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Former Treasury Sec.: Get Ready for Taxes & Regulations on Junk Food

Nov. 30, 2012 12:26pm Becket Adams

Larry Summers, former United States Secretary of the Treasury and Director of the White House United States National Economic Council, on Friday had some bad news for Big Gulp and Twinkie enthusiasts everywhere: Nationwide regulations and taxes on junk food are probably on their way.

“I think there is no question that the way Americans eat and what Americans weigh is a big contributor to health problems and it’s a big contributor to health costs,” said Summers, who (apparently) has become something of a “fitness freak.”

Meet the new boss, nothing like the old boss.

“It’s not the agenda now, but I think at some point you’re going to see tax measures and regulatory measures that are going to be directed at helping people be healthier,” he said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“That’s just going to happen and I think it’s probably a good thing when it does,” he added.

The former Secretary of the Treasury continued, comparing junk food regulations to Washington’s anti-cigarette policies:

[J]ust as we have over time done things with respect to tobacco that are very constructive and that are saving hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, that kind of agenda is going to come to other aspects of public health, including the way people eat.

However, Summers also noted that programs designed to “help” people to eat better need to be formed in such as way that people don’t go hungry (like some have under the First Lady’s healthy-eating initiatives).

“Should kids be going hungry at lunch because they can’t have any good food — any food they like in the schools?” he asked rhetorically. “You can obviously take it too far and you have to be careful.”

(H/T: Washington Examiner)

Featured image courtesy Getty Images.

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Comments (163)

truthnstuff
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:13pm
I can’t take it anymore. The people will have had enough soon and get rid of these master planners.

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:28pm
  No they won’t. We have more guns and ammo that the rest of the planet…we won’t fire a shot. We just had a chance to get rid of these people and 122 million people voted for tyranny and plutocracy.
  
  Report this comment
- Tom70
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:43pm
  I beg to differ… if Obama & Hilary Clintong get their way the UN will remove all of our guns and ammo, as for getting rid of Santa Claus NOT… these fools will go for a 3rd term with Obama stuffing the Supreme court and then bend waaaay over and kiss your b… good buy.
  
  Report this comment
- jcldwl
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:45pm
  I hear ya and ghost is right. It won’t be long until they come after our home gardens saying the food cannot be inspected and therefor is not safe for you. Then they will come after those of us that keep livestock such as chickens with the same lame excuse.
  Dear Lord Jesus you cannot come soon enough. Amen.
  
  Report this comment
- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:17pm
  I hope you are right, yet something tells me Obama is now going full steam ahead for his dictatorship.
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:37pm
  JC-
  they already passed that bill as part of the food safety. Bi-partisan traitors. The only thing that will end this madness is lead ballots.
  
  Report this comment
- jaylew
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:32pm
  Well I swear to God in Heaven…if they “tax”what “they” determine is junk food…..then Food Stampers should NOT be able to buy a single freaking item that is “deemed” junk food. If there was ever a litmus test for the duplicity of the liberal mindset…I just typed it.
  
  Now bring on your dumb **** Encinom and Pantloadian and the entire miserable liberal lot that lurk on this forum. You explain to us who lean to the right….why Food Stampers should be able to purchase food that not only has been determined to be “junk”……but has also been made more expensive because of it’s alleged “junk factor”. I’m listening.
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:12pm
  While this is something that I think most people can no doubt agree on, incompetent legislators telling us what we can and cannot eat has absolutely nothing to do with gun grabbing or legislating the 2nd amendment. And it also has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus – if you really think after all the stuff that has happened over the span of human history, that an incompetent bunch of politicians telling you, you can’t have Funions is what’s going to bring back Jesus, you need to get your priorities in order.
  
  This is a really serious problem that I think a real number close to 99% of American can agree on; legislating to people what they need to eat is ridiculous and stupid. This is coming from a Liberal; I have never met any other Liberal person who thinks we need to legislate against big soda and french fries.
  
