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Latest in the Nanny State: Taxes on Sugary Drinks!
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Jason's Ultimatum
Member
captive said:
I'm not debating whether or not parents are also to blame. Of course they contribute to the problem. Studies show children eat healthy if their parents eat healthy, but if parents do not educate their children on eating healthy, then do the next best thing and tax soda, which will help reduce the purchase of soda and lower obesity.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Meat isn't the problem. So tired of saying this.Jibril said:
MEAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM!
Its mainly the fucking sugary drinks and other high-sugar products.
Seriously, I would support this tax if it wasn't for all the misinformation out there on nutrition and how poorly any science that actually is out there is reported on. Not to mention the fact that most of the science isn't good in the first place. When there are so many vegetarians out there with a goddamn agenda I don't trust them to start nanny-ing food.
Guys, its not mainly the calories. You know how alcohol gives you a beer gut? Fructose is metabolized in a similar way to alcohol, minus the mental effects.
Any tax on calories is dumb, especially when you consider the calories refer to how much energy they hold and not how your body metabolizes them.
Kitschkraft
Member
ahoyhoy said:
Obama (Or, any other politician) would get hammered in the next election cycle for this.
He is a healthy, skinny man, with a healthy skinny family...it would be seen as an "elite" thing. Basically, every skinny politician would be seen as such. The fat ones who pushed for it would be seen as hypocrites.
Anyways, I'm far more for trying to find a way to cut out things like cup cakes, fruit roll ups, twizzlers, mini-candy bars, little debbie and other such junk foods for kids than I am pop. I think that this stuff tends to get missed in all of this.
I'd even be for making state school lunches mandatory....no more bagged lunches. Make sure these state lunches are healthy and nutrient. Get rid of all junk food machines in the school (My highschool had a fucking ice cream machine in it....:lol )
The so called "healthy" needs to become the standard, and what is now seen as regular needs to be seen as "hearty" or "excess" or hell, just label the shit "fat".
Think about it...why is a "lean cuisine" so fucking lean? It's regular food for a regular person. Why not force swanson to start labeling their 500 calorie chicken meals as "excess" or something? Diet pop needs to just be labeled as the regular brand name, label the other shit "Sprite Plus" or something. I know that many will say "But, people are going to know what the "real" version is anyways so they'll just buy that". I disagree, I think that shaming people like this would really have an affect on their buying habits. In the long term, the "diet" stuff would become standard.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
BTW, Captive. What's the population of children living in the U.S.? let's say 40% do drink soda everyday. I'm sure once you add them up, it's a VERY high number:
[edit] Age structure
(2009 est.)
0-14 years: 20.2% (male 31,639,127/female 30,305,704)
15-64 years: 67% (male 102,665,043/female 103,129,321)
65 years and over: 12.8% (male 16,901,232/female 22,571,696)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Age_structure
[edit] Age structure
(2009 est.)
0-14 years: 20.2% (male 31,639,127/female 30,305,704)
15-64 years: 67% (male 102,665,043/female 103,129,321)
65 years and over: 12.8% (male 16,901,232/female 22,571,696)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Age_structure
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Let''s not delude ourselves. Some type of glorified sugar water will quickly take soda's place.KingGraham said:
ok, how many of them are obese?Jason's Ultimatum said:
how bout some other stats, how many europeans drink soda? Europeans are often heralded as skinny anti-american stereotype health nuts. Even if i think thats false.
I believe you'd find that because Europeans excercise more because they do more walking as one of the prime reasons they arent obese.
Uh, no thanks. I'm not particularly keen on finding more ways to give the government money. If we can tax sodas, we can start taxing all other 'vices'. How about we have a videogame and movie tax? An extra $10 per game and $5 per movie so that people won't
live a sedentary lifestyle? You know Obama said we need to get off the gameboys and get on our studies. What better way to increase the IQ of the nation and the health of the nation than tax sedentary entertainment? People are ok for taxing 'vices' as long as it isn't their vice.
