Undertaxed Soda Makes Us Fatter as We Drink Less of It

05 Aug, 2010 by Dave Blount

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An earlier decent into progressive rule brought us the debacle of Prohibition. This generation’s dictatorial do-gooders aren’t focused on alcohol; they have it in for food. Yet another liberal media article screeches hysterically that we’re getting too fat:

The number of states with an adult obesity rate of 30 percent or more has tripled, to nine, since 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report… About 75 million Americans are considered obese, the Atlanta-based CDC said.

Being fat is costing Americans as much as $150 billion a year from ills such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, as obese people carry almost $1,500 more in yearly medical expenses, the CDC said in the report. …

“This is a call to action for the nation,” Heidi Blanck, the CDC’s branch chief for obesity prevention and control, said in an interview.

The solution is the same as for all problems the media invents or inflates — higher taxes and more government:

Sally Findley, a professor of population and family health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, … said focusing on a reduction in the consumption of sweetened drinks would be one campaign that might “make a big difference,” as it would cut across demographic groups. Placing a tax on soda or certain fruit drinks, as has been proposed in New York State, might be one approach…

But wait — people are already drinking less soda:

Sales of carbonated soft drinks in the U.S. fell for the fifth year in a row last year, although the pace of decline has slowed from 2008, according to a report from industry trade magazine Beverage Digest. …

The last time the carbonated soft drink category grew was in 2004. In the 1990s, beverage companies saw volume grow at about 3 percent a year. But consumers have shifted away from sugary, fizzy drinks in favor of drinks with a healthier image like water, teas and other noncarbonated beverages.

So if undertaxed soda makes us be overweight, how come we keep getting heavier as soda consumption goes down?

Never mind that, our rulers tell us we’re too fat! Obesity is an epidemic! It costs $billions! We have to let them do something to us! Right now!!!

On tips from HC. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.