  The key here is education, you need to educate to people what is good and bad for them and let them decide you simply cannot ban snacks, treats, etc. That isn’t how things should work at all, and this isn’t a problem that has anything to do with ‘looney lefties’ like a lot of the comments would make you believe. It’s about people not standing up to power – You need to say something to these legislators to make them stop, not just comment on the web.
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:14pm
  What the Hell is with you people and not being able to have a logical discussion about anything before collecting guns and ammo, becoming 1700′s patriots, forming militias and Adolf Hitler comes into the discussion. This is about junk food for God’s sake…
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:22pm
  Well, I’m not one of your more famous ‘liberal trolls’ but allow me to address this as a liberal.
  
  No one should legislate food, ever. Period. Legislating junk food is not a liberal idea or ideal or vision. It’s the vision of someone who is power hungry and imposing, that is all. Thanks.
  
  Report this comment
- ConstitunalAmerican
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 5:39pm
  The WH has dinners that a single one can cost a couple million dollars but I’m sure its mostly veggies, don’t you think? The nanny state is being forced on us and its just beginning. Maybe more people will put down their games, iphones and start reading what’s really happening to this country. Do I think that will happen…no, they won’t change, and the rich can afford more taxes even if they dislike them.
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 2, 2012 at 12:01pm
  Another reason for secession. Let Democrats try paying for their communist programs and debt without all the Federal taxes they get from states like Texas.
  
  Secession now, secession tomorrow, secession for ever . . .
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 2, 2012 at 12:07pm
  REPUBLICANS ARE NOT IN CONGRESS TO FIGHT FOR US
  
  Fighting is not the way of the coward. Secession now, there is no other choice. Secession as dangerous as it is our only hope.
  
  Report this comment
moreteaplease
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:12pm
Reminds me of Hitler trying to produce the master race.

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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:12pm
  Didn’t even get past the first page and we have comparisons to Hitler because some tool wants to legislate junk food… Great… Discourse is dead.
  
  Report this comment
- jwaldal
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 2:03pm
  ROBBIETLHUGHIE, please understand what makes us so nervous is that we are not talking about legislating the rules about junk food. That would be the sensible thing to do. What we are talking about unelected bureaucrats making decrees from Washington. Therein lies the danger. Even worse is the overzealous use by the Executive Branch of Executive Orders. The President knew he couldn’t get the changes about children of immigrants and their immigration status through Congress and if he did, it would take too long. So he said, “Make it so”. The whole “Big Gulp” controversy started when Mayor Bloomberg started talking about it. Again, all he has to say is “Make it so”. Of course, humans will do what they want and find ways around things. That is how the Kennedys became so wealthy. Providing an illegal product that people wanted.
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 2:28pm
  Those fears are rational, I understand them, but to compare it to Hitler, hardly? Hitlers intentions were pure evil – whether or not you like President Obama his intentions are not to destroy the world or people, although I’m sure some of those here might disagree with me.
  
  Report this comment
- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 4:10pm
  Actually, the Nazis did promote healthy eating… I’ve seen some of the health-food posters from that era before.
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 11:48pm
  Oh for God’s sake.
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 2, 2012 at 12:05pm
  SECESSION
  
  We need secession tee shirts, bumper stickers, key chains, and a Continental Congress. It is a waste of time trying to reason and negotiate with Communists. We are seceding as an act of self defense.
  
  Report this comment
Leslie Anne
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:09pm
Maybe they can just have a mandatory weigh-in for all USAmericans and ship the husky-portly-rotund-bigboned ones off to fat camp.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:17pm
  Or maybe “they” can leave us the hell alone and get out of our way.
  
  Engineers created the Hindenberg which flamed out magnificently in a huge waste of human life. Social engineers create, over and over, death, despair and misery.
  