You know what this will accomplish for the everyday American? Nothing. It might discourage sodas in the short-term, but it will eventually cause the price of water to rise because there will be less demand for sodas and more for water... Then the price of water will eventually have an equilibrium with sodas, and guess what, people will start buying sodas again. And in the end, what happened? We've lined corporations and the pockets of government.
live a sedentary lifestyle? You know Obama said we need to get off the gameboys and get on our studies. What better way to increase the IQ of the nation and the health of the nation than tax sedentary entertainment? People are ok for taxing 'vices' as long as it isn't their vice.
You know what this will accomplish for the everyday American? Nothing. It might discourage sodas in the short-term, but it will eventually cause the price of water to rise because there will be less demand for sodas and more for water... Then the price of water will eventually have an equilibrium with sodas, and guess what, people will start buying sodas again. And in the end, what happened? We've lined corporations and the pockets of government.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Check this out. Long, but worth it.ToxicAdam said:
dinazimmerman
Incurious Bastard
KingGraham said:
Killing off rich people would be a good way to make the country stupider. Yay I guess.
Rookje said:
This isn't necessarily right if you are eating properly to stay healthy. As most fast foods are filled with processed sugars, to much sodium, and bad carbs (and I am not talking about a fad carb diet).
Eating fast food is horrible for you regardless. It's also hypocritical to say "eat clean" then say you eat fast food almost daily.
I am not saying a person can never have it, but to have it weekly, let alone daily is not healthy. Just because you lose weight or are thin, does not mean you are healthy at all.
turnbuckle
Member
ToxicAdam said:
I wonder what the median is. Or how they calculated that total. I doubt people that drink pop regularly (who this would affect the most) systematically drink a single can a day. I imagine it's more likely that children whose parents don't buy pop drink 0 per day unless they go to a friend's while children who have parents that do buy pop drink much more. Beyond that, I imagine even those kids that do drink pop don't drink it every day. If they drink 5 cans in a day 2 days a week was that considered 1.4 cans per day, or if the surveyed kid answered that he doesn't drink any at all on a daily basis.
Where did you get your stats from? Even if it's true that kids drink an average of 1 to 2 cans per day, I imagine those that drank 0 would tend to be more frequent than those that drink 2 and would also be more likely to be healthier too. It's kind of like arguing that an average adult only smokes 3 cigarettes a day as a counter to someone saying smokers smoke a pack a day.
turnbuckle
Member
Jason's Ultimatum said:
Although I'm in support of taxing pop/soda, I'm pretty sure the calories listed on the can are already counting calories from fat/protein/carbohydrates. If you can prove me wrong than this is something that the government needs to address immediately.
The government should also monitor our internet usage and if we exceed a limit of 'leisure use' allotted per week, they should tax us. What better way to increase the IQ of the nation and ensure our kids are staying focused on productivity?
Giving the government money for our vices definitely will solve the problems of society.
Giving the government money for our vices definitely will solve the problems of society.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Its also the key reason that grain fed beef has worse omega 3scorcho said:
mega 6 ratio than grass fed.Jason's Ultimatum
Member
captive said:
Sorry. My mistake. I was going to add the number of children considered obese. I'm multi-tasking here, so it's hard for me to fully concentrate on too many things I'm doing:
Here's what's considered overweight and obese:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/defining.html
Even when overweight, it's not pretty.
LQX
Member
Hey Obama I don't need you protecting me from a can of Soda. Protect me from the terrorists. When Bush signed off on some bills that would actually protect our safety there was uproar, now there trying to pass bills that to me go further as there basically saying we we need protection from ourselves because we cant be trusted to make our own decisions and I bet it gets embraced. Moreover this is basically a poor people tax as there the ones that will be affected the most.
I have a serious problems with BMI and how its done. I work with eating disorders psychologists and clinicians and I have asked what my BMI should be and how much i should weigh. According to the BMI index I am 25 pounds overweight. I'm 6'0 190. When I was 6'0 160 in college I could eat and eat and eat and not gain a pound, but everyone told me I didnt eat enough. Now that I filled out, not only do i not get that crap before, but the ladies say i look a lot better. My blood pressure is still 120/80. But according to BMI I'm overweight which is unhealthy.Jason's Ultimatum said:
I couldn't imagine weighing 160 again.
