Bloomberg’s silly NYC ban on (some) large sugary drinks
ICYMI: Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week proposed a ban on the sale of large sizes of some sugary drinks in New York City’s restaurants, movie theaters, street carts, ballparks — pretty much everywhere but grocery and convenience stores.
It’s a silly ban, for a lot of reasons. One is that, like most nanny-state regulations, it’s arbitrary: The cutoff is 16 oz., which all but assures a growth industry for anyone who wants to manufacture 15.-oz. plastic bottles. Another is that it’s inconsistent: A 20-oz. bottle of Coca-Cola, with 65 grams of sugar, would be outlawed but a 21-oz. chocolate milkshake from McDonald’s, with 111 grams of sugar, would still be legal because it’s considered “dairy-based.” A third reason is that it’s bound to be ineffective: Why would someone who wants his sugar not just buy two 12-oz. cans of a sugary soft drink rather than that 20-oz. bottle (and end up drinking more)? And, in restaurants, these drinks must be served in cups that are 16 oz. or less — but refills will still be allowed.
But maybe the silliest thing of all about the ban is the rationale Bloomberg gave for it. From the New York Times’ story about the mayor’s proposal:
“Obesity is a nationwide problem, and all over the United States, public health officials are wringing their hands saying, ‘Oh, this is terrible,’ ” Mr. Bloomberg said in an interview on Wednesday in City Hall’s sprawling Governor’s Room.
“New York City is not about wringing your hands; it’s about doing something,” he said. “I think that’s what the public wants the mayor to do.” (emphasis added)
Ahem. If people wanted something done about obesity, and specifically about obesity linked to the consumption of sugary drinks, wouldn’t more people stop consuming sugary drinks?
In fact, given that the Times’ story reports that the city has found one-third of residents drink at least one sugary drink a day, isn’t it impossible to conclude that a ban on these drinks is what “the public” wants?
If the other two-thirds of the public (which, for the record, includes yours truly) doesn’t want to pay, directly or indirectly, for the health problems caused by obesity, the answer is to place the burden for paying for those problems more squarely on those people suffering them because of their own behavior.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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193 comments Add your comment
md
June 4th, 2012
9:33 pm
“Who’da ever thunk they’d hold a celebration for somebody spending 60 years on the dole?”
I get a good chuckle when I contemplate those 99% over there (and here actually) going gaga over the ultimate 1%…….a 1% that anointed themselves to boot.
I shake my head in amazement……..over here, we have Bernie doing the same thing and goes to the pokey for a long time.
md
June 4th, 2012
9:37 pm
You folks still on the EU austerity kick……you seem to miss the point. They spent what they didn’t have and now, in order to spend even more that they don’t have to stimulate the economy they have very high interest rates from a very skimpy group of lenders.
And that group of lenders is basically being told to bite the bullet and write off their loses on Greece…..you really think they are ready and willing to jump right back into the frying pan…..please, get a clue.
crankee-yankee
June 4th, 2012
9:38 pm
Bloomberg is a left wing-nut, no doubt. I do not agree with his methods nor ideas when it comes to controlling calorie intake. However, I find it humorous that the local control advocates are all riled up over a locality (admittedly, a large locality, almost as large population-wise as the entire state of GA) making a decision that affects only that locality. So how does that work? Local control only for those that think like you?
MarkV
June 4th, 2012
9:42 pm
Rafe Hollister @8:51 pm
“When you look at the figures that Kyle presented, obviously, many of those proposals were never enacted.”
Some proposals were never enacted, many others were. Kyle cherry picked numbers, some of them false.
Ackmed
June 4th, 2012
9:48 pm
Greetings infidels!
So I’m minding my own business during a lull in the fighting in thee Paakistanee, when I found out my New York City job application has been accepted! I don’t even remember filling one out. But anyway, they want me to be a Carbonated and Sugary Drink Size Compliance Officer, whatever that is. Of course I have to join City Inspectors Union Local Number 12,345,439 with my dues going directly to some DNC organization I never heard of. But the pay is good, I start at $265,000 a year, with guaranteed lifetime pension after 90 days, “free” health care and 7 months of vacation. No more butchering apostates for me!
Aahhh, my first day on the job. Look! Over there by that limousine, surrounded by all those guys in black suits! A big fat chick with thighs like thee well fed elephant! And she’s clutching a 2 liter bottle of Mr. Pibb! Gross!
You over there, cease and desist!