  Leave us alone.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:49pm
  The ridiculous Obozo supporters are so far out in left field that they don’t even know how bat dung crazy they are. Anyone ever hear of the Minority Heath Division in your state? What happens is that ridiculous leftist’s lump Afr Ame. Asians, Hispanics, and any other race that isn’t white. They talk about the disparities in basically healthcare for minorities. I don’t understand how the Minorities think that they get poor healthcare, because they get all the healthcare that they could ever need for free. Thanks to the Minority health Commissions in the states. For example, I’m a white guy and pay thousands and thousands a year in health ins. and deductibles. On the rare occasion that I go to the doctor I see Obozo drones in the same doctors office that refuse to pay their co-pay’s etc.
  
  The disparity in Minority health is of great concern to the new Obozo majority (Af Am’s, Asian’s, Hispanic’s and anyone else that’s not white) that want free healthcare and pass all of the bill to the White persons. My point is that if some bureaucrat tried to take Hostess Twinkies and Ding Dongs away from Minorites (Af Am’s, Asians, Hispanics, and anyone not white), then that bureaucrat would be fired, tarred, feathered, and classified racist before the hat drops. In fact, Obozo’s drones the world over would buy up Hostess and start shelling them out to the obese food stamp patients immediately if not sooner. How dare you racist’s take away the poor obese person’s T
  
  Report this comment
- Leslie Anne
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:16pm
  Perhaps they could then line ‘em up and liposuction the fat and convert it to fuel…green energy.
  
  Report this comment
- Leslie Anne
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:26pm
  This was said in fun…but with this administration, it seems no idea/suggestion is too far out there.
  
  Report this comment
- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:14pm
  This has nothing to do with Obama or his supporters, and if you can’t see that then maybe you should read a little more into these things.
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 2, 2012 at 12:10pm
  They are called FEMA camps. Hitler called them paradise camps.
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:09pm
Will welfare recipients be required to pay taxes on the junk food that we purchase for them?
After all junk food, unlike cigarettes and booze, can be purchased with food stamps.
Which reminds me – why can junk food be purchased with food stamps?
Mochelle Obummer obviously has no problem with this.
Hypocrite.

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- seek.the.truth
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:58pm
  Welfare recipients should not be allowed to purchase junk food with their food stamps. It makes no sense that Michelle Obama has missed this. Considering that the welfare recipients make up a large percentage of obese people with health problems further taxing our welfare system with their medical bills.
  
  Report this comment
- doomytram
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:06pm
  if you take away’s the welfare patients treat’s then you are racist. The taxes will not be levied on the person that doesn’t pay for their food. If you agree that twinkies, cakes, candy, pop tarts, french fried ketchup etc etc. is food. The obese might get to take skinny classes and that will be their job to lose weight. Why not, pay him to lose weight? Your job is to lose weight!
  
  Report this comment
- SocialismSuxEveryday
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:33pm
  There is a seafood shop around the corner from me that takes EBT cards. They sell lots of great food cooked and ready to take out. The first of the month lots of hot, cooked king crab legs, crawfish and shrimp being sold in bulk. $25 – $30 per pound items bought with our tax dollars. Then cash for the beer and smokes to complete the meal. The EBT transactions fall off after the 15th of the month. I wonder how far the EBT cards would last if you could only buy chicken, dairy, whole grains, fruits and veggies with it? I have also heard that restaurants would like to accept EBT cards as well. Don’t you know that would chaff the taxpayer’s backside to be sitting in Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and someone next to him plops out food stamps to pay.
  
  Report this comment
- seek.the.truth
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:58pm
  @socialism
  It really makes my blood boil that kind of stuff happens. Using EBT to purchase items that many of us (who pay for their stinking benefits) don’t get to enjoy. Sigh!
  
  Report this comment
Popp40
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:06pm
Just remember it will be the government who decides what is “unhealthy” and I bet they will say anything that has sugar or salt in it will be put into this category. But here is the kicker…..everything has some form of sugar or salt in it. So watch as ALL food will have this tax added to it.

