. Pass laws which allow lobbyists and lawyers to get wealthy and increase govt. power. Welcome to the "Land of the Free."

There is no such thing as innocence. All actions are inextricably linked. It would be preferable to everyone if you keep your poorly written fiction to yourself.

You know, sometimes, even Ayn Rand, as idiotic as I find most her stuff, can be right.

There are laws that are basic and contribute to the well being of the species as a whole - against murder, robbery, rape - in other words laws to keep people safe from each other. There comes a point when governments start feeling useless and that's when they start making laws for the sake of making laws. This is one of them.

[Mandicoria]

THE SON OF A BITCH AIN'T NO ONE TAKING MY SODA AWAY! Nah I don't live in NYC so I don't care about it, but yeah its a bullshit law.

[Amacia]

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[Wamitoria]

THE SON OF A BITCH AIN'T NO ONE TAKING MY SODA AWAY! Nah I don't live in NYC so I don't care about it, but yeah its a bullshit law.

You can have all the soda you want, just that you can't by large quantities of it in theaters, restaurants, and convenience stores.