Woman- What are you talking about, Osama? Do you know who I am?
No, fatso, I don’t know who you are nor do I care. Drop the soft drink and slowly back away.
Woman- I’m Hillary Clinton, you two bit camel jockey!
Oh, I am so overjoyed, I finally get to meet blessed Sheik Bruno! I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize you, Iman Hillary, peace be upon you!
Woman- Whatever, bin Laden. Beat it.
Allah Akbar!
mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
md
June 4th, 2012
9:48 pm
What the EU countries really really want, is for their neighbor to go to work and pay more taxes…….just like here, vote your neighbor to go to work, except everyone knows they mean Germany. And the Germans don’t much like it because they implemented their austerity measures while the others were still partying…….
MarkV
June 4th, 2012
9:49 pm
Rafe Hollister @8:51 pm
The argument about proposed reductions in future spending also is ridiculous. When the population is growing, naturally the spending budget for a particular item increases. A reduction in a proposed spending increase is a real cut in spending per capita.
Dusty
June 4th, 2012
9:54 pm
Mayor Bloomberg, huh? I don’t care what he does in NYC. They must have bigger problems than soft drinks. I hope the state has a constitution so he won’t get out of line. Maybe he should take up knitting. Keep everybody warm in the winter.
As to European austerity, I was under the impression that Germany has been the only one to truly bring in successful austere measures. France and Greece kicked out leaders who tried for cut backs. Their new presidents are not in favor of austerity as a measure to save their economies.
As to Michelle Obama, never one of my favorites by any means.. But making her anatomy a subject of bad jokes is …well,,, gauche! Rude, crude, etc… Let us not drop into the genre that Democrats used so much in their Anti-Bush defamation. Conservatives are better than that.
And now for a fine drink of…….buttermilk! So good! And not a single cow drank a big cola or got a subsidy! Independents all. I’m moo….ving along.. and my bones are strong!!
MarkV
June 4th, 2012
11:04 pm
Dusty @9:54 pm
“As to European austerity, I was under the impression that Germany has been the only one to truly bring in successful austere measures.”
Dusty,
Impressions are interesting, but hardly prove anything. However, when you write about “successful austere measures,” you actually hit the nail on the head. The austerity measures have indeed been tried in Europe, unsuccessfully. As for those like Kyle, who simply deny that there have been austerity measures in Europe, should people believe him, or someone like the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who said Europe was in a dire situation as a focus on austerity pushed the continent toward suicide?
wfclyon
June 4th, 2012
11:11 pm
Scrappy,
FYI: Boomberg started off as a Democrat then became a Republican and now is an Indendent.
Cactus
June 4th, 2012
11:17 pm
You can always count on Republican mouthpieces to have a firm grasp of the small picture.
Shark Punch!
June 5th, 2012
12:52 am
May have been mentioned in the comments above, but the obvious reason for the “dairy-based” loophole is so NYers can still order a Triple Grande SuperFat Iced Caramel Mocha, because that’s somehow different from evil carbonated sugary beverages.
Oblama
June 5th, 2012
2:02 am
A New York City Repub isn’t a real conservative or he wouldn’t have gotten elected in NYC. This idea is ridiculous when you can buy meth, croak and crack openly in NYC. What a waste of tax dollars trying to enforce this crap.
Oblama
June 5th, 2012
2:03 am
hy don’t they just outlaw McDonalds and Burger King.
Evelyn
June 5th, 2012
4:05 am
Mrs. 0bama is a disgusting & self-righteous individual who dresses poorly and should be digging ditches for a living instead of trying to control the lives (& diets) of others.
Shawn
June 5th, 2012
4:09 am
Just what we need, another billionaire trying to tell the little people what to do. How about you take the money you make exploiting the little people and give it back to them for good use. Mind your own business. Just because you have money Bloomberg, it doesn’t give you a right to be a tyrant. What’s next?
Shawn
June 5th, 2012
4:10 am
It’s starts with sodas and then moves to something more sinister.
Shawn
June 5th, 2012
4:10 am
It’s = it.
dabir dalton
June 5th, 2012
5:48 am
Kyle this calling the kettle black considering that conservatives have used the drug war to attack and limit our individuals rights.
@@
June 5th, 2012
6:08 am
Since NY was rated “best dressed” by Travel & Leisure Magazine, maybe they should prohibit selling apparel that exceeds Small to Medium.