After all we have to be sure to keep the money coming into the government to pay for all the handouts but most importantly to pay for their salaries. And we all know that our government leaders will be exempt from these taxes….just like they are exempt from Obamacare.

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- afishfarted
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:11pm
  there can be no doubt that Amreican Citizens have forfeited their liberties. When a people forget that their rights come from God and not from men, then they let men determine what they can and can not do. Freedom of choice is gone. Freedom to decide for themselves what is good is gone. Liberty dies.
  Welcome the the USSA. Amerika
  
  Report this comment
midnightsun
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:02pm
Time to add junk food to my prepping list!

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ares338
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:57pm
Stay the f#+=%* out of my life.

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- IntegrityFirst
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:05pm
  @ARES338. Your comment sums it up nicely.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:06pm
  It was the BATF. Now it will regulate tater chips, candy bars & other food in addition to alcohol & tobacco.
  
  The BATF&BF (BF for Bad Food)?
  
  Report this comment
- IronSights
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:09pm
  I agree. I’m getting tired of the government doing cr@p for my “benefit”. What’s even better is Michelle toting this line of eating healthy and we’re all fatties and need to eat right while she’s chowing down on 50,000 calories a day. Hypocritical pig.
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:14pm
  Too late the progressive pigs are micromanaging our lives now, in another twenty years if we last that long we’ll have just as much liberty and freedom from government as Chinese communists have today.
  
  Report this comment
- Individualism
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:23pm
  for the collective nutjobs, your hurting the poor idiots.
  
  Report this comment
psadie
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:51pm
Larry Summers should know about junk food; he is huge or rather it looks like he lost weight due to his health. He is mean and nasty and degrading toward women. Ask those at Harvard and in Obama’s cabinet.

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msconstrue
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:51pm
it just gets curious-er and curious-er…….taxes and regulations on “junk food”!! i’m almost afraid to ask what they will come up with next.

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- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:54pm
  Fema camps for those that dont comply with their agenda.
  
  If you dont like the label fema camps insert a name you like, but it will be the same thing.
  
  Then, whats next?
  
  Report this comment
- DougHuffman
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:00pm
  After ‘Bad Progressive’ Obama, The Jerk, comes Hag Hillary the Good Prog. She’ll be another ‘savior’ – from what?
  
  Report this comment
- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:07pm
  I’m not sure about camps. I don’t think there is a desire or the resources to keep around millions of people who won’t comply. I’m guessing there will be other ways of “removing” us.
  
  Report this comment
- vermonter_88
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:35pm
  I got one “Clean Air Tax.” Individuals that live in rural communities will have to pay a Clean Air Tax to urban communities. It is not fair that “children” are forced to live in urban communities, forced to live near factories, forced to live with traffic congestion, or just forced to live with a Democrat governing body that cannot have clean air too. It is just about fairness.
  
  I was going to say a “View Tax”; however, the state of NH thought of it first. http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120124/NEWS06/701249965
  http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120221/NEWS06/702219974
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:44pm
  Roth-
  the removal will be made easier in camps, as some “rabbit flu” or something rips through the camp, killing millions of detainees. America already leads the world in incarcerations, they will have no problem adding to that number and they even have precedent to do it.
  
  Report this comment
DougHuffman
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:50pm
Dinesh D’Souza’s “2016″ made clear that The Jerk Obama has no difficulties with 100% taxation confiscation of all wealth as long as proportionate welfare is maintained. First they came with the sin tax, but no one was sinful. Then they came taxing the rich, but we were not rich. Then they came with the Soylent Green, and I am hungry.

Good people ought to be armed as they will, with wits and Guns and the Truth. God Bless Bitter Clingers, damn progs.

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Gary_K
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:50pm
How many said that this would happen under the guise of health care costs?

Many, mostly rabid communists, said that it would never happen and those that believed it would were just buying into conspiracy theories.

Who was right?

barry flobama et all….go to hell !