It also doesn't take into account that people have different body types and that some people are physically denser than others.
However, I still contend that overweight and obese children are the result of bad parenting, not simply drinking soda.
Its not about the amount(yet).Cloudy said:
For me its the principle that A) we already get taxed. I get taxed because i make money at work. I get taxed when I buy food at the store. I get taxed when i go out to eat. I get taxed for buying a good or service at the store. I get taxed for owning a house. I get taxed for owning a car. I get TAXED AGAIN FOR SELLING/BUYING A USED CAR THAT TAXES WERE PAID ON WHEN IT WAS PURCHASED. And our families get taxed when we die. Heaven help you if your fortunate enough to have a rich family, the inheritance tax takes more than half the estate if its over some arbitrary amount, which i think is 1 million IIRC. Which gets thrown off because it includes land values in that arbitrary amount.
About the only tax i can truly agree with is gambling winnings, which the person did nothing to earn. But even then its something ridiculous like 52% of the winnings.
And where all this money goes and what it provides is not exactly clear.
B) the government should not be our babysitter.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Yup. Today's average diet is sorely lacking in nutrition, and lean cuisine doesn't really help with that.Trax416 said:
People need to start doing things like this:
Get some fucking zuchinis, cut that shit up, and put it in a pan with some EV olive oil on the bottom of it. Get some salt and pepper on those motherfuckers and cook them through on medium-low. Enjoy some cheap, tasty, filling, and nutritious veggies after all of the about 15 minutes that it took you to prepare and cook.
Grab some leaves, toss that shit into a bowl and throw some bleu cheese on it. Dress with olive oil and vinegar. Boom.
Steve Youngblood
Member
I love this country way too much to eat anything but red meat.BobsRevenge said:
udivision said:Even gatorade?
Gatorate and other "sport drinks" have a lot more sugar (2x+) than what is optimal for rehydration because Americans won't drink it if it isn't super sweet.
Sugary drinks are pretty much the worst thing you can consume. Stuff like Coca-Cola has ZERO nutritional value, it's just calories. The problem with this is you either have to eat way more nutrient dense foods to compensate or consume a higher total number of calories.
SlipperySlope
Banned
GoutPatrol said:
Oh yeah, higher taxes never hurt!
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
turnbuckle said:
What about sugar? Is the sugar in grams the same as listed in the ingredients? Aren't they usually disregarded due to artificial/refined sugars, which the method of determining the nutrutional value? A product that says 0 calories is actually false due to the artificial/refined sugar.
As far as BMI, yes it has its flaws, but it's still considered by the WHO. There is a difference measuring a child and an adult's BMI.
this. one hand giveth while the other taketh away. how about just stepping down the corn subsidies. that would raises the price of corn syrup based drinks and save us all money at the same time. unfortunately though, the people mainly consuming those sugary drinks are the poorest of us anyway.Fragamemnon said:
RevenantKioku
PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
Were sodas to disappear we'd all be better off so hey, more power to it.
Giving up soda was a great decision for my life.
Giving up soda was a great decision for my life.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Red meat is actually pretty nutritious, especially grass fed. I would've put it in if it was politically correct. It isn't bad for you like most would have you believe.Steve Youngblood said:
Too bad decent meat is so expensive though.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Cruciferous veggies are the shit and I have a hardon for brussel sprouts.diddlyD said:
themustardman
Member
If this were proposed in Canada, it would make absolute sense do to our public health care. Why should your quintuple bypass surgery cost the rest of the populous money? Now all the Baconaise and Twinkies you bought will pay for your surgery for you.
People need an incentive to get off this addiction. Ideally, the government would then subsidize healthy foods from all the tax revenue.
People need an incentive to get off this addiction. Ideally, the government would then subsidize healthy foods from all the tax revenue.
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