Coinkydink?
you decide
Drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more money at their jobs than nondrinkers and men who drink socially, visiting a bar at least once a month, bring home an additional 7 percent in pay, according to a new Reason Foundation report…
“Social drinking builds social capital,” said Stringham, an economics professor at San Jose State University. “Social drinkers are networking, building relationships, and adding contacts to their Blackberries that result in bigger paychecks.”
Whether you’re earning or just relaxing that jaw-clench, it’s time for you to *shudder* Pay Your Fair Share [PYFS]!
“The industry must start paying its fair share for the problems their products cause,” said Assemblyman Jim Beall, Jr., D-San Jose, author of AB 1019, the Alcohol Related Services Act. “If this fee and the program it pays for prevents another child from being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or prevents another senseless DUI fatality it will have paid for itself and more.”...
Regulatory Mitigation Fee levied by AB 1019 amounts to an increase
of $1.07 per gallon of beer; $2.56 per gallon of wine that contains 14
percent or less in alcohol; $4.27 per gallon of wine and sparkling hard
cider that contains more than 14 percent alcohol; $8.53 per gallon of
distilled spirits. The fee breaks down to about a dime per drink ... levied on distributors. They and the retailers have the option
of whether to pass the cost onto consumers. [bwaaaahahahahha] ...“Now is the time [have they copyrighted that phrase yet?] to charge Big Alcohol for the $38.4 billion dollars in harm their products cause every year in California,” said Bruce Livingston, executive director of Marin Institute, the alcohol industry watchdog.

May I take this opportunity to reiterate The Pencil Principle?
A Pencil is a piece of technology. It, like all technologies, is neither Good nor Bad.
A Pencil can be used to write a sonnet; or to stab your eye out.
The choice is not the Pencil’s.
(Laughs out loud.)
A “wealth effect” for alcohol consumption. Brilliant! A couple of cocktails improves productivity.
What I can’t figure out is how the health costs figure into any of this. I pay my bills. I smoke. I drink. And guess what? Some day I’m gonna die. Yep. Thought about it. Gonna happen.
And then the state takes all the money. Well, everything over 3-million. ‘Cause that’s “too much money”. And the State wants things to be fair.
Doesn’t matter if it forces the sale of a business. The State needs Fair. Oh, and don’t forget that we need to help the children, the elderly and teachers.
.Posted by OregonGuy on 04/21/09 at 08:32 AMWith regard to the temperance campaign photo: I’m sure it’s been said more than once, before, but…
I’m OK with that.
I took a quick look at the Marin Institute website. They have the gall to tell me “You’re using IE 6 - upgrade to a real browser now!”
“... Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose) ...” The “D” comes as no surprise to anyone.
[Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death.]
And in typical Democrat fashion, “AB 1019 has been amended to be enacted as a fee, which can be passed by the Legislature with a majority vote.” Instead of a tax, which takes a 2/3 majority.
Here’s a website tracking all the alcohol-related bills in the country:
The main reason I post that link is for what’s going on in Utah:
“There’s also a measure awaiting a vote in the Senate that would require cocktails be mixed behind 10-foot-high walls in restaurants.”
I’m not really sure whether people want to be politicians because they’re stark raving mad, or if they’re stark raving mad because they’re politicians.
Posted by ZZMike on 04/21/09 at 08:58 AMok—gotta admit I don’t see the point of the 10 foot walls…
[and what if the ceiling is only 9 ft?]Posted by Claire on 04/22/09 at 01:02 PMOr eight…
Posted by OregonGuy on 04/22/09 at 03:34 PMThe next obvious step is to make them bring out the drinks on a covered tray (one of those dome things). The glass would have to be hidden from view (lest some politically orthodox person see an actual martini and get apoplexy). Straws would be provided to put through the dome.
Naturally, you’d have to wear a veil while you’re drinking.
Posted by ZZMike on 04/23/09 at 11:45 AM
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