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Baddoggy
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:47pm
I would be in favor of it if they have a 25 year trial on making FOOD STAMPS that could not purchase any kind of junk food. Do that first. test it for 25 years and maybe i will be dead and wont have to face the regulations.
The other option is to beat the crap out of any regulators when they enter any fast food place. It will be time to take the laws in our own hands and revolt.

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- jennygazzy
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 2:28am
  i had information about this spell caster prophetharry@ymail.com, about his glorious spell to people, but at first i felt unconcerned because i hardly go for such things and i thought his work has a side effect, but when i gave him a chance to cast a spell for because i was very in need of it about my man lover who hated me so much, to my surprise his spell worked for me very fine and fast, my man started loving me again
  
  Report this comment
Popp40
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:47pm
This will have no effects on those who are on Food Stamp. They will never know about the tax becuase they aren’t spending their own money. Plus, we already know that the government will just increase their monthly allowance to cover the new taxes. They just go up there and swipe their EBT code and walk out of the store.

Where as those of us who actually pay for our own stuff will have to pay more and do with less, because we will be hit with double taxation. We will be hit with the additional tax on the food and the government will raise our other taxes to pay for the increase in Food Stamps to cover the new taxes.

The government knows that they own us, after all, look at how many people they have brainwashed into accepting this. As for those that disagree, sure we have the right to bear arms and our Constitution says we have the right to stand up against a tyrant government, but the question is how many will really do it. Especially now that the government is using drones over our own cities to monitor us, they control the military, and now Obama is starting his own “citizen” army.

Get use to it….and remember the saying…”A Democrat has never seen a tax they didn’t like”….but we can take it a step further and say “Our government has never seen a tax they didn’t like”.

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- normalmom
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:58pm
  Food stamp users don’t pay the taxes on food at all, it takes that part off at the end. So automatically they won’t even know about it unless they buy stuff without food stamps as well.
  
  Report this comment
- Popp40
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:15pm
  @Normalmom…..and look at the people who are on food stamps…the majority at least in my area and I live in a large area are all obese. I would go as far as to say morbidly obese. It would be very interesting to do a study and see just how many people that are on food stamps are over weight…and then do a study to see if this new “tax” will have any affect on their weight.
  
  My hypothesis would be that this tax would not alter the behavior of those on food stamps and would not lower the obesity rate for that class. And seeing as that class is only getting bigger than there would be no overall change of obesity in the larger population (although those on food stamps may soon be the larger population – in more ways than one).
  
  Report this comment
- normalmom
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:40pm
  popp40 I am not defending food stamp people at all I am just mentioning that they don’t pay the taxes on junk food anyway.
  
  Report this comment
- ONLY4UANDME
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:17pm
  Now I believe the workers had nothing at all to do with Hostess going out of business.
  
  Report this comment
Watcher1952
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:43pm
If they want healthy thin people then they need to close down Mickey D….Taco Bell….Burger King..etc; America has been getting fatter for the past 5 decades….1955 was the first McDonalds…..watch how fast attempting to shut them down would last……

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:49pm
  Ironic that now fast food joints are being targeted for unionization.
  
  Report this comment
- Popp40
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:51pm
  Maybe if the kids and adults would actually get out and exercise then we would not be as obese. Now kids sit in front of an xbox, playstation, and computer all day….as do many adults. Plus, they are taking exercise out of school, I heard of a school that has done away with running because of the kids falling down and getting injured. If they would get out and exercise then we wouldn’t have an obesity problem.
  
  But I have a question….and think about it for a second…the government says we have an “obesity” problem and then turns right around and says we have a “hunger” problem.
  
  Report this comment
- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:51pm
  Our jobs have become sedintary.
  
  But that’s a tangential point at best. It’s not a matter of the logistics or even the supposed issue, if free men wish to get fat, then they’re free to do so. We don’t want government stealing our money, forcing us into their “health care” system against our will, and we sure as hell don’t wish to be treated as chattel to be herded, bred, controlled and kept healthy for the slaughter.
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:53pm
  how many people eat exclusivly at fast food places? I bet not many.
  
