Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Should Mayor Bloomberg Be NYC's Daddy?

Smoking in parks, beaches, boardwalks, pedestrian plazas and other public spaces will be banned beginning May 23 in NYC. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the legislation on Tuesday. It's the latest move by NYC's Mayor, who appears to want to be NYC's Daddy.

This isn't about second hand smoke, it's about the harsh hand of government, pure and simple. It is about control. I seriously doubt anyone in NYC actually believes there is harm being done to anyone smoking a cigarette in Central Park other than to the person actually smoking the subsidized (then taxed) tobacco stick.

But to knock down this latest insanity is easy. Let's pick on something that many people actually believe  is a benefit that Daddy Bloomberg has forced upon NYC businesses. That is the requirement that food servers (with a few small exceptions) list the calories of the foods they sell.

Walk into a Starbucks and you will now not only be informed on the menu of the price of a grande mocha, but also the calories. Walk into a Dunkin Donuts in NYC and you will be informed on the menu the very exact number of calories in an eclair.

This was all done, according to Daddy Bloomberg, so that NYC could become more health conscious. Yet if you walk around the city, you can see it has had no impact. The skinny girls, who were skinny before the calorie signs went up, are still skinny, as they search for the city for men with fat wallets. The men with fat wallets, can be physically fat or skinny, their choice, since they have the fat wallets.

In short, the people that were fat before Daddy Bloomberg's demand that food providers list calories are still fat, and those that were skinny before Daddy's demand remain skinny. NyPo is not running any pics of people who can no longer wear their old clothes because they lost so much weight because of Daddy's demand that calories be listed on menus. The whole thing is a scam. It is unlikely that one ounce of fat has been lost in NYC because of Daddy Bloomberg's calorie listings.  There never was a demand for the calorie listings on food and it is not changing a thing

In a free market, when information is required, it is there, When buying clothes, there are labels that designate that a specific piece of clothing is small. medium or large, so people are informed of a fact they really need to know. When something is on sale, retailers have appropriate signage. Show times for movie shows are available at theatres, in newspapers and on the internet. Reviews for movies and plays are likewise readily available. When we want to eat out in an unfamiliar city, we have the option of choosing from national brands with consistent food servings and atmosphere, or we can read Zagat's for a guide on unique local dining spots.

That a Mayor can introduce labeling or signage that people really need, that the free market does not provide is absurd. But the NYC Mayor appears to be a one track thinker on this subject and actually thinks that he can somehow do better than free markets. It is a dangerous thought. To date his Daddy demands have been relatively harmless. I fully expect him to next ban kids from peeing in the ocean. But at some point, this self-appointed Daddy may get tired of these minor demonstrations of power and may crank up his Daddy-trip. He'll be clever about it and market it as helping the city, but it will be the start of real infringements.

In other words, NYC residents should tell this fake daddy to go to hell, before he decides NYC'ers have all been staying up past their bedtime.

1 comment:

  1. One of the better posts I have read, should have cried, but laughed my offfffff.

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