food tax

"...heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are all in large part caused by the standard american diet (yes, it's sad )...yet the food industry appears to be incapable of marketing healthy foods. and whether its leaders are confused or just stalling doesn't matter because the fixes are not really their problem. their mission is not public health but profit so they'll continue to sell the health damaging food that's most profitable until the market or another force skews things otherwise."

mark bittman from an op-ed piece in the n y times 7-23-2011

"..our current just-in-time food system and agricultural practices are hugely risky. as the current economic crisis tightens, those involved in food production and distribution strive for further efficiencies and economies of scale as deflation drives their prices down. the lower prices help maintain welfare and social peace, and make it easier for consumers to service their debts, which in turn supports our battered banks, whose health must be preserved or the bond market might not turn up at a government auction. as a result it is very hard to do major surgery on our food systems if doing so required higher food prices, decreased productivity, and gave a poorer investment return."

david korowicz. "on the cusp of collapse: complexity, energy, and the globalized economy."

i'm inclined to agree with bittman that the current food system does little to "maintain welfare" but i think that korowicz brings up a valid point when he says that changing the food system as it stands won't be all that easy...i've heard "tax bad food out of existence" from any number of sources as i have read about agriculture as it stands...the standard american diet may not be healthy but it does have a function is preserving social peace...fast and junk food are amazingly cheap because of the subsidies the government give to agriculture, particularly corn ( yes i will recommend the film "king corn" once again) and it is no coincidence that those who suffer most from poor diets are the poor...the dollar menu is a staple when that's all you can afford...growing your own food takes time, space, and investment both in acquiring plants and maintaining them...more things poor people don't have ready access to...vegetables aren't cheap no matter how you come by them and i can't help but think that taxing bad food out of existence will not have the beneficial effects that taxing cigarettes to a prohibitive price has ( yes...he does address that)...it will simply make poor people hungry and that will not aid social peace...the food industry has huge sunk costs in its system of acquiring, processing and distributing its manufactured goods...the up front costs of tearing that system down would inflate the cost of food for at least the time it would take to build a new food infrastructure...does anyone have that sort of cash? i don't think the bond market will fail if people start eating a healthier diet ( it seems to be able to fair badly enough on its own) but i'm not sure a tax that makes cheap food more expensive but doesn't make healthy food more affordable quickly is going to do any good...the change has to start with how we produce and utilize food and that will be something of a drawn out process...no quick fixes here...stroll over to the land institute's web site and check out the "fifty year farm bill" that's there...it will give you a better perspective on the amount of time needed to undo all the interconnectedness that korowicz is on about.