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(Not So) Creeping Statism

Submitted by TX Politico on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 09:39
in

In a story about NYC's "War on Salt", this quote tells you everything you'll ever need to know about the intentions of supporters of "good ideas" and "voluntary" government initiatives.

Thomas Frieden, the city's health commissioner, said he wants manufacturers and restaurants to join the war on salt voluntarily. If they don't, the city could pass legislation making it the law.

 

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Does not do it for me

Submitted by johnson springs on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 11:55.

Can you spell out what "everything you'll ever need to know" means here? I'm not getting it. Are you saying the health commissioner is a coercive bully? I read it this way:

The health commissioner has determined in the course of doing his job that a public health problem needs to be addressed. He prefers allowing businesses to manage the solution themselves since they can determine the most effective way to achieve the goals. If the voluntary program fails, he will seek a legislative/enforcement solution to what remains a threat to public health.

 Should major cities not have Health Commissioners?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Submitted by Cahnman on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 12:35.

Johnson Springs wrote:

Are you saying the health commissioner is a coercive bully?

As someone who has worked in many resturants in NYC, I can assure you that, yes, the NYC dept. of Health is one of the worst bullies against honest businesses.

 

you had rat feces all over your restaurant?

Submitted by RisingTide on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 13:18.

dude. and you call yourself an honest business?

that's the sort of shit that NYC health department shuts down, mmmkay?

Spelling it out

Submitted by TX Politico on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 11:12.

Johnson, do you really not understand or are you pretending not to just to make a point?

In a nutshell, my point is that they talk about "voluntary" things up until they realize that no one actually wants to do it, then they head willy-nilly for the big stick of nanny-state government.

Do you really want government to mandate how much salt is allowed in your food?  REALLY?

What other things are you willing to let the government control?  How about sugar?  Would you be ok with your local morning stop offering only 1/3-sugar doughnuts because that is the only kind you are allowed to buy?

How about alcohol?  What if modern-day prohibitionists come into power and decide that beer may only contain .05% alcohol?  Would that be ok too?  I mean it is well known that alcohol causes lots of health problems.  Same argument as given for restricting salt.

The overall question then is where does it stop?  And what happens to our society as government takes "responsibility" for more and more things and is always and everywhere "protecting us from ourselves"?

As Ford once said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away."

No thank you, Mr. Commissioner.  I'll regulate my salt intake myself thankyouverymuch.

if the South gets its way,

Submitted by RisingTide on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 10:34.

we'll be dry again in no time.

I'd ask that you please refrain from raising the spectre of prohibition until you've lived in a dry county.

Government poking its nose where it doesn't belong

Submitted by Xasteius on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 12:43.

 

I don't think it's that big a deal to look on the label, check the packaging and make the decision for yourself rather than have Bloomberg or whoever mandate what it is people should or shouldn't eat.

 

 

and

 

Nanny state. We don't need any more nanny state people can take care of themselves. We don't need the government to take care of us.

 

ooookay.

Submitted by RisingTide on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 13:20.

most restaurants make whatever food they make out of the freezer into the deep fryer. why not mandate them to put their caloric etc on the menu? It should be simple enough.

one reason why not

Submitted by chemjeff on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 14:23.

Here is one reason why not.  Remember that NY State law that was passed a while ago requiring fast food restaurants to post the calorie contents of their menu items?  I read an article a while ago (sorry can't find a link now) about how much of a hardship it was going to be for the independent mom-and-pop fast food restaurants, as they would have to now submit all of their menu items to caloric testing.  But it wasn't going to be much of a problem for the big chain fast food stores, as they've already tested all of their stuff and they can easily afford to absorb the costs of any additional testing.  So, one of the unintended consequences of well-intentioned laws like these is to make it more difficult for the "little guys" to compete against the "big guys".

I'm all in favor of exempting or discounting

Submitted by RisingTide on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 14:48.

small businesses from legislation like this. Perhaps instead of having to provide accurate calorie counts, they should be able to say "this food is unhealthy. we know. eat at your own risk. it tastes better this way!" (or if they actually have healthy food, or want to say "made with 100% real butter, well, just so long as it is truth in advertising) Nobody goes to restaurants to stay thin, anyhow.

I'm fond of one restaurant (Commander's Palace) that posts its recipes online. You couldn't make them anyway, most of the time.

premise of the law

Submitted by chemjeff on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 15:16.

But then that undermines the premise of the law itself - that people have a right to know precisely how unhealthy their food is.  It's not like people don't already know that fast food restaurants in general are unhealthy.

okay. how about this. instead of "expensive testing"

Submitted by RisingTide on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 15:38.

why don't we just do like I do at home... take the recipe, and calculate calories based on that? Maybe It's a problem more of implementation than of actual need to unfairly hurt small businesses.

fast food restaurants vary widely in their unhealthiness. also different things on the menu vary a lot.

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