Has It Really Come Down To This?

"They" want to tax your "sugar-sweetened beverage" at a rate of one penny per ounce.  "They" say it will save $17 billion in medical costs per year and generate an additional $13 billion in revenue.  

These figures, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, are based on some facts and several assumptions.

First, the facts: Americans drank 13.8 billion gallons of soda, punch, sports drinks, sweet tea and other high-calorie, nutrient-free beverages in 2009, according to industry data. That works out to about 70,000 calories per person. The sugar in all this “liquid candy,” as it is often called, is considered to be a major contributing factor to the obesity crisis, which in turn has fueled the rise of Type 2 diabetes and other diseases.

"They" assume the tax would reduce consumption by 15%.  "They" assume 40% of the calories saved would be replaced by drinking more milk and juice.  "They" come to the conclusion that the tax would eventually reduce daily caloric consumption by NINE calories per day in the American adult (age 25-64) population .... but, that adds up to reduce the obese population by 867,000 over ten years.  In turn, this reduces the incidence of new cases of diabetes by 2.6%  and other savings.

Of course, "they" can't be sure that a can of Coke, costing an additional 12 cents, will lead to any changes in consumption. 

Has it really come to this?

Check out the full article here. 

Note, this Los Angeles Times article did not blame ANYTHING on former President George Bush!