  Sitting on the couch eating a bag of chips or cookies is more likely the reason we are getting heavier. But hey, when you dont have a job and the government gives you all you need what else is there to do?
  
  Report this comment
- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:26pm
  @GoJ,
  
  I agree. I watched a big regional bank get nationalized. I witnessed it first hand. There were barely peeps of discontent. Those that expressed discontent were removed as part of cost cutting measures. Those that played ball were rewarded on the taxpayer teet. For example, the whole Pay Czar game with the CEO’s on TARP was a joke. There were so many ways to get around it. But, both sides couldn’t wait to hand job the other in the interest of providing this unified front. When it came to opening the books and accepting TARP our board couldn’t wait to open their Kimono’s like asian hookers. In the end, the company plays ball and gets the wink from the government. The consumer gets the shaft but is convinced by both parties that what is happening somehow “saved them” and is “punishing” the bank for being bad. That is why you will now pay higher fees for “free checking” and get less service.
  
  You can look at basically any large enterprise and see the same thing. They have too much capital at risk that can be destroyed by a bureaucrat and a complicit judge. They can’t walk away from the investment so they play ball and eventually become good little plutocrats.
  
  You are right that Rand completely misses the plutocracy aspect of the marketplace. She also, gives mankind too much credit for becoming aware of right and wrong.
  
  Report this comment
Cabo King
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:42pm
The price of Bananas wont go up, I guarantee it!!!!!

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JeffMT
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:42pm
We’re from the government and we’re here to help!

Once Obamacare kicks in fully, we are going to see restrictions on our lives people cannot even fathom. It will not be limited to what we put into our mouths. We are going to be told that, for our own good and the good of our health, that the government is going to “suggest” to us what kind of home we live in (if a house is not ‘properly’ insulated, for instance, we could catch a cold/flu and then we are a burden on the health care system.

Or, it may be “suggested” to us that it is far safer for us if we walk, ride a bike or ride public transportation than it is for us to drive our own vehicle. Therefore, we are increasing our risk and potential burden on the health care system when we drive rather than walk, bike or ride the bus so no more individually owned vehicles for those who want health care. And on and on and on.

You think this is outrageous and impossible? Nope. Get ready, America, it’s coming. They are going to find ways you cannot even fathom to control your ‘health’ and thereby control your life. You voted for this, America, now deal with it.

Elections have consequences!

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- normalmom
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:54pm
  (sarcastic) Stop giving them ideas ok. They may think riding a bike or walking is safer but around here bikers and pedestrians don’t pay attention and risk even bigger injuries than a car and being a bit plump.
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:41pm
Let’s TAX Ears. Yeah!!! That’s what we should do. Tax ears.

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- Cabo King
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:46pm
  I Concur !
  
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Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:38pm
My own solution to this will be to make my own goodies at home. It will be difficult to regulate and tax the makings of tasty and high calorie foods since they are used in making regular food. The same with restaurant meals, if I can’t get a decent portion size then I will cook at home and eat as much as I like.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:45pm
  I agree and see what you’re saying, to a point. However, that kind of “freedom” was available in the USSR (assuming you could get food at all I mean). It’s akin to saying “well the solution to them restricting my freedom of speech is to think terrible thoughts about them in my head”. Liberty means the ability to consensually deal with other free people as you will, without permission from the government needed, as well as being able to choose how to go about your life as you see fit (peacefully).
  
  At some point, and I don’t think it will ever happen, business needs to stop running around looking for ways to, as I say to my wife about the topic “submit and comply”. A rule can’t come out but that companies are on the rule looking for ways to comply and submit. They won’t do that as long as consumers continue to give them money, which is tacit consent. Really a rather insolvable issue in my opinion.
  
