Interesting how Think Progress contrasted Grover Norquist’s involvement in the so called Tea Parties with that of Big Tobacco, which is helping to pay for all that Astroturf. The article may have given some the impression that the two have different motives for opposing health care reform. However, their motives are not so different. Both Grover Norquist and Big Tobacco are dangerous to your health.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/afp-norquist-tobacco/We all know about the public health sins of Big Tobacco. But in case you have been living in a cave for the last 50 years, here is this summary:
Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides, and fires---combined!
Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 400,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $50 billion in direct medical costs.
Nationally, smoking results in more than 5 million years of potential life lost each year.
http://www.con-suming.com/Tobacco/costs_of_tobacco.htmIf smoking was considered a disease rather than a “lifestyle choice”, it would be called a pandemic, and people like Sen. Bunning of Kentucky would be in jail on charges of mass murder.
So, how can I compare Grover Norquist to Big Tobacco? How can I not. Since 1993, they have been working together to keep tobacco usage up and health care reform down.
On September 5 1993 - Labor Day – in 152 newspapers across the US, ATR published a major advertisement that asked "How much longer can this go on?" and featured a graphic of a torrent of water pouring into an overflowing, leaky bucket labelled "wasteful government spending." <3>
"Next week the President will introduce a plan requiring billions more in spending to reform the health care system. Along with that proposal will be another huge increase in taxes to pay for it. Some of the new taxes being discussed are on everything from employment benefits, insurance premiums and medical services, to consumer products such as alcohol and tobacco," the ad stated. The ad went on to urge readers to call their political representatives urging them to "cut spending before raising taxes."
An internal PM memo revealed the tobacco and alcohol company's close association with the advertisement. "The ad was developed and refined based on the opinions of focus groups conducted between May and August in eight cities," the memo said of the ad which was "targeting 51 congressmen in 27 states."
The strategy behind the ad, the memo stated, was to “lay groundwork for FET fight by highlighting the need to cut wasteful spending before further tax increases” and to “target marginal Members by getting their constituents to call and demand an end to new taxes without spending cuts.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Tax_Reform_and_Big_TobaccoNote that the alcoholic beverage industry was also involved in the effort to shoot down health care reform in the 1990s. Alcohol is another one of Norquist’s favorite (unhealthy) industries.
President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Grover Norquist, though, has two simple solutions to surviving the three days of CPAC: a wife and alcohol.
“You bring your wife with you, and you drink heavily,” Norquist told POLITICO.
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1002/norquist_recommends_wives_alcohol.htmlNorquist loves alcohol. One of Norquist’s most beloved clients is corporate welfare Queen, Bacardi.
Bacardi, a non-U.S. company based in Bermuda, is currently the leading beneficiary of rum cover-over subsidies, including tens of millions of dollars a year in marketing assistance from the Puerto Rico government.
http://www.examiner.com/p-460159~Bacardi__World_s_Largest_Recipient_of_Public_Rum_Subsidies__Leads_Hidden_Campaign_to_Drive_Rum_Competitor_out_of_the_United_States_and_Destroy_the_Economy_of_the_U_S__Virgin_Islands.htmlAmericans for Tax Reform is dedicated to keeping liquor cheap enough for even the poorest, most despondent recently unemployed American to afford---in large amounts. Here is a letter to Kentucky legislators complaining about proposed alcohol and tobacco tax increases.
http://www.atr.org/userfiles/file/021009lr_kycigalctax.pdfATR complains about the negative impact which taxes on alcohol have on the economy. However, alcoholism has a much bigger effect on economy---and the public health.
Each year, alcohol abuse costs the United States an estimated $185 billion, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. But only $26 billion, 14% of the total, comes from direct medical costs or treating alcoholics. Almost half, a whopping $88 billion, comes from lost productivity--a combination of all those hangovers that keep us out of work on Monday mornings, as well as other alcohol-related diseases. People who drink too much and too often are at greater risk for diabetes and several kinds of cancer, according to some studies.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/22/health-drinking-problems_cx_mh_nightlife06_0822costs.htmlAlcohol, tobacco—both industries which benefit from addiction. And do not forget gambling. As in Jack Abramoff.
