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Showing posts from March 21, 2010

The bag, boss.

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Hmmm. What's the capital of Missouri again? Was it Kansas City? Can't remember. I'll just enter "undecided," that will suffice. Okay, next question... how much does the moon weigh? Full moon or half? Oh, yes... the blog. As you can see, I'm at loose ends here. Just killing a little time between sessions. Matt put down a vocal the other day. (I wish he'd stop putting me down, man. I'm trying my BEST!) Next it's my turn, but first Marvin (my personal robot assistant) needs to go in there and clean up the tracks a bit, do a little of his magic. (What kind of magic? Can't say. It's magic, damnit!) So while I'm just sitting here, I'm filling out crosswords, completing puzzlers, and... well... opening our overinflated mailbag. Some of these things have been sitting in there for six months or better. (I think I spy a christmas present.... from 1970...) Here's one from Osmond of Reno, NV: Dear Big Green: I understand one of you lived o...

Health and taxes.

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There's a t.v. ad that runs almost constantly in my area featuring a "regular-guy" type grocery store owner (not many of those left) complaining about the proposed soft drink tax in New York State. At some point in the ad he says, "Taxes never made anyone healthy." Interesting statement. I guess he's never heard of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, various Health and Human Services programs, and any number of other government services, from OSHA to the FDA, that in some respect help us stay healthier as a result of tax revenues. Yeah, I know the ad is about a "sin" tax, but you can also see how taxes on cigarettes and alcohol have had a positive effect health-wise. In a sense, it's just a way of having the price of something reflect the true cost. Sure, we want people to be healthier. But we also want to recover some of the cost of their NOT being healthy, like emergency care costs for people who sugar themselves into heart disease, stroke, ...