New blog post: A Letter To The CDC
http://blog.killthecan.org/2011/06/a-letter-to-the-cdc/
Fuel for my anger at and utter contempt for the pushers........ :angry:
Amazing that they can get away with this shit isn't it?
'bang head'
Amazing they can still sell that shit. Everyone knows the consequences. WTF..
Hey now, the native American Indian population successfully thrived on tobacco, even to this dayÂ…err, oh never mind. :unsure:
Now isn't this convenient that the rules for reporting were changed in the recent past? This illustrates the "partnership" between big tobacco and the govt that I discussed a couple weeks ago (below) with a nice little added twist. Relaxing reporting requirements for a "regulated" product is remarkably helpful when the company wants to launch a new product (errr, campaign to addict new customers) that includes more of the addictive substance. That's just great...
Tobacco companies evil??? Maybe. They certainly operate within an interesting environment. I fault the Federal Govt at least as much. Big tobacco is motivated by profit for it's shareholders, a fundamentally sound motivator, whereas the Govt is profiting from this product and yet forcing the companies to warn consumers not to use it....huh??? WTF? The govt talking out of both sides of their mouth.
Doesn't the govt actually profit more, per pack of cigarettes in the form of tax, than the tobacco companies make? Wow! That's quite a business arrangement. The Fed has NO exposure to liability for a product that kills millions of its citizens, a product that same govt profits from. Oh, and let's not forget the govt (granted it was the states) also were successful in suing big tobacco for billions of their profits for medical costs. ERRRR, isn't that money just coming from the opposite side of the balance sheet.
Isn't the Fed just a business partner of Big tobacco???
Here's a question for you...At what point does this business become the responsibility of the govt? The tax on the product continues to increase...isn't there a point at which the govt essentially owns it.
If it looks like shit, and smells like shit, and tastes like shit, then....it's probably shit!!!
I agree with you on this one Leahy.
Guys here rail on Big Tobacco for being evil, and campaigning straight to kids, etc. Is it a business I could be in? No.
BUT...
I don't fault those guys for being in it. I DO think that our politicians are even MORE liable than Big Tobacco. Everyone knows this shit kills. It just kills really, really slowly.
Up here in Maine, they just raised the tax ANOTHER $1 PER PACK on cigs. Two things that I say to myself: 1. Who does that REALLY hurt? (A: The poor fuckers that are addicted, and will probably buys smokes over milk) and 2. Where does that money go? (A: To the dirty fucking politician sitting in DC...so HE (or she) can ride around on my dime fucking up my country with stupid laws.)
No the problem is, once you get in the Prohibition business...well, we've seen where that goes.
My solution? Get Gov't out of it. Of course, that's pretty much my solution to everything...so....there it is.
I'm with you...get govt out of it completely.
We hear about corruption all the time with regard to illegal activity but isn't this simply "legal" corruption? At the very least there's a vested interest to keep people addicted to this killer.
You're right that many of those paying the confiscatory tax on tobacco cannot really afford it.
The whole damn thing is pretty sad...
While profit is a "fundamentally sound motivator," not all profits are made in a fundamentally ethical way. Profits as well as taxes can be illegitimate or unethical.
The fact that the Big Tobacco companies are in business for profit does not release them from the responsibilities and liabilities they incur by marketing a dangerous and addictive substance.
Big Government, on the other hand, is simply legalizing theft and then calling it a tax. The taxes on tobacco products do not aid the addict or even really penalize the tobacco companies. They simply fill the coffers of a self-feeding, self-sustaining bureaucracy.
The bottom line, however, is that each individual is responsible for his or her own actions. Most people, but not all, who start using tobacco know it is an addictive and a life-threatening substance. There are very few who start using the stuff while being unaware of those facts.
We do not need Big Tobacco. Nor do we need Big Government. Both are equally destructive in their own dominions. Unfortunately, it's not too difficult to discover that those dominions overlap considerably.
