Research, Politicians, and Power-Seeking

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In support of his edict banning soft drinks over 16 ounces, NYC major Bloomberg cited research done by two Cornell professors.

In this post, the professors say that Bloomberg has failed to properly understand their work.

(via Ricochet)

7 thoughts on “Research, Politicians, and Power-Seeking”

  1. The comments are interesting. Lots of Obamabots at the Atlantic.

    I added a comment about pub closing hours. The British gave up closing pubs from 3 to 6 after consumption went up with the limited hours. It took a long time to figure that out. I doubt Bloomberg ever will.

  2. You know, we’ve started watching Stossel every week – just to counteract the bummer news, etc. It is just cheerful to see people who respect other people, who leave them alone, who think the diversity of people (from those who can drink 64 oz cokes and not get fat to those who smell their coffees and do) is just plain interesting. How little fun Bloomberg must have in life, how judgemental, how, well, depressing.

  3. A sharp Entrepreneur would offer a 128 oz drink (yes a gallon) – perhaps serve it in a bucket with ice and call it the “Bloomberg”

  5. One of the points made by Wansink and Just in the linked post:

    “Who buys large soft drinks? It’s not just the people who may have some disregard for their weight. It may also be the construction worker who buys a single drink and nurses it all day. It may be the family of three who decides to split a single drink to save money.”

    I doubt if Bloomberg and his henchpeople gave 2 seconds of thought to these diverse scenarios of why someone might want a large drink. I’m reminded of an autobiography a read by someone who worked in a steel mill in early 20th century. These guys looked forward greatly to their beer after a long day in temperatures over 100 degrees, and when Prohibition was enacted, they found that WATER just didn’t cut it for satisfying their thirst after that kind of work. The category of people who had been lobbying most strongly for prohibition, I’d venture to say, overlapped very little with the category of people working in steel mills.

    Rose Wilder Lane:

    “Nobody can plan the actions of even a thousand living persons, separately. Anyone attempting to control millions must divide them into classes, and make a plan applying to these classes. But these classes do not exist. No two persons are alike. No two are in the same circumstances; no two have the same abilities; beyond getting the barest necessities of life, no two have the same desires.Therefore the men who try to enforce, in real life, a planned economy that is their theory, come up against the infinite diversity of human beings”

  6. ” These guys looked forward greatly to their beer after a long day in temperatures over 100 degrees, ”

    This widely believed to be the origin of the Australians’ fondness for beer. Most Australian beer is light, unlike English beer although that taste is changing, too. Also, Australians are very antagonistic to “drink driving,” their term for drunk driving. When I was last there, a travel editor lost his job after being arrested for DUI. Bars have breathalyzers that patrons can use to decide if they are safe to drive home. TV personalities joke about having to go to the bar they patronized last night to pick up their car.

    IN the northern part of the country, the outback, hot days go all year and beer sales go with them.

  7. MK – they also love to put lime juice in their beer – very refreshing. Like the German’s fondness for Cola Bier – syrupy Coke mixed with beer, something seems to get lost in the translation over here.

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