The Sugar Wars of 2015

[GORDON]

I.would never tell him to not touch those things, I just tell him to not touch those things right now. He's ok with that.

[GORDON]

In fact, I frequently try to get him to taste different styles of beer that I make, so he can be a beer savant and develop his taste palette early.... but he won't taste, because he isn't old enough, yet.

[Malcolm]

Taste and spit.

[Vince]

Both are bad. Not because they are bad for you. I believe in personal responsibility on what you put in your body or on your family's table. Sugar growers (mostly one named Fanjul) has been big on keeping sugar tariffs in place. When Trump complained about Oreos being made in Mexico now, that was why. Not cheap labor, but the main ingredient costing twice as much here in the US. Make them in Mexico and avoid the tariff and ship them across as cookies via NAFTA with no sugar tariff.

And corn growers are the biggest welfare queens in the country now.

[Leisher]

Pop is a rarity in my house as well.

The only time I have it is when I want Jack and cokes.

[GORDON]

Pop is a rarity in my house as well.

The only time I have it is when I want Jack and cokes.

The majority of the cola I drink at home has rum in it.

[TheCatt]

I drink 2 Diet Dr Peppers a day. I've quit drinking almost all other coke.

[Malcolm]

I can't remember the last time I purchased soda outside of a 12 oz. can when all other sources of caffeine were exhausted.

[Malcolm]

WHO says to tax the white stuff. Firstly, let's hear the corporate shills:

The U.S.-based soft drinks industry's lobbying arm - whose members include Coca-Cola Co, Pepsico Inc and Red Bull - strongly disagreed with what it called "discriminatory taxation".

"It is an unproven idea that has not been shown to improve public health based on global experiences to date," the Washington-based International Council of Beverages Associations said in a statement. A comprehensive approach based on the whole diet was needed for a lasting solution to obesity, it said.

Let's even assume there's a 25% tax on soda. What's that going to make two litres of pepsi cost? $1.25? Oh fuck, how will people afford it?

"We are now in a place where we can say there is enough evidence to move on this and we encourage countries to implement effective tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to prevent obesity," Temo Waqanivalu, of WHO's department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Health Promotion, told a briefing.

Obesity more than doubled worldwide between 1980 and 2014, with 11 percent of men and 15 percent of women classified as obese - more than 500 million people, the report said.

K. You sort of have a point here. But taxing sugary drinks is only going to go so far. Do you plan to apply this tax to all the sugary shit around: cookies, candy, chocolate, sugar itself? Because if not, some Sodastream-like contraption is going to hit the market, only it'll carbonate and sweeten your beverage.

[TheCatt]

I'm really not opposed to this. Tax them, then use that to pay their healthcare bills. Fatties.

[Leisher]

Tax the fuck out of them!

And I'm not just saying that because my company would profit from such a tax...

[TheCatt]

I figured universal healthcare is inevitable, so if people make stupid decisions, those people should pay for them as much as possible, not me.

[GORDON]

How about instead of taxing the sugar which will hit both people who abuse it and people who don't, we just tax people with a body fat percentage of X%? That way we are hitting the people who will end up using the most healthcare, generally, directly.

An extra nickel on a can of Coke isn't going to do shit.

[TheCatt]

One of those is a lot easier than the other.

[Malcolm]

we just tax people with a body fat percentage of X%?

Fuck and no.

[GORDON]

One of those is a lot easier than the other.

Since the government couldn't even get a website up and running in 2 years and a billion dollars, maybe the body fat measurements would be easy. They could make it a jobs program, a Department of Fat.

[Malcolm]

One of those is a lot easier than the other.

Since the government couldn't even get a website up and running in 2 years and a billion dollars, maybe the body fat measurements would be easy. They could make it a jobs program, a Department of Fat.

That's already every department.

[TPRJones]

It will inevitably be pointed out that poor people have less access to healthy food (google Food Desert) and the time or access needed to workout regularly, and therefor any such tax will be unacceptably regressive.

[Leisher]

It will inevitably be pointed out that poor people have less access to healthy food (google Food Desert) and the time or access needed to workout regularly, and therefor any such tax will be unacceptably regressive.

Unfortunately, in our current political climate, this is how it will go. So they'll instead institute taxes on people who can afford healthy food and going to a gym. That way those poorer people can still be unhealthy and then more people will be able to add themselves and their family to that number.

We're from the government. We're here to help!

[Malcolm]

Potential soda tax. As you can imagine, Big Soda is pissed.

"We do know through academic studies and from the marketplace that the tax reduced 10,000 jobs, caused a decline in Mexican GDP, and increased the tax burden on the poor; all without any evident improvement in public health. The beverage industry understands that (the) overweight and obesity issue is a very complicated one, and it will not be solved by a singular simplistic solution like a discriminatory tax," the statement said. "In Mexico, our companies are working well with government and civil society on meaningful solutions, and we would hope the tax-only advocates would join this more meaningful approach."
...
Additionally, some soda tax opponents argue that they unfairly target low-income and minority communities, so in other words, such taxes are regressive.

Reduced 10K jobs by taxing soda and caused a noticeable decline in the country's GDP? Are you shitting me? And let's talk about the tax burdens on the poor:

Coca-Cola : Dasani
Pepsi : Aquafina
Dr. Pepper/Snapple : Deja Blue

That's a list of major soft drink companies and the sham bottled water they produce. Are you telling me the water in those bottles is one molecule different than what goes in the fizzy stuff? Or are they merely frightened that none of their "artisan" water can compete with reasonable purified tap water?