In a recent interview at The Washington Post, Norquist said that Americans for Tax Reform and Abramoff's gambling clients worked together because they shared anti-tax, anti-regulatory views.
How did the two “work together”?
Newly released documents in the Jack Abramoff investigation shed light on how the lobbyist secretly routed his clients' funds through tax-exempt organizations with the acquiescence of those in charge, including prominent conservative activist Grover Norquist.
The federal probe has brought a string of bribery-related charges and plea deals. The possible misuse of tax-exempt groups is also receiving investigators' attention, sources familiar with the matter said.
Among the organizations used by Abramoff was Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. According to an investigative report on Abramoff's lobbying released last week by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Americans for Tax Reform served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. As the money passed through, Norquist's organization kept a small cut, e-mails show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062401080.htmlAt first glance, gambling may not seem to have the same impact on the public health that toxic substances like tobacco and alcohol do. However, the nation pays a big cost for its addicted gamblers:
When compulsive gamblers end up
loosing sizeable amounts of money, they
often turn to crime to pay their debts or feed
their addiction. News sources consistently
report on criminal activity that is prompted
by gamblers looking for easy money. Such
was the case for one Raleigh man who was
sentenced in November, 2000, to 10 years
in prison after he stole almost $500,000
from two separate employers to feed his
gambling addiction.18 Among both pathological
and problem gamblers, about a third
have been detained or arrested by police
(compared to about one in 20 of nongamblers).
About 21 percent of pathological
gamblers and 10 percent of problem
gamblers have been incarcerated.19
Loss of employment is another negative
impact of gambling addiction. About onethird
to one-fourth of Gamblers Anonymous
members reported losing their jobs as a
result of their problem. According to one
study, the average problem gambler misses
an average of seven work hours a month
and costs their employers $1,300 a year in
lost labor costs.
http://www.ncfpc.org/PolicyPapers/Findings%200101-Gambling%20Add.pdfIncreased crime is bad for the public health. Loss of work days is bad for the economy. The article goes on to describe how gambling addiction is related to alcohol and tobacco abuse, as well as domestic violence against children and spouses. It contributes to the psychological stress of family, which increases the likelihood of many diseases. And, poverty---especially relative poverty--- itself is a risk factor for disease. For any who doubt this I refer to “Unhealthy Societies: The Affliction of Inequality” by Richard Wilkinson, in particular chapter 8, which is called “The Symptoms of Disintegration.”
http://books.google.com/books?id=0VXmcCmojzAC&pg=RA1-PA153&lpg=RA1-PA153&dq=the+symptoms+of+disintegration&source=bl&ots=XNH_X64Uob&sig=em9tVbOIBXWM-ZoQrdtaCzPEAF0&hl=en&ei=C-Y7SvCYCIS0Nc-_5LAO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=the%20symptoms%20of%20disintegration&f=false “The strongest relationships with income distributions were found with deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, traffic accidents, infections and---particularly young men---deaths from injuries other than traffic accidents
Liver disease? Traffic accidents? Violence? What addictive substance causes all of these? Alcohol. That means that folks who live in poverty in a land of opportunity are more likely to spend what little money they have drinking to excess. Hmmm. If I were the director of a huge alcohol manufacturing company (like Bacardi) I would want to see the poverty rate increase in the United States. The same goes for those who profit from tobacco and gambling. Folks who are desperate and desperately unhappy---often to the point of clinical depression--- are more likely to look for quick gratification and less likely to think about consequences. I most definitely would not want all those depressed folks to have access to doctors and medication which might alleviate their depression. Not when they can find temporary solace in a bottle of rum. And the very last thing I would want is some national director of public health policy musing to himself “You know, we could save Medicare if we just cut down the amount of money the country wastes each year on tobacco related illness.”
I am not a Baptist. I have nothing against occasional, recreational gambling, liquor and even a cigar once in a blue moon. However, the so called sin industries make more money when people use their products irresponsibly. And folks are more likely to abuse during an economic recession or depression, when a sudden descent into poverty plunges workers into despair. The Bush engineered recession has been a god send for alcohol, tobacco and gambling----and in addition to lobbying for these industries, Norquist has been a big proponent of the economic policies that have us on the brink of a Second Great Depression.
So, the next time you hear about that guy who wants to keep your taxes low, remember
Grover Norquist Kills .
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
