When you get starved for oxygen, your brain can do wild things. And when governments get starved for their energy source, money, they can go wild, too. Take New York, for example. Governor David Patterson has proposed a controversial plan to replenish empty state coffers at the expense of soft drink users, specifically sugar-laden soft drinks.
If his plan succeeds, those who drink sugar-containing soft drinks will have to pay an additional 18% in taxes for this sin or luxury. The plan does not affect diet soft drinks. Allegedly, it will help fight the obesity epidemic. Actually, it will to some degree. It will lighten the weight in your wallet. But for the fat you carry, this idiotic plan is likely to make you worse.
I call it idiotic since published research overwhelmingly has shown that so-called diet drinks do nothing to foster weight loss. In fact, the evidence is that they increase weight. How might that happen? When you drink something that tastes sweet, your pancreas responds by making insulin in preparation for a natural load of sugar. No sugar comes. So your blood sugar drops and you get hungry. No wonder these diet drinks have failed in every way. Where they have succeeded is in increasing your food intake and weight, not in reducing it.
But it gets worse. Diet drinks are loaded with aspartame. Aspartame is 10% methanol, a horrible neurotoxin. Use of aspartame is linked to a large number of neurological abnormalities. I consulted with my own dentist today for his take on this. He would prefer his patients to drink sodas containing sugar rather than the poison. At least your body recognizes sugar, even if its not good for you. Aspartame and other sweetening chemicals are foreign to your body. Are you sure you want us to drink man-made chemicals, Governor Patterson?
A tax to encourage the consumption of terribly toxic chemicals is just plain nuts. Better to tax the whole of soft drinks to encourage a return to God-made water (the safest of all drinks) than selectively tax the safer of the toxic (sugar-containing) products.
I encourage all Second Opinion readers in New York to convey their thoughts on the lunacy of this proposal to the governor. You can contact him by writing: Governor David A. Patterson, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224. Or by calling 518-474-8390 or contacting him through the website: 161.11.121.121/govemail.
Source: The Economist economist.com December 23, 2008.