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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:54pm
  I keep waiting for a business to say “No, I don’t think we’re going to do that.” They just do as they please and force the hand of the government to come and use force to make them comply. I’d like to see the agents show up and cuff people and lock doors. This junk is pointless if nobody will enforce it. I’ll reiterate that the key is the deputy sheriff, police officer, LEO that lives next to you. They can only force these companies and people to do things if your neighbor (cop) agrees to follow orders. You convince cops to not arrest their neighbors (hopefully peacefully but perhaps through tarring/feathering) and this has no teeth.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:15pm
  @Roth
  
  Aye, that’s one of the major issues I think Rand got absolutely, positively wrong. Maybe in some mythical time long before my birth, but today’s business environment is one heavily entwined in a clearly incestuous relationship with government. Each cannot serve the other fast enough, and end of the day the rest of us pay for their games and lunacy with out money, our liberties, and sometimes our lives.
  
  Small businesses are or at least can still be virtue based, but beyond that we’re on our own.
  
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Silversmith
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:35pm
My body, my choice RIGHT???? Where is the tax on arsenic? It’s bad for your health too right? Oh right….no MONEY in that. All of this is disingenuous from “green initiatives” to “health initiatives” It’s all about money — YOUR money, and how THEY can get it.

I wonder how long people will take this cr@p.

Silversmith

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- normalmom
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:41pm
  That is an interesting point…My body my choice women who want free birth control or to murder their unborn use that statement to “justify” abortion and the government forcing companies to provide birth control.
  
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- thetruthlives
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:43pm
  well put.
  
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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:24pm
  I can’t say this enough – this is a power trip from individuals not a “Liberal collective” and you should stop assigning it that, almost no liberals think this is a good idea.
  
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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:34pm
Politicians determining minimum wages below the poverty level guarantee obesity because people are forced to buy cheap food, which is usually heavily processed fat, with a little protein thrown in for flavor?

Whatever makes you happy?

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mikem1969
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:33pm
And the nanny state continues. Try and take my junk food, and I’ll shove a rotted pig down your throats.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:46pm
  Will you though Mike? Honestly, what can you do? If McDonald’s goes away, they’ve stopped you. Then what?
  
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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:47pm
  @Mike,
  
  Nothing in recent history suggests that’s true. They could ban junk food tomorrow and you’d do nothing. In 5 years, history suggests that you would actually cheer cops tazing people in junk food raids.
  
  I’m not saying you personally, but the truth is that history shows this is how it works. People have no “line” and even end up cheering the state at a later point. Collectively we are sheep and I have to think the Oligarchs must get quite a hoot at reading posts like yours.
  
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- mikem1969
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:57pm
  Roth, I have a line, and once they cross it you will see it on the news. The tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Time to end the drought.
  
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Cavallo
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:32pm
What you eat, when you eat, and who you eat it with. You will comply with the almighty dictates of the State, or the State will sentence you to death.

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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:38pm
  No thank you.
  
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dosdelgados
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:32pm
As long as junk food can be purchased with food stamps and EBT, it’s not going to make a difference in the people it’s meant to “help”…

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ResistSocialism
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:32pm
Perhaps rather then making junk food more expensive by further taxation the government could make the good foods cheaper by offering tax breaks requiring those breaks be passed on to the consumer of the better foods.

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- scuba13
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:42pm
  So the answer is the Government to step in and do something by giving tax breaks? How about the Government just stay out of my business and what I eat.
  
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- ResistSocialism
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:56pm
  @scuba13 yes I agree but if the government is bent on being involved and really care about peoples health then the tax break approach makes more sense.
  
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- scuba13
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:32pm
  When involving the Government makes sense, you should change your name because it doesn’t look like you want to resist anything because the government can fix everything. Good for you.
  
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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:29pm
““It’s not the agenda now, but I think at some point you’re going to see tax measures and regulatory measures that are going to be directed at ” …dictating to people what choices they’re allowed and not allowed to make about what they wish to put into their bodies.

