Recent comments

From reading the list, it seems that there are two REAL purposes: first, to put more profit in the hands of companies that make plain "1950" type foods that do not LOOK like junk food but, due to manufacturing costs, actually are, and less in the hands of "liberal" or "hippie" owned food sources that make the healther, organic products. And second, to make sure that kids growing up poor are less healthy because of what they ate growing up, AND more likely to shun healthier foods because of lack of exposure to them. The fact that ALEC is associated with this bill (which even goes against local agriculture in that state; WISCONSIN restricting their OWN BEST KNOWN PRODUCT? What's next, FLORIDA restricting ORANGE JUICE?) tends to suggest that profit for "big agra" and "big pharma" (since eating less healthy foods leads to greater need for medicines) is the motivation. The health of poor children is just collateral damage, and since they don't vote...

The article shows part of the specific language of the bill. While the SUMMARY of the bill cites "junk food" as the reason for the restrictions themselves actually LIST brown or organic eggs, organic cheese, etc. One restriction (which to me is like saying poor diabetics cannot buy insulin with Medicaid) disallows the only kind of bread that people with Celiac disease can safely eat! I'm not sure whether someone was just ignorant and concerned with money, thinking gluten free bread is just a trendy upscale fad, or if they were paid off by Wonder Bread and their ilk. Probably both. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson tried to wage war on poverty. Since the 1980's the GOP has been waging war on POOR PEOPLE, both in government and in the private sector. Remember the income tax "reform" that Reagan got Congress to pass in 1986? Before that, you could deduct interest on car loans and credit cards, in fact ALL kinds of consumer debt. Since then, you can only deduct interest on loans secured by your HOME, if you are fortunate enough to OWN ONE. This allowed banks to replace "regular" credit cards with lines of credit from second mortgages, so that when a downturn in home values comes along (as in 2007-2009) more homeowners were at risk because of second mortgages to spend like credit card loans, while people who could not afford to buy a home lost one of the breaks that made their lives a little better. This is another example of the (Re)public(an)-private partnership to vacuum up whatever loose change the average American still has and put it to "good use" buying yachts and dressage horses. Back to (John Maynard) Keynes or back to (Charles) Dickens, it's our choice.