If the clothes don’t fit, you must commit
or go nekkid.
ew
Samantha
June 5th, 2012
7:04 am
In 2008 it became apparent that the developed world was overleveraged,,,we borrowed too much money. the past four years have been a time of signficant de-leveraging as households and businesses shed debt and restored some kind of fiscal sanity. Government is the sector who has not gotten its house in order. Debt has piled upon debt and is choking our economy and our budgets. If by austerity, we mean cutting spending, then yes…it’s the only way out and the sooner the better. The alternatives, massive tax increases or continuing the party are the sure way to destruction. One quickly and the other more slowly.
Only the progressives could convince themselves that the Greeks were really the fiscally responsible ones and that the germans were crazy.
Really?
June 5th, 2012
7:34 am
I’m an obesity researcher here in Georgia. Look around a bit. Look at the kids who will be on insulin all their lives (unless they have the drastic gastric by pass surgery). We are killing ourselves and our budget. Estimated costs for obesity related health problems is 190 billion a year in the US and rising. It’s a prime factor in the rising cost of health care. Sure should people just stop doing it on their own. Sure they should. Should people have realized that not wearing seat belts and helmets on motorcycles was deadly (actually deadly would have been fine, it’s the prolonged life in a comma etc that costs everyone). Sure. But they don’t and to top it off we have corn subsidies that feed (literally) the epidemic. The same areas of the brain that are turned on by drugs and alcohol are turned on by sugar. It’s an addiction and we are a nation of addicts of all kinds including high fructose corn syrup that makes up the sugary part of these drinks.
MarkV
June 5th, 2012
8:01 am
Samantha @7:04 am
“In 2008 it became apparent that the developed world was overleveraged,,,we borrowed too much money.”
False.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
June 5th, 2012
8:15 am
Samantha: Only the progressives could convince themselves that the Greeks were really the fiscally responsible ones and that the germans were crazy.
——–
…and that Obozo is the thriftiest since Eisenhower. Let’s just call the “progressives” what they are–economic retards.
md
June 5th, 2012
8:52 am
“The austerity measures have indeed been tried in Europe, unsuccessfully. ”
Actually Mark…..Dusty is correct. You may want to google German austerity measures to educate yourself. The Germans were the ones to successfully implement austerity measures while the others threw money at the problem, and now the others want the Germans to bail them out. Google is your friend……don’t make me post it for you.
iggy
June 5th, 2012
9:25 am
Seems the more our food stamp program increase the more obese the “poor” become. Coincidence? I think not.
MarkV
June 5th, 2012
9:31 am
md @8:52 am: “Actually Mark…..Dusty is correct.:’
Didn’t I agree that Dusty was correct? Austerity was tried all over the EU – and failed.
Kyle Wingfield
June 5th, 2012
9:43 am
MarkV: The funny thing about Stiglitz and Krugman, the two leading proponents of the “suicide by austerity” theory, is that they never produce any data to back up their claims. Krugman in particular derisively dismisses anyone who produces data to the contrary, without offering any different data.
So, you stick to your appeals to Swedish-granted credentials. I’ll stick to the data.
Rafe Hollister- trying to save the Choom Gang
June 5th, 2012
10:01 am
MarkV
Seems you are all alone in your austerity poison theory. I remember when Oblama ran off to Europe, shortly after being inaugurated, to sell his stimulus ideas to the uninformed. I also remember that Merkel looked him in the eye and said Germany will choose austerity. Seems she made the right choice.
As someone else pointed out, if they want to try more stimulus, who in their right mind would loan the rest of Europe more money, other than maybe the Oblamer regime.
md
June 5th, 2012
10:07 am
“Didn’t I agree that Dusty was correct? Austerity was tried all over the EU – and failed.”
And you continue to avoid the fact that germany did it and is now the healthiest economy over there….how convienient.
And just to play devil’s advocate, where would you suggest these other countries get the money they now want to spend considering they already spent what they had and didn’t have??
Dusty
June 5th, 2012
10:07 am
Well, I see that we are one big happy family here this morning. Kinda!!
But these distresing items were bright forward. SHUT DOWN BURGER KING! PLease! Let no such tragedy happen. We need those gourmet centers. They have delightful low calorie salads and I would order them if I could stop eating Whopper Juniors, those delightful wee hamburgers of joy and delight.
Then @@ gave us this regretful thought. All the big fatties (who can’t buy big clothes) will be running around “nekkid”!!! Can you beat that? Now I’ve got nothing against fatties, but I don’t care one bit to see their bare bulges. No no!