And people think we’re free still. Unbelievable. This twit, and everybody who supports him or justifies this crap with “well, some people are overweight, it’s my job to save them from themselves” or “now that government has taken over health care they get to say what we do and don’t do”, are barbarians.

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- dosdelgados
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:34pm
  “Approved” light bulbs, smart meters, “approved” amount of Big Gulps…what’s next? Or what’s LEFT?
  
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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:44pm
  GoJ,
  
  I don’t know what to say buddy. We lost. Not we are losing. Not, we could still win. We lost. The collective thought in this country can’t comprehend freedom. In fact, most are completely freaked out by it. There is no desire to struggle for something that you can’t imagine nor really have the courage to embrace.
  
  The speed at which liberty is being destroyed is absolutely breathtaking. I have heard of the proverbial frog in the pot, but it feels more like flash-frying at this point than boiling. But nobody will do anything (myself included…of which I’m kind of ashamed) beyond ranting and raving. As a society we are armed to the gills but not a one of us has the will to resist. I have two boys and a wife. Not sure how I look at them and say “dad is going to jail / grave today because your freedom is worth fighting for”. Conversely, I’m not sure how I look at myself in the mirror and rationalize doing nothing to preserve freedom for them and convince myself that soldiering on is the best course. So when they are in bondage later do I owe them an apology? Was resistance reasonable or would I have been a blurb in the newspaper, labeled a “terrorist” and my children grow up orphans?
  
  I don’t know what to do. My hope is that millions feel like me and there is a catalyst where we can “hang together”. I feel like doing it now is unwise and it’s best to keep our powder dry somehow. Sorry for the rambling.
  
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- chips1
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:47pm
  ALPO!!! They haven’t taxed ALPO.
  
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- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:48pm
  @Dos
  
  Not a lot else left. I told my son, when he asked me about it, that the reason I open carry wherever and whenever I can, is because it’s the one last true middle finger to statists that declares to them that they don’t control everything yet. Nobody who sees me walk down the street or into stores/shops/restaurants is in doubt as to my exact position on liberty. But outside of that, what else IS left, as you ask? Well, nothing. In fact, I can’t think of any area outside of the grasp and control of the government that’s left, outside of silent thought in your head of course.
  
  So then, what do we do about it?
  
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- Cavallo
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:49pm
  @DosDel, Nothing.. pretty much every aspect of your life is in some way regulated by a federal authority. What you eat, what you drink, the power you use, the transportation, your clothes, your medicine.. I find it exceedingly difficult to find something not already regulated, taxed, overseen, moderated, controlled, or banned by the government. If you do find something, it is next on their list to control, or you have overlooked something.
  
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- dosdelgados
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:20pm
  Oh, Ghost…the silent thoughts in my head, I’m sure, will soon be labeled as some Orwellian thought-crime. Small-government mindset, loving freedom….will be considered treason and those that feel that way a threat to society.
  
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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 12:19pm
  I don’t understand the mindset of so many here, never has anyone in my life whether online or in person ever doubted my right to carry my weapon on me, knife or gun. I don’t understand where this fear is coming from – no one has ever prevented me from buying or owning a gun, liberal or conservative. No one has ever prevented me from carrying that gun to protect myself.
  
  This is where I have the most grand canyon like schism between myself and a lot of y’all here. I have never had anyone infringe on this right to own a gun. It is simple as 1, 2, 3 to buy a gun and own it and simple as 1, 2, 3 to carry it concealed on me. All you need is some money and time – that’s it.
  
  I don’t understand where this irrational fear is coming from that they are coming for your guns and freedoms.
  
  Conservatism didn’t lose this last election and neither did freedom (that’s ridiculous) what lost was some old-held beliefs about tradition and values. Conservative fiscal policy and freedom (although that is not solely a conservative value) did not lose. I don’t see how anyone can feel otherwise other than just being sore losers.
  
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