Maybe Kyle will come up with some great thoughts this morning. I could use some. “The day was cold and dark and dreary! The wind does blow and is never weary.” No wind today but kinda dreary. Maybe I need some more buttermilk (or a Whopper Jr.). ..
MarkV
June 5th, 2012
10:20 am
md @10:07 am
“And you continue to avoid the fact that germany did it and is now the healthiest economy over there….how convienient.”
And you conveniently ignore the fact that the growth of the economy in one country does not prove that spending cuts result in growth, when the experience in other countries shows otherwise.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
June 5th, 2012
10:21 am
“Austerity was tried all over the EU – and failed.”
And yet, MaryV, they did not.
Nor did Kyle cherry-pick his data.
You just can’t handle reality.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
June 5th, 2012
10:23 am
Spain is now warning that it is losing access to capital markets due to steep risk premiums demanded by lenders.
Means they borrowed too much money, for MaryK and others who think government spending is “growth”.
bluecoat
June 5th, 2012
10:25 am
Michelle appears to be a hunk of health.Ellen challenged her doing push ups.No contest.And for you jealous,live to her standards,could improve your health,and looks.
md
June 5th, 2012
10:55 am
“And you conveniently ignore the fact that the growth of the economy in one country does not prove that spending cuts result in growth, when the experience in other countries shows otherwise.”
I’m merely looking at the basic facts of the matter……Germany, implemented austerity measures and came out the other side in pretty good shape. Other EU countries tried to implement some austerity measures but the infighting for the most part stagnated it. And then other EU countries like Greece are basically out of options……austerity is their ONLY course of action unless someone is foolish enough to lend them more money.
Dusty
June 5th, 2012
10:57 am
I hope I did not kill the comments here. In the meantime, I wondered why we differ so on “austerity in Europe”.
The definitions I found fo ‘austerity” were: (1) stern, strict or harsh (2) bare or unadorned (3) indicating self-denial or lack of comfort
IN one sense, maybe some private citizens of many European countries were trying to cut back by choice or necessity. Thus you might say there were moves to austerity. Or leaders planned austere measure but were overuled by voters who threw them and their politics away (France & Greece). Plans alone are not actions.
On a national level, other than Germany, it is hard to see that austerity was practiced in government to any great extent or accepted by the citizens.
These questions and answers seem so clear cut that I wonder why there is a difference. Can we say USA is practicing austerity when it continues to increase its debt? Can other countries be “austere” when they reject the measures to be so?
I am trying to see how we can have such different views of one situation..
Libralee
June 5th, 2012
11:11 am
I don’t understand what is wrong with people! The government should NOT be involved in “anything” we choose to eat that may not be good for us……………..What the he– ever happend to parents????????? Or personal responsibility?
Removing items of food from shelves and restaurants should be the LEAST of government problems…………… How about creating jobs and getting military home!
Absolutely sick, sick, sick for any form of gov’t to worry about what people drink or eat!
bu2
June 5th, 2012
8:51 pm
@davetv
That’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats see something bad and think you have to “do something.” Republicans think you should only do things that make sense.
bu2
June 5th, 2012
8:59 pm
@Really?
If you were over 40, you should remember that diets are much healthier now than they were back when you were younger and we didn’t have an obesity crisis. If you are younger, you need to get some perspective in how things have changed.
Kids don’t exercise. You can handle plenty of calories if you exercise. If you sit in front of a TV or video game all day (or computer screen)….
md
June 5th, 2012
9:57 pm
In the olden days out on the farm, the diet consisted of beef, chicken, eggs and biscuits…..with lots of homemade butter and usually cooked in lard……and many of those folks lived very long lives.
Why?……..Because they “worked” the farm…………no sitting on their butts all day on the computer.
skip
June 5th, 2012
11:11 pm
will I get arrested if I bring a large slurpee into the city??
Kristi
June 11th, 2012
11:31 am
At first I thought this sounded silly but for someone like me that hates to waste, its not so crazy. When I go to a drive-thru or movie theater, etc. and I order a drink and it ends up being 3 times the size I probably needed, I end up drinking it because I don’t want to waste it. Having the largest size available smaller, will help those that want help. If you want another, go for it but I don’t think it’s that bad of an idea. Also, fast food places and whatnot con you into a large size by saying that all drinks are the same price no matter the size or they only have a 10 cent difference in sizes, so the money saving mind goes larger because they get more for their money, whether